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About Trips Down Memory Lane

A vintage-style large-letter postcard reading “Greetings from Memory Lane.” Each tall block letter of MEMORY LANE is filled with a photo from a different decade: sisters roller-skating in 1942, a soda jerk, a family around the TV in 1958, a Tupperware party, Buzz Aldrin on the Moon in 1969, the Beatles arriving in 1964, a man in a 1976 leisure suit, a mother and daughter in 1980, teenagers at a 1972 drugstore counter, and shoppers in a 1989 supermarket. A stamp shows a 1958 Philco Predicta TV, a postmark reads Ohio, and a gold road winds toward the words “Wish you were here!”

Welcome to Trips Down Memory Lane, a friendly corner of the internet devoted to the way things used to be. We write about the everyday things that made growing up in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s what it was: the food, the fads, the music, the TV shows, the toys, the stores, and the small daily routines that turned out to be the big memories.

The stories are meant to be fun and warm, and they’re also checked against the record, because a fond memory and the right date aren’t always the same thing.

Why I Started This Site

The first car I ever drove was up on blocks. It didn’t have an engine. It didn’t have tires. In fact, it was completely rusted out and it really wasn’t going anywhere. That’s because it sat in the middle of a junkyard in Southern Ohio, not far from where I lived. I was six years old and I would walk over to it almost every day, climb into the driver’s seat, put my hands on the wheel, and pretend like I was in the Indy 500. I can still smell the rust and I would take that over new car smell any day.

A scrapbook page of Steve Jones’s photos: a black-and-white 1950s snapshot of a small boy in a white shirt on a sidewalk; a black-and-white 1960s portrait of a smiling teenager in dark glasses, jacket and tie; a 1970s color photo of a bearded man kneeling with a young child and a beagle in a living room with a console TV; a recent color photo of Steve, white-bearded in glasses and a blue sport coat; a round Dayton Daily News Newspaperboy one-year service award patch; and a 1964 Ft. Ancient District Camporee patch
A page from Steve’s albums, from the ’50s to today, with his Dayton Daily News newspaperboy patch and a 1964 Boy Scout camporee patch.

When I think of some of my fondest and favorite things, they aren’t from last week. They are from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s:

  • A fried egg sandwich on white bread with mustard in my mom’s kitchen
  • Listening to The Shadow and The Lone Ranger on our living room radio before we owned a TV
  • Wearing a leisure suit and a turtleneck to my first prom (and thinking I looked great!)
  • Going to my first Blockbuster Video on a Friday night to see what kind of fun we were going to watch, with a Domino’s pizza and a two-liter of Coke (or maybe a glass of wine)

Not all of our memories are great. I was attending Kent State when the shootings occurred. I didn’t know those who lost their lives, but a friend’s mother who was on campus came home with bloodied clothes she had used to stop the bleeding.

But those moments are why all the others carry so much meaning.

I was born in 1950 and now I’m 76. In the late ’90s I was actually able to go to the Indy 500 and watched it from the Goodyear box. And while that was a highlight of my life, the race cars couldn’t hold a candle to the rusted-out sedan up on blocks I used to “drive” when I was six.

That’s why we started Trips Down Memory Lane. No matter how old we get, it seems like the things that hold our fondest memories are from long, long ago.

Now I run this site with the help of my son, Cory. It’s a fun family trip down memory lane.

Steve Jones, founder

Along for the Ride

Steve Jones, bearded and in glasses, kneels in a 1970s living room with his young son Cory standing in front of him and a beagle lying beside them, next to a console TV; a handwritten arrow points to Cory with the words “that’s me!” and the print is labeled “Dad and me.”

I’ve been in digital media publishing since 2000, and it’s always fun to talk about memories with family, which is why I helped start this site with my dad. We hope you enjoy it.

Cory Jones

Join the conversation

The best part of this site is your memories. Every article ends with a question, and the comments are where the real stories come out. Pull up a stool, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and tell us how you remember it. We read every comment.

Thanks for stopping by. We’re so glad you’re here.