Do you remember your parents going out on the town when you were a kid?

[Wilbur]

We got Grandma as a babysitter who made us late night buttermilk pancakes she would squeeze lemon onto, sprinkle a little sugar on and omg were they good.  

Mom had a couple of fancy looking silk dresses and topped it with a mink coat and Dad had a slim legged black suit.  They used to go to the mysterious nightclub called the Cave in Vancouver.  That was where the big bands played while touring.  I imagined it was like something out of Lucy and Desi. 

I still remember the smell of stale cigarette smoke when they got home although neither were smokers. 

Cool pics in here..

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Photos+Historic+images+Cave+Supper+Club/4740822/story.html

[ChrisL]

My parents never went out but they did have to attend AA meetings with my older brother so once a week they left us home alone for that.

[Guest]

My folks never went out. Looking back I don't think they could afford to. I was probably in my mid-teens before the ever took me to a real restaurant 

[Kzoo]

Not much no

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Not much no

They didn't go out or you can't remember?

[Kzoo]

A little of both 

[Longjohn]

My parents didn’t drink or smoke or dance so I imagine their night on the town was pretty tame. They did have nights out without us kids. Other than have dinner somewhere special I have no idea what they did. Our babysitters were always friends of my mom. On vacation we always stayed at a cottage on the beach at Lake Erie. After our parents thought we were asleep they would sneak down to the lake to skinny dip. I think they enjoyed a night out on the beach more than a night on the town.

[petitepedal]

My parents were divorced and my dad never paid child support...I remember my mom working as a surgical nurse and being on call every other weekend and at least 2 or 3 day during the week...money was tight...and divorce was frowned upon in a small town...she did not go out....

[Road Runner]

My parents belonged to the Moose Club which had dining and dancing on the weekends.  My parents and their friends went out about every other weekend.  I was the designated babysitter for my little brother.   

[Zephyr]

Yes, every Saturday night.  In matching clothes.  Squaredancing 

[team scooter]

My mom always worked nights, my dad worked days. I dont remember them ever spending much time together. 

[Airehead]

I have two going out stories.  I'll tell you one and you can decide if you want the other.  Our grandparents lived with us plus Ganna and Mr. Bob helped with things.  He was Master of the Barn and I was respectfully scared of him until the day he died when I was in my 40's.  Ganna was very sweet, ageless, full of grace and a glimmer of fun.  She made the bread for our school sandwiches and the little pies that I traded for TasteyKakes.  So, my parents go out of town to pick up a baby.  I was maybe 10 at the time and only Donad was older than me.  I think our total kids might have been around 9 at the time.  

Ganna asked us if we could keep a secret.  Of course we could!!. So she sends us out to play and stay out of Mr. Bob's hair.  She calls us and I come in.  SHe tells me we are having TV dinners.  The stuff of dreams.  I run out and scream, "Get in here, we are having TV dinners."  Everyone runs in, gets sent to wash hands, wait the insufferable minute of silent prayer and then...... Then she starts bring out these!!!!!!!!!!

 

We loved them.  They were terrible.  Sean Michael or Patrick told my mother about it as soon as she was out of the car.  I remember she said well at least you weren't drinking RC.

[Wilbur]

Bring on story number 2!   

[Airehead]

PS-- read the small print--- they were tested on Canadian chidren.

[Wilbur]

2 minutes ago, Airehead said:

PS-- read the small print--- they were tested on Canadian chidren.

Canadian children taste better and stay fresh, longer.

[Road Runner]

43 minutes ago, team scooter said:

I dont remember them ever spending much time together.

Was that in response to your arrival?  

[groupw]

We would all go to various friends homes where we kids would go play elsewhere while the parents played cards and had a few beers or whatever.  Lots of fun nights there!

A few times a year, they would dress up and go out to the Satellite Club to see Sherwin Linton or a couple other bands. We always hoped for Nancy! She was a cheerleader and very nice to us. She let us stay up with her and watch Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, House of Usher and whatever else the local channels would broadcast.  

A few years ago, we were at some social gathering and my mom waved me over. She was speaking to a very attractive woman a bit older than me. She asked if I remembered Nancy! The years were very kind to her and she was as nice as I remembered! 

