As you slam the door, there was a resonance you just don't hear anymore . It was on the front door of homes and lots of mom and pop corner grocery stores.....I'm talking about wooden screen doors. Now it is a sterile aluminum frame that just doesn't have that mellow slam.....
Glass milk bottles that were perched on the outside porch for the milk delivery man to pick up and replace. Some homes had a pass through where you left the old bottles and the milkman would open the outside door, replace what was needed and you opened the little door and fetched your new supply of milk or eggs for the day or two.
The Milk truck was the Clover Dairy, and the milkman actually lived down the street. His name was Frank Beeman and occsionaly he would hand out little tubs of ice cream to the kids on holidays.....what a concept.
The El Tapatio Hotel in Guadalajara still has these pass through where room service can leave your tray and you can get it without opening or seeing the delivery person....
Bakery Delivery Trucks.
3 times a week the Colonial Bread truck would come down our street, fresh breads, rolls, and donuts and pastries would be available. A loaf of bread was 25 cents.....
Dumbwaiters......no not the smartalec guy who doesn't deserve a tip, these were miniature elevators in older homes that had several stories. You sent stuff down from upstairs to the basement, or the kitchen. They were next to the laundry shoot. You could also put your used dishes or dirty laundry and set them out of your life, to someone else where they would have to clean or wash them.
In older two story homes, there were two staircases. One formals wide one for all to uses, and a skinny steep (servants staircase" one that usually emptied out into the pantry or kitchen area. It was specially designed for the house help, you know, butler, maid, cleaning person, they were standard in all the Victorian homes or any mansions.
Steam radiators.
I remember in my first grade these hissing clanking radiators were the source of heat for the hold room. Now everything is central heat or air, with huge air returns and large channels....
Sold walls that you couldn't hear through. I grew up in a flat in the city that had lath and plaster walls. They were about 8 inch thick and once you closed the door, which was a solid wood door, not a hollow veneer, the room would be very quiet. Now drywall walls allow sound to pass easily unless they take extra precaution to insulate and put plastic sound barriers in the wall.....
Houses had deep overhangs, since most homes never had air condition, the eaves of the house extended far out from the roof line on all sides to protect the house from the summer sun.
Vegetable gardens. As a kid almost eveyton in the neighborhood had them. After you sowed the seeds, you would stick the empty envelop on a stick in front of the row so you would would know what you planted....oh the seed pack were 5 and 10 cents a pack.
A hand pump water pump in the front yard of a farm house. The water was cold and tasted great. You had to work for the water to arrive at the spigot, Something so simple now, everyone has running water inside the house.
How times change....
