vans of the seventies

Long before SUV's were the thing - even before minivans - people of the seventies drove vans - the full size vans. People would go buy rolls of green, red, or orange shag carpet and tack it to the inside of their vans. Not only would they put it on the floor, but they ran it up their walls and on the ceiling. 8-Tracks and cassettes were installed and speakers were often concealed in the shag as well. Many people made pillows and furniture that would be covered in shag as well. Shag carpet was the thing back in the seventies. Oh - I almost forgot - every custom van had to have a CB radio in it. Too many people were learning the trucker CB jargon back then and boy did life get obnoxious for a spell!

People spent a lot of money on tricking out their van's interior.  Moocho money was also dished out  making the exteriors of these love-chariots as unique as possible as well. You could make a lot of money in the seventies if you knew how to use an airbrush. Sure T-shirts were hip - but if you could paint a wildly futuristic funkadelic landscape on the outside of a vehicle- you were one rich airbrush dude. Today -people are in to tattooing their bodies. Three decades ago people were into tattooing their vans. Everybody had to have their very own fantasy airbrushed on the front, back, and side panels of their ride.

Now, I never had a airbrushed van. I wouldn't know what I would have wanted one painted if I had one. I was an odd sort back then. I think I would have have had a picture of Lee Van Cleef painted along side if perchance I had one. I didn't care for shag carpet back then. I used to wash a lot of cars and shag carpet seemed a might tedious to keep clean even then. Maybe a wood paneled interior - something that might have represented the interior of Captain Nemo's submarine. So maybe it's a good thing that I didn't have a van in the seventies. It would not have been much of a chick-magnet. Everybody that did have an airbrushed van sure was proud of it.
I wonder if airbrushing vans will ever have a comeback? Can you imagine people painting SUV's with futuristic landscapes - or half naked fantasy women? I bet someone in California has already birthed the idea and we'll be seeing a Humvee sporting a purple and pink unicorn in our neck of the woods before you know it.

Richard Wright

We lost Richard Wright this week to cancer. Pink Floyd had a sound that was uniquely their own. Their sound had such an unusual depth to it - the only way I can describe it is that you can't just listen to Pink Floyd - you fall deep into it.

old burger joints continued

I wrote a post last year with a grand opening photo of Biff Burger - located on 12th Street at the foot of Noccalula Mountain - at the corner of the old Agricola Shopping Center parking lot. I remember the place still being open early in the eighties. It was closed and flatted by the late eighties. The last time I went was with Dan Noojin and his dad Max. Max liked chocolate milkshakes and that's what we specifically made the trip down for. Here is the blog. I think the photo is pretty cool. I don't recall ever seeing such a turn out for a local establishment before - wait a minute - the Masons Department Store grand opening was a pretty ado.

old burger joints

Before the franchises took over - there were numerous mom and pop burger joints scattered around town. There we so many and I can't remember all the names and locations. I believe Burger Chef was the one on Meighan where a chinese restaurant is. I've heard old Gadsden High alumni from the sixties and early seventies mention that it was a favorite hangout. I used to take Gina to one that used to be at the intersection of 77 & Rainbow drive. I am not a big fast food burger fan. I eat them if I have to. Were'nt those old places better? Did the hamburgers taste better back then or have my taste buds changed?

I need to drive over to Magic Burger (Attalla, AL) sometime. It's been well over a decade since I've had one of theirs burgers. Magic Burger is where my sister Jennie and her husband Don used to eat when on their dates back in the early to mid seventies. It's the last place of it's kind in the area.

The only names I do recall are Burger Chef and Pic-A-Burger. What places do you recall from your youth? Any memories of an old favorite burger joint.

Tim Conway

Before SNL, we had The Carol Burnett Show. Burnett was all about fun and not much on politics. The gang did a weekly show of back to back sketch comedy - hopelessly trying to keep it together in the process. They couldn't. Even though it was Carol's show - Tim Conway was my favorite. He was the guy that kept breaking the cast up and reducing Harvy Corman to tears almost every night. The Dentist sketch is Tim at his best - the skit that I remember the most.