 

[maddmaxx]

When I was a kid my mom and stepdad would go to a convention in Florida for a week  .  I'd stay home because of school.  Nominally the neighbors would be responsible for my meals and safety.  In 65 I got to go too.  That was the last thing I did with the family as the following week I was off to the Navy.  

[2Far]

Yeah, they went out a lot more before the other three arrived. OTOH, every summer, I went to YMCA camp for two weeks, when I got old enough, it was Boy Scout camp. Also two weeks at the G-rents house. Until I had children of my own, I had no idea what they did while I was gone. 

When I was in Jr/Sr HS, they went on an annual, week long golf trip with 3 other couples. IIRC, it started with Myrtle Beach and peaked with a trip to the Bahamas. 

[Longjohn]

7 hours ago, groupw said:

 She asked if I remembered Nancy! The years were very kind to her and she was as nice as I remembered! 

Her name was McGill and she called herself Jill but everyone knew her as Nancy.    (I wanted to go for a Susan Underhill reference but figured it was too obscure for this audience)

[Ralphie]

24 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

Her name was McGill and she called herself Jill but everyone knew her as Nancy.    (I wanted to go for a Susan Underhill reference but figured it was too obscure for this audience)

Good call!  

Even Uncle Google is stumped.

 

[Longjohn]

34 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Good call!  

Even Uncle Google is stumped.

 

 

Try googling The Adventures of Nick Danger, Firesign Theater 

 

Audrey Farber?

• ROCKY
• Susan Underhill?
• NICK
• Susan Underhill?
• ROCKY
• How about... Betty Jo Bialowski! (organ fwah)
• NICK
• (thinking) Betty Jo Bialowski! I hadn't heard that name since college. Everyone knew her as Nancy. Then it all came rushing back to me like the hot kiss at the end of a wet fist. It was Pig Night at the Oh Mony Padme Sigma House. We had escaped from the crowd and stood trembling under the dwarf maples.
• YOUNG NANCY

[Ralphie]

Hmm, interesting.  I am a little too young for that Firesign theatre stuff.   So The Beatles musta sorta "borrowed" that "everyone knew her as Nancy stuff!  Cool!

Here is a little snippet of my research.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parroty_Interactive

[Longjohn]

3 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Hmm, interesting.  I am a little too young for that Firesign theatre stuff.   So The Beatles musta sorta "borrowed" that "everyone knew her as Nancy stuff!  Cool!

I was really into it. I even used the name Nick Danger as a sign in name in the early days of the internet. I was Nick Danger in MSN chat.  If you have a little time to kill you should listen to that video I posted.

[Kirby]

I love the imagery in Wilbur's original post! 

I also want Aire's second story!  TV dinners were such a treat as a kid.  I tended to be a picky eater, so sometimes I'd get one of them if I didn't eat what everyone else was having.

I don't really recall my parents going out much, and certainly not for a night on the town. They'd go out sometimes for a school event (my Mom taught at a local grade school) and we'd usually stay with my Grandmother who lived a few blocks away.  Whenever we stayed with Grandma we'd have a "party" in the evening after dinner - a glass of ginger ale and saltines.   She was a great baker and you knew when you woke up they'd be delicious scents of home baked apple cake or some other yummy treat.

The only sort of fancy thing I ever recall them doing is going to the Greenbriar Resort with my Dad's job every few years.   My Dad's company would have a retreat there each year, and my Dad got invited every few years.  That was my Mom's only real chance to dress up and have something "fancy" when we were young.

[Ralphie]

13 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I was really into it. I even used the name Nick Danger as a sign in name in the early days of the internet. I was Nick Danger in MSN chat.  If you have a little time to kill you should listen to that video I posted.

Nick Danger sounds like J Peterman.

Ahh, here we go.

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-phil-austin-20150620-story.html

 

[Fret Buzz]

Yeah - being raised in the 70s meant my parents went to dinner parties (or hosted them), and we often got a babysitter for the evening. But they rarely traveled without us. I remember when they were going to London for a vacation (neither actually likes to travel to foreign countries  ) and I was maybe eight, they weren't even out of the country yet, and I had already slid across the wood floors in my socks and fell headfirst into the wall leaving a 1/4 inch dent in the wall.  That dent was there almost 10 years later when we sold the house.  Also while they were away, the basement flooded (luckily with clean water), but that was an event too.

Tom