1920's - 1940's
During prohibition, these illegal bars ran by mobsters were one of the only ways to drink alcohol.
What are speakeasies?
These were the waitresses that would roller-skate to your car and take your order.
What are car hops?
By 1965, one hundred million dollars of this doll's merchandise was sold.
What is Barbie?
Saturday Night Fever (John Travolta), ABBA, Donna Summer, The Village People and the Bee Gees all contributed to this type of music.
What is disco?
They are simply small, inexpensively priced, stuffed animals with a tag stating the animal's name and birth date. Some people had a massive collection and some sold for a pretty penny after they were older.
What are beanie babies?
Chemists at General Electric working with silicone stumbled across this material that can be kneaded, bounced, and stretched.
What is Silly Putty?
Real ants were put in a glass framed case with dirt and paths for the ants to follow. It was fun to watch as your insects interacted on the farm.
What is an ant farm?
Created in 1965 by Andre Courreges, a leading French fashion designer, Nancy Sinatra helped popularize this footwear with "these boots are made for walking".
What are go-go boots?
This pet ate nothing and didn't bark or chew the furniture and came with a funny manual that included tips on how to handle an excited one and how to teach it tricks.
What is the pet rock?
This was a FREE music sharing community which users could get any song or music file they wanted. After a couple years, the Record Industry caught on to this, considered it piracy and took them to court, resulting in them being shut down.
What is Napster?
They smoked, drank, danced, and voted. These people broke away from the conservative image of womanhood that prevailed at the time.
What are flappers?
This was popular black licorice flavored gum.
What is Blackjack?
Invented by Craven Walker in the mid 60's, people were entranced with this device that consisting of illuminated glass cylinder within which a colorful, wax like substance was heated.
What is a lava lamp?
These are extremely short, form-fitting, denim cut-off shorts worn by young women, originally in the American South and is named after a character in a popular 70's TV show.
What are Daisy Dukes?
This popular toy would giggle when you tickle its belly then it would end with a "Oh boy, that tickles".
What is a Tickle Me Elmo?
With the Help of President Roosevelt and less income to spend on leisure due to the depression, this activity became very popular in the 30's.
What is stamp collecting?
Although the candy themselves were out in the 20's, the recognizable dispensers for the candy started showing up in the 50's.
What are PEZ?
This is an electric toy-racing car that ran on a grooved track.
What are slot cars?
The name of the small bean bag that was kicked around in a small circle of friends. The object was not to let the bean bag touch the ground.
What is a hacky sack?
These are sneakers with wheels housed in the heel of the shoe, allowing the user to skate around or walk.
What are heelys?
Started by a professional stuntman, He did it on a dare in 1924, and it soon caught on nationwide. It became a spectator sport, and he eventually set the World Record at 49 days with a crowd of 20,000 people watching.
What is flagpole sitting?
The name for this contraption came from the Hawaiian dance its users seemed to imitate.
What is a hula hoop?
Norman Stingley conducted experiments with highly resilient synthetic rubber. He accidentally produced an astonishing new toy. When compressed under extreme pressure, the substance would bounce like crazy.
What are superballs?
These were flexible, bright colored, quasi see-through types of shoes that you could wear without socks, often with glitter embedded into them.
What are jelly shoes?
A yellow fund raising bracelet launched in 2004 by Lance Armstrong's foundation.
What is the Livestrong Wristband?
This message appeared mysteriously all over Europe and the Pacific during World War II. It was scrawled on desolate beachheads, notable landmarks and the walls of buildings. It often was discovered by the first American Troops entering an area that had been occupied by enemy troops.
What is "Kilroy was here"?
College students all around the country were stuffing themselves in these for years in this decade.
What are telephone booths?
In 1957, Harold von Braunhut discovered a true freak of nature and recognized its potential to become one of the greatest marketing opportunities in history, the creature known as Artema nyos, a relative to the brine shrimp.
What are sea monkeys?
This toy was a rubber ball filled with a jelly-like plasma and its outside consisted of hundreds of rubber spikes making it look like a soft and flexible porcupine that did not hurt to hold or squeeze.
What is a Koosh ball?
These are flexible, form-fitting pants with an elastic waistband folded over at the top, used for activities that involve bending and stretching. Eventually these pants transcended and became an everyday fashion of millions of women.
What are yoga pants?