Baby Boomer Edition

The Baby Boomer Edition
In this special episode, we take a nostalgic journey back to the vibrant decades of the 70's and 90's, exploring why these years remain some of the best in the lives of Baby Boomers. Host Jon shares heartfelt stories from his upbringing in Villa Park and Glen Ellyn within a Mexican American household, navigating both the challenges of discrimination and the joys of community and culture. Joining Jon are Sonia and Julia, who bring their unique perspectives from growing up in the bustling city of Chicago, highlighting the contrasts and commonalities in their experiences. Tune in for a rich conversation filled with reflection, laughter, and a celebration of a remarkable generation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Gen is Us Podcast, where we dive into the dynamic world generational conversation with your host, John, the Baby Boomer, along with Jessica the Millennial, and Joey the Gen Z. Hello, everybody. I'm John, and this is the Gen is Us Podcast. I'm the Boomer, and today's show is a special one. It's uh for boomers or it's about boomers, the baby boomer generation. So today it's all boomers. Um, I've got uh Julia, our producer. She's behind the board, and she is uh a boomer. And then we have a special guest on the line. Her name is Sonia, and she's hello, and she's also a boomer. Uh so today we were gonna go back to uh back into nostalgia and talk a little about uh being a boomer. Um, obviously, growing up uh at that uh time, we all grew up through the 70s and 80s and obviously 90s. Um, and there's a lot of things that we're gonna cover. Hopefully, we can cover in 45 minutes. But I mean, talking about uh that that era or that uh that generation, there's a lot. And I, you know, I was talking to everybody off uh the camera when we were prepping for the show about how the 80s, which you know, I was in high school. Um, I believe Julia and Sonia were also um in high school, right? Yep, yes. So, yeah, so I believe that the 80s were probably the best times of best time of any generation, I think, because we saw so much. I mean, it was, you know, the music, the movies, uh it was just a colorful time, and it was kind of a um a time where it was like a party era, right? It was a rebirth uh of uh uh of you know, uh before that was like the 70s and 60s. We had gone through wars and through uh Vietnam and we went through recession, protests, protests, all sorts of stuff. So um, so yeah, so I I think that when the 80s hit, it was like a rebirth. There's so many good bands. I mean, there's a lot of real good bands in the in the 70s. In fact, some of my some of my favorite bands are from the 70s. So um, anyway, like what for me? Oh my god, my my favorite one of my favorite bands is Led Zeppelin.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Yeah, um, wait, isn't that yours, Sonia?

SPEAKER_04 2:31

That is absolutely mine as well. I think um to John, your point, it's right, with so many great bands, but I think um a lot of these great bands, while they started out in the 70s, they actually hit their peak and they were at their best in the 80s. Um it was just a time of access, of partying, of you know, like Julia mentioned, and it was a time where you know the rules were bent and so many things were just excused, you know, with the whole rock and roll um culture, and uh they were just let free to create. And um, yeah, it was a time of a lot of freedom, really.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Right, right. And I and I think that a lot of boomers out there will will kind of um agree with all of us that, you know, that was just um like of a time of rebirth for the nation. And uh, like I said, because things were so bad prior to that. Um and then afterwards, you've got Gen X's, you've got uh millennials and and Gen Z now. And you know, we could do a whole thing on them, but you know, I think the the place where we're at, because you know, the the adage I think is is true that um like the new 50s or the 50s are like the or was it the new 50s is like being a 30-year-old and a 60-year-old is like a 40-year-old and that kind of thing. I mean, I'm in my uh 60s, so um I don't feel I don't feel the way my dad and my mom probably felt. You know what I mean? Because they came from a different era. Um, they were before the baby boomers. Um so they're what they were going through were completely different. Um, and so I think I feel a little bit more younger and just more energetic and uh with all my faculties. I mean, I thank God, you know, but uh than than I think uh like I said, like our parents, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Well, I feel young at heart.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

I feel young at heart, but I don't necessarily physically feel like Julia's going through some uh some health issues, so yeah. So she's uh thank God. I mean, I have some health issues too, and I'm sure um Sonya does. Um, but I think that our mindset and our energy level is probably a little better than um most of our parents and people that you know that we have preceded. Um so yeah, so I by that that's what I mean, you know. So and uh hopefully that'll continue for a couple more years or a decade or whatever. But you know, as a baby boomer, um I look at life as um not like non-stop, you know, I learned so much, you know, from um what I've gone through and my experiences and it's made me a better person, you know. Um I mean, we've all gone through, you know, tough times and all that. So um, and I think we all believe that, you know, uh our time is not over. And even though we're we're boomers and they kind of categorize us as okay, the older generation now, um, but I think that our generation still has a voice and I think we're strong. And uh, you know, all those other generations that are after us, I think um could learn a lot from us.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Yes, right, I do.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yeah, I agree. So let's let's talk a little about how we all grew up. Okay, so I grew up, I'm okay, I'm I'm Mexican American, I'm first generation uh Mexican American, and um I was uh born in Blue Island, Illinois. And uh from there, um we lived in Stone Park. And from Stone Park, we then went to Villa Park. And the reason we left uh Stone Park is because uh our basement flooded and um rats were coming up uh out of the wall and all that, and mom and dad uh said, This is it, we're not gonna live in a place like this. And so they packed up the uh the old uh panel side uh panel wagon and we all took off and we um uh went to find a new place. And uh we ended up in Villa Park. Um, and that's where I grew up. I grew up a suburbanite. Um and we had our our tough times uh in Villa Park because uh we were like the first Hispanics um in that area. So there was a lot of discrimination. Uh, I mean it we you know we I can't tell you how many times uh we were uh it was tough. I mean, it was it was bad. We had kids that would throw uh bags of dog poop at our house. And um, you know, in school, we were me and my older sister were the ones that really kind of opened the door for my other siblings um because uh we had to put up with a lot of uh discrimination at our school. And we went to uh St. Alexander's in Villa Park, and uh they were just mean to us, you know. And I think in prior podcasts, I've said, you know, that I had sister mother marry um ugly um with the mustache, uh had a ruler, and she basically uh had that ruler, and it was for me. Uh not because I was uh a bad boy or anything like that. I was a little slow, I'll be honest with you, uh, but that's because of the language barrier, um, because of speaking Spanish and English at home.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

You would never know it today.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Well, yeah. I mean, I'm I'm thank God for my parents because they they sent me to uh good schools and I'm uh fairly educated, you know. So uh, but yeah, but um we we had a tough time. I mean, I'm um hopefully one of these days I'll write a book on on my experiences and all that, but um, it was a tough time. Uh my I remember one time my dad um uh he had a 357 magnum, and uh kids were coming at our at our house and they were throwing stuff at it, and my dad had my dad had enough. He just shot into the air and scared the crap out of these little fuckers, and um they ran so hard that one of them broke their leg, and guess what? We never saw them again. That was it.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

There it is.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

And they and there was a lot of respect for us.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Well, sometimes that's what they need, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:02

So um that that's just the way we grew up in Villa Park. How about uh you, Sonia? How about you, Sonia? What what what things did you experience uh as a baby boomer growing up in the city? And what part of the city did you grow up in?

SPEAKER_04 9:18

Um, well, we lived um in originally I'm born and bred in Chicago in the city. Um my parents initially were living on Wells in Ohio. At that time, it wasn't what Wells in Ohio currently is. Um Wells in Ohio, yeah. It was um very industrial area, actually. And you can tell by some of the older structures that are there that are now lofts and condos and everything, but they were factories. And so you had a lot of immigrant population um within that area, and you know, our my family was one of those. Um and when in 1969, when I was still very little, um we my dad bought a house in Wicker Park. And again, Wicker Park at that time was not what Wicker Park is right now, and so but it was an area that was in transition. So when we moved in, we were one of two Latino, no, three, one of three Latino families that had begun to migrate into that area. And um it was predominantly white. And so, like you, John, um my family faced a lot of racism, um, to the point where my mother and my brother, more specifically, because they're a bit darker skinned than I am, they were called the N-word. And um I was little and I knew I didn't quite understand what that term meant, but I knew it wasn't anything good. Um, like when we would walk by, they would spit. There were certain children that weren't allowed to play with my brother or I. Um, but then we also had people who, you know, did embrace us and talk to us, and even some of the um white residents were very nice to um my family. And I think over time when they figured out that we were not the people they thought we were, um, you know, things lightened up. And then, you know, after time you had the influx of more Latinos moving into that community, and then it did go through a phase where it wasn't the safest neighborhood. Um and so, you know, and then obviously now until this transition, but I did live there up until, oh, so I was 20. And then I've always stayed, um, I mostly stay within that area, Ukrainian village, Booktown. Um, very recently moved to the south side. Well, not recently, it's actually been like 12 years now.

SPEAKER_05 11:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 11:51

But um yeah, yeah, but um yeah, you did see everything. Um again, like you, John. I did go into Catholic school, so I am a survivor, I'm a fellow survivor. Um, you know, that wasn't easy, and um, it wasn't easy regardless of what color you were. I mean, that's just the way Catholic school was. Um, you know, the the corporal punishment and things like that. But um it was a means to an end, and I think um I think we turned out okay considering, and so um, I think my parents as immigrants did really want to um instill not only our heritage and for us, you know, as children not to lose that, but then also, you know, kind of assimilate into the American way of life. I've given that a lot more reflection as I've gotten older. And I have to give credit to my mostly my mom because you know, traditionally dads just worked and you know didn't have much to do with the kids, um, you know, in terms of too many activities and things like that. They did, but it was more limited. Um, but just to embrace some of the things, you know, that were more predominantly, you know, American. And so whether it was the food or, you know, the um obviously the language and um some of those just nuances, like um, we got to not only eat, you know, our traditional Mexican food, but we also got to try some of like I remember toaster pizza. Um and that was just the weirdest thing. I've I I I have no recollection what the brand was, what company made it, but I know those these little round discs, you stuck them in a toaster, and to me, they were the greatest thing. And um, you know, my mom did let us experiment with like the Chef Boy RG and the ravioli, spaghettios, and things like that that, you know, were probably against everything that she wanted to feed us, but you know, because our friends ate it and you know, we were exposed to that.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

So how did you learn English, Sona?

SPEAKER_04 13:59

Um, in school, and for my brother. My brother is older. Um, so Spanish was spoken at home, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Um, so did yeah, did you have a hard time? See, like with me, um, I had a hard time um, I guess, translating and using the English language with the Spanish language because my parents, my parents would speak Spanish at home, and as we grew up, we spoke English to them and they understood us. So it was it was really weird. Even people to this day think, how how is that even possible that you speak Spanish to them and they speak uh and and you know, we speak English to them and they speak Spanish to us, and we all understood each other, but that's the way it worked for us.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

Yeah, yeah, no. Um, yeah, that was definitely a thing. Um, I was I was forced to speak Spanish to my parents, and they wouldn't answer me if I spoke to them in English because they didn't want me to forget my Spanish. Um, but my brother, I think, was my biggest help because, you know, with him and his friends, and then he and I ended up speaking English. Um, that's how I that's how I learned. By the time I went to school, I I spoke English to his credit, and you know, his friends. And then um, you know, back in the day, it was also we were we were sent outside to play. We were, you know, you did your chores, you went outside, and you couldn't be, or at least I couldn't be in and out of the house. And, you know, that old cliche of you come home or you are inside your house when the you know the streetlights come on. That was true. It was you had to be, you know, visible if they wanted to see you. You couldn't just wander off, but not nowadays. Yeah, and everything is structured now. Like that's not the childhood I had. You were outside, and so that group of friends and the neighborhood kids, that's how you picked up language and you know your social skills.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

So you didn't have any problems transitioning, uh, you know, going to school and all that, and having problems, no?

SPEAKER_02 16:01

No, I didn't. No fun fact. See, I know Sonia from high school, right? We we went to high school, so I've known her 40 plus years, and she went with one of our other friends that we've known through high school to grammar school. So she's known her since the third grade.

SPEAKER_05 16:19

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

And she's also Hispanic. Um, so yeah, I guess the school you went to, grammar school, which grammar school was it, Sonia?

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Annunciation?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Yeah, it no longer exists.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Well, I think a lot of yeah, I think a lot of the schools, yeah. I mean, uh well, St. Alexander's I think does still exist. Um, but it uh it might just be the church. I don't know if the school actually still exists. Um I know that my mil the military school I went to uh when I punched a nun uh doesn't exist um um anymore. Yeah, so I mean, so yeah, so um I know that there's some schools. The school that my sister went to uh in Navu, Illinois, uh St. Mary's, that doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

So um so I don't think our high school exists anymore, Hurley Family Academy. No, it's a Montessori school, I think.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Oh wow, yeah. So I mean, we've seen obviously we've seen a lot of different changes throughout our lives, but um, yeah, going back to um growing up but that's what the 70s are.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Well, yeah, 70s were a lot of um there's a lot of prejudice and a lot of protests and a lot of yeah, prejudice going on. That is you know, what everyone overcame in like the 80s and the 90s, and then all of a sudden now we're back because of our stupid administration. But I mean uh we were able to I grew up differently.

SPEAKER_05 17:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

I grew up in the city. I was originally I was born not far from Clementi High School. I was born on Levitt and was born in the house. And so from there we lived um actually on in a house, an apartment that was on the backside of a school that no longer exists called Shella that was knocked down in place to build Clementi High School. So because they were building Clementi, they paid like my mom and that to move. So we ended up moving to um this place like Hamlin and Augusta, which was a pro predominantly Italian neighborhood. So when we moved in, my mom, unlike your parents, did not teach us Spanish. She yelled at us in Spanish. My mom and dad spoke to span in Spanish to each other and they yelled at us in Spanish, but they did not teach us as much Spanish because my my mom, when she grew up, there was so much uh prejudice uh against her mom uh who only spoke Spanish, where they were actually taken away and put in an orphanage because they said it was child neglect that her mom did not know how to speak English. Eventually they got out, but then she vowed that it would be English would be our first language.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

See you see you grew up in um obviously in that situation. My parents were completely different. They they wanted us to speak Spanish, but they didn't push it. They didn't they didn't say okay, you had to learn this or whatever. We learned it on our own because they would speak to sp they speak Spanish to us, and we either had to learn it or we didn't. And then when we went to school, I think that's why we uh I had a uh problem with it uh or had problems in school because um the the two languages, you know. In my head, I was like trying to decipher, you know, the the language barriers and all that. And my parents were never uh never harsh on us or never really forced us to learn Spanish and or anything like that. You know, we just learned it on our own.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Yeah, she just made talk to us in English. My my dad had a really heavy accent, it was kind of funny. Um, my friends, Sonia and them, uh try to teach me Spanish. Yeah, it's amazing that sometimes they would you know kid me and have me say wrong things, you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Well, so Sonia, are you very are you very fluent in Spanish? Oh yeah, yes, yes, I I read, write, yeah. Oh, see, I see I can speak Spanish.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Our brother too, everything.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

See, my my sister Beatrice, um, she knew how to speak Spanish and she knew how to write Spanish. She was very good. I think everybody else in the family, you know, after her. I mean, I learned it uh in school because I took Spanish, believe it or not, in high school, which is funny. I did too, I agree. Yeah, but I mean, I aced it. I mean, I, you know, so it it it was it was it was funny. It's funny because my my daughter took Spanish and she did not do do well in Spanish, but she didn't get a lot of Spanish uh speaking either, because you know, um she grew up in a in a time where uh my parents were older and she was uh going back and forth between my uh ex-wife and myself and all that. So she wasn't getting a good um Spanish uh teaching or education or whatever. See, I did. I I you know I grew up in a Spanish home and I learned uh everything. And then my parents would watch Mexican TV, uh Sabado Gigante, and uh we would uh watch that every Saturday with my parents, and my dad liked uh the the wrestling and stuff like that. So we would we would uh Oh yeah, we would too.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

I mean we watched novelas with my mom.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Yeah, me and my mom, when I was a kid, I you know, I would sit there in front of TV with my mom, and that was our bonding time when I was a when I was a child, we'd watch the novel, so we'd both be crying um after like the ending of the the novella.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

But see, but that's one other thing that's two of the boomers. You had one TV and everyone had to watch the same program.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

You didn't get a choice, right? You didn't have the cable, it was free TV.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

And you had to watch whoever controlled it. It was usually the parents that controlled the TV. Well, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, we had a small one in the kitchen that eventually the kids could watch cartoons when we got home from school. But other than that, you know, they controlled the TV. So we had to watch all the programs, the you know, the variety shows or whatever comedy shows. Lawrence Welk, Miley. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:23

We used to have a sit through Lawrence Welk.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

We used to watch Lawrence Welk. We used to watch Andy Williams. Uh, we used to watch uh Dean Martin, uh Carol Burnett.

SPEAKER_05 22:34

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Those, those were the shows my parents loved. Mickey and Lucy. My uh, you know, the the funniest thing is is is listening to my dad watching those programs and crack up. You know, I got I got the sense of humor from my dad, you know, because he uh liked to laugh and he liked to you know joke around and stuff like that. And um, so yeah, so it was it was I I got a lot from my dad, you know. Um he passed away a couple years ago, but um, I still miss his humor. There's nobody in my family like my dad uh when it came to humor. My mom was pretty funny too, but my dad had a really great sense of humor, and um I think me and him are the only ones really that picked it up. Everybody else in my family is pretty serious.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

No, we we I think my dad was more serious. My mom was the one who would crack jokes or she liked music and dancing. How about yours, Sonia?

SPEAKER_04 23:27

Yeah, my mom liked music. My dad was more of the um Yeah, he had the bigger um sense of humor. My mom didn't always appreciate it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

I think I remember you telling us some stories about your dad.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

Yeah, he was funny. I used to love to um, you know, you you say about Julie, you say about your dad's um you know accent. My dad had one, of course, and I just thought it was the funniest thing one day. He didn't do it very often, but I when I listen when I heard him swear in English, I thought it was the funniest thing. I was like, wow, yeah, you son of a bitch.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

You want to go fly? You go fly. Son of a bitch. You motherfucker. It was, yeah, it was was he Chinese? No, it was just his accent. I it was a Ricky Ricardo accent. Oh, it was so yeah, to him swearing English, it was hysterical.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

No, I and I think you're right, Sonia. My my mom was the same way. I think my mom was uh my mom loved music. In fact, I remember um when I was a kid, she would be doing the laundry in the basement, I would be hanging around her, and she would be singing Mexican uh songs. I mean, like, you know, and uh one of the one of the my favorite um uh Mexican artists is Pedro Infante. Um and he's he's like old, I mean, old, old school. And uh so I listen to Pedro Infante once in a uh once in a while, and it just brings memories to me of me and my mom in the basement as she was doing laundry and stuff like that. But um, yeah, I mean, you know, growing up at that time, you know, we I think our memories, I think we have better memories, I think, that than other generations uh in the future now. Because, like you're right, we'd go outside, uh, even when school, we go outside and play in the playground and all that, and you know, uh just go to the park or whatever. Nowadays, it's so hard to go to the park without thinking that you're gonna be abducted or something, you know?

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Well, yeah, well, my mom was really strict, you know, girls versus boys. She had different rules for each.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Did you live in did you live in a very violent area or well?

SPEAKER_02 25:33

When we originally moved into the one that I remember more is when we moved to lived on Hamlin. Um, so it was predominantly Italian when we first moved in, and there was only two Hispanic families. It was myself and another uh the Gonzalez is down the street, which is my uh friend Jesse. I you've met Jesse. And they are a family of like 11 or 12. And so um we were the only ones on the family and uh uh on that black. So we were looking for other kids our age, but my mom would only let us out in the front if she was watching us. We could only be outside, we couldn't be outside alone because she didn't want anyone to get mad at us or accuse us of doing something wrong. She wanted to be the one sitting there watching us, even if we went by family's house, we could not move from her side unless she gave us permission. We'd have to ask permission to go play. But we had there is nine of us at one point at home, mainly it was six of us. So she was very strict with us. Um, whereas nowadays the kids get to go off and do whatever they want. We had more structure. You know, you couldn't talk on the phone with your friends for a long time. You only had one phone, it was one landline, and that was it. You know, you had to make sure the phone was available for emergencies, it wasn't there to be talked on. Um it was just a whole different way of living. And you watched wholesome shows on TV because what your parents picked. We didn't there wasn't a lot of violence. You went to the movies for that stuff, and half the time I don't know that my parents really knew what we went to the movies to go see.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

You know? Well, and you know, and it's funny because nowadays, you know, when you go to the movies, like I take my grandkids to the to the movies once