i suppose that in the telling of all the fun of the 60's, i should also talk about some of the most impacting times that i can remember. many new discoveries happened daily in life, and for me, a wealth of discovery was bestowed upon me through my parents' separation.
During the summer of 1964 and my parents' separation, I made regular weekend visits to my Dad in his studio apt. For the most part it was interesting; I made new friends with the kids in that neighborhood and became aware of other new things-one of which was licorice shoelaces.
I watched reruns of "Combat!" on Saturday afternoons. There was also a great horror movie on good old "Alley Cat Theatre" around 6:00. It was called "The She-Creature" and all I can remember about this movie is this vague scene of the creature inside a room of a house terrorizing somebody.
The picture on Dad's little black and white TV was bad, so the rabbit ears had to be touching the glass of the window.
"Rat Fink" rings came in glorious colors and sold for a dime.
I eventually bought the Rat Fink model, but it was a serious no-brainer that didn't hold my interest.
Nothing was more fascinating to me than my first discovery of "Licorice Shoelaces".These were thin, spaghetti-like licorice strings that tasted like cherry and strawberry. The corner store in our neighborhood didn't carry these, but the little store in my Dad's neighborhood did. Needless to say, I had to stock up big time on these.
It was fun to tie them up in a knot and take big bites out of the whole wad. What I can't seem to remember is just how much they cost. I know they were in the penny candy range, but I can't remember if they were three for a penny, or what. Considering how thin they were, and the amount of goodies you could actually buy for a penny back then, I'm sure they were five, or ten for a penny.
In 1964, I believe the admission price was around 75 cents; that's what the mainstream theaters were charging at the time. I saw some interesting movies here. "The Disorderly Orderly" and "Boeing, Boeing" with Jerry Lewis were wonderful movies to watch while sitting in the balcony. My best memory however is watching "Man's Favorite Sport" with Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss . I was spellbound by that floating air mattress on the lake scene.
My Dad's studio apartment was just above the theater. All I had to do was walk down the stairs and turn abruptly to the right, and I was at the movies!
The inside of the old Bob White Theater. We'll never see them like this again.
