Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Soc. Class

Anyone Remember?


Hey There!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

College Park...played my first tank and pong video game there.

Anonymous said...

The Town Hall (the "TH"), Varsity Grill & Rendezvous Inn (the "Vous") were the three beer joints in town. Didn't care for the Grill, logged many hours at the other two.

Washington DC, where the legal drinking age was just 18, was about 3 miles down the road. It's a miracle beyond my understanding how half the male population of University of Maryland College Park did not end up dead in a ditch or wrapped around a tree getting back from those DC beer joints. The advantage of the local joints was that we could stagger back to our dorms or nearby apartments from the local joints on foot or with a very short drive. However, you had to be 21 in Maryland, so unless you had a really good fake ID - off to DC and run the gauntlet of trees jumping in the road on the way home.

One of the main attractions at the TH was the ~15' long shuffleboard table. I still remember sprinkling wax, which shook out of a container like grated parmesan cheese, on it to make the pucks slide easier.
A short beer at the Town Hall was 15¢, tall one 25¢. A guy I knew was going to buy a new car had three $1,000 bills in his pocket. He rolled up to the Grill bartender, ordered a short beer, and laid a $1,000 bill on the bar. Bartender's eyes bugged out, he asked for something smaller, Art laid another and another on the bar, said "That's all I have." I don't remember whether the beer was free or whether somebody else chipped in the 15¢. Art died last year.
The Town Hall had big fans on tall pedestals to cool the place (pre A/C?) and every now and then some drunk would toss a beer glass into one for the excitement. AFAIK, nobody was ever blinded. Every now and then, there'd be a fight too, or somebody would launch a shuffleboard puck through the big picture window in front. Yannow, these kids today are soft. They'd be wearing helmets, gloves and goggles at the TH of old.
There is a Town Hall Liquors there in College Park today. It might even be the same, but modified building, but it's not the same place.
Those were the days, my friend.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick

Juice said...

Thankfully you are blessed with a detailed memory, Tailgunner. I just learned yesterday my dad's sister and my favorite aunt has lost most of hers (memory). Same is happening to another aunt from my childhood. Both ladies never drank or smoked. The things we take for granted. At least they don't have to follow the news anymore.

Anonymous said...

^Juice you are blessed with a detailed memory,
My memory might not be so hot after all. I was thinking later that that shuffleboard table may have been at the Vous. In my mind's eye, it was always kind of dark when we played, which the Vous was, even in daytime, but the TH was pretty well lit and had that big picture window facing the street.
I'm sorry for you and your aunt's situation with memory loss. It's really tough to know and love someone with dementia, because it's like the person you know is on a raft just off the beach from you, and little by little they're drifting away. For a while you can talk to them, but there's nothing you can do to bring them back, and you watch until they drift out of sight. BTDT.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick

Tom said...

Legendary! I'm on the other side of town so visits were rare but it did from time to time become necessary to find out if the grass was greener.

That wasn't parmesan cheese in those shakers on the shuffleboard game? No wonder it didn't smell.

Juice said...

BTDT, Tailgunner, Your words were painted poetry and brought the tear. Thanks for sharing.
But I loved your memories of this place Rodger has selected for a memory lane post.

Unknown said...

Random observations:
1) The "newest" car I can spot in the photo is a '58 Chevy.

2) Juice, you mention that your 2 aunts who are losing their memory "never drank or smoked". I think there is some research that indicates that nicotine may prevent or delay Alzheimer's. Truly, 'tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good. And an ironic one, too.

Anonymous said...

I think the last car in line is a 1959 Chevy station wagon. IMHO, 1959 Chevys were the ugliest bowties ever.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Dick do you remember the two chunky waitress twins who'd been ther for 100 years? OR remember when some dude rode his mc around the bar?

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Juice ... I just yesterday's took a hearing aid test and had madsive degradation. Bought hearing aids. Anyway, what the doc said was that because there were so many words I wasn,h hearing, my brain lost its ability to immediacy recognize them, having atrophied . Also, my wife a long time RN says that there seems to be a link between sugar consumption and Alzheimer's. The doctor said that daily BJ's cured it.

I made some of that up.

Anonymous said...

OR remember when some dude rode his mc around the bar?
I vaguely remember the waitresses, but not so well because I usually sat at the bar rather than at a table or booth.
My roommate was there when the MC made it's debut. He knew the guy, a fraternity brother I think.
Help me - was the shuffleboard table at the TH or the Vous? I just had a Coke and my memory is gone all confused.
I'm seriously considering hearing aids - how much $ did you get stuck for?
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick

Juice said...


Stu, nicotine huh? I guess if it is injected or made into edibles (like CO weed) otherwise the smoking will kill you before the Alzheimer's has a chance to catch up.

Juice said...


From TV ears to hearing aids. At least there is something to solve that situation, so Congrat's on the aids! Now you can hear with clarity every single lie from the mouths of Dems.
As for MoSup's mention of sugar, it is interesting. My Dad's family were from a Minnesota farm and the family get togethers had equal amounts of deserts as belly stuffing mains and sides.

p.s. You made some of that stuff up. Which part? heh

Sonoboy said...

Juice, the nicotine link also includes a reduction in Parkinson's disease. This has been known due to the data generated in the smoking related clinical trials of last century. Seems nicotine promotes the production of dopamine in the brain, the absence of which causes (or is an indicator of) Parkinson's.

The use of a smoking cessation patch is probably the best way to get a daily dose of nicotine; the smallest dosage is probably sufficient.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Dick- Shuffleboard was TH

Rodger the Real King of France said...

I think

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