Fuller Brush man and Blue Chip Stamps? (Hawthorne, Gardena: school, mall)

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

trav5656,

We also went to the submarine races. Never did see a single one, but had plenty of other things to do at the races anyway.

[faymahoney]

Crazy,,I was just talking to my son about blue chip stamps and remembering putting them in the books then going thru the catalog. I worked as a Fuller Brush salesgirl (age 15) in Torrance, based out of Redondo Beach. I also worked at Farrells in 74 as a busperson and lived around the corner from Old Towne Mall and worked in the Hallmark store there. When it was first built it was so cool, the food court, carousel, musicians..wow...

[Fontucky]

There were only three door-to-door salespeople my mom would do business with: The Fuller Brush man, the Electrolux vacuum salesman, and the Avon lady. Nobody else had a chance with her.

The only Fuller product I remember is the long handled pink bath brush that was used to scrub one's back.

In 48 years of marriage, she owned only two vacuum cleaners, both of them Electrolux. After her death in 1994, I took the one she bought in the mid-sixties home to my house. It finally gave up the ghost in 1997.

I still have the Cosco card table she bought with Blue Chips back in 1962. That table and 4 chair set used to be set up on Thanksgiving and Christmas for overflow kid seating. The 4 folding chairs have long since disappeared, but the table still leans with its legs folded into itself against the wall behind the couch in the office, waiting for a day when it will be pressed into temporary service like it was last year while I was waiting for the new desk to arrive. The table still squeaks just like it did when it was brand new.

[stuffavail]

Grew up in Hollywood in the flats. Helms truck, Fuller Brush Man, and theGood Humor ice cream truck were regulars. We shopped at The Ranch market always. Fresh donuts you name it. When we moved up Beachwood in '58 we lost all but there was a produce truck for awhile.

[RatherBeInCabo]

Originally Posted by faymahoney

Crazy,,I was just talking to my son about blue chip stamps and remembering putting them in the books then going thru the catalog. I worked as a Fuller Brush salesgirl (age 15) in Torrance, based out of Redondo Beach. I also worked at Farrells in 74 as a busperson and lived around the corner from Old Towne Mall and worked in the Hallmark store there. When it was first built it was so cool, the food court, carousel, musicians..wow...

Would that have been the Farrell's on Hawthorne Blvd. across from Torrance airport? I would have been in there multiple times in 1974.

[RatherBeInCabo]

What about the Helm's bakery trucks? Remember the drawers that would slide out with all the goodies!

[cricket_factor]

Originally Posted by RatherBeInCabo

What about the Helm's bakery trucks? Remember the drawers that would slide out with all the goodies!

I remember the sugar cookies with the colored "dots" on them! We loved the Helm's Bakery man!

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

There were only three door-to-door salespeople my mom would do business with: The Fuller Brush man, the Electrolux vacuum salesman, and the Avon lady. Nobody else had a chance with her.

The only Fuller product I remember is the long handled pink bath brush that was used to scrub one's back.

In 48 years of marriage, she owned only two vacuum cleaners, both of them Electrolux. After her death in 1994, I took the one she bought in the mid-sixties home to my house. It finally gave up the ghost in 1997.

I still have the Cosco card table she bought with Blue Chips back in 1962. That table and 4 chair set used to be set up on Thanksgiving and Christmas for overflow kid seating. The 4 folding chairs have long since disappeared, but the table still leans with its legs folded into itself against the wall behind the couch in the office, waiting for a day when it will be pressed into temporary service like it was last year while I was waiting for the new desk to arrive. The table still squeaks just like it did when it was brand new.

Great memories, I have no idea how many Christmas, wedding and birthday gifts I got with my blue Chip stamps. yes, we did green as well, but by the time I was married and really saving them, Blue Chip werer a little more popular. I had the card table and chairs as well from the late 60s. They are long gone now.

as for door to door, the one I remember, I don't know if anyone else does, is the Jewel Tea man. I bought so much stuff from him cause he was so nice.

Oh that is right, the Good Humor man. I don't know what we would have done without him during the long summer days.
Nita

[SloRoller]

Man, this thread is a seriously fun trip down memory lane. Having been born in the late '50s and growing up near Manchester & Western was great.

Cal Worthington and his dog "Spot". (For those who don't know, "Spot" was...a dog, a hippopotamus, an elephant, a llama, a camel, a tiger, and who knows how many other animals he used in the commercials).

Remember the fast-talking Ralph Williams and his late night TV commercials? "Hi friends, Ralph Williams of Ralph Williams Ford in the city of Encino. And this is my dog Storm (a huge, beautiful German Shepard that would actually sit on the hood of the cars he was featuring in his commercials, without scratching the paint on the cars. Then, he would leap from car to car as the camera panned down the row of cars). Look at this..we have a beautiful 1966 Ford Thunderbird with radio, heater, white sidewall tires, tinted glass, power steering, power brakes, automatic transmission, air conditioning and a Landau top, all for just ...thirty-two hundred ...and ninety-five dollars. Come on out and see us at Ralph Williams Ford. That's Ralph Williams Ford at one-five-eighthundred Ventura Boulevard, in Encino". (I can't believe I remembered the whole commercial!).

What about the jingle ..."Stan-ley, Stan-ley, Stan-ley Chevrolet, two blocks off the Santa Ana Freeway, 1-1-9-8-oh East Firestone, Stanley Chev-rolet".

The Helms man (his name was Milt) was a daily hit in our neighborhood. Remember the Herald-Examiner newspaper? Food Giant supermarkets (Imperial & Western)...and of course...

"Hi. My name is Earl Scheib, and I will paint any car for only twenty-nine ninety-five. And we're having a special, this week only. Come in now, and we'll include ten dollars free metal work".

The Good Humor Man, KGFJ Radio, 1230 on your AM dial, Magnificent Montague (he is the radio DJ that originated the credo "Burn, Baby, Burn!", and that was years before the Watts Riots. Seymour, the MC for late night weekend horror movies (he preceded Elvira).

And of course there was Jerry Dunphy anchoring the evening news on KNXT ..."From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a good evening". Don't forget about Gil Stratton doing sports..."Hello there everybody, it's time to call 'em as we see 'em", and Bill Keene doing weather.

Man, we had it good back then!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by SloRoller

Bill Keene doing weather.

I always remembered Bill Keene doing traffic. He was a weather guy before that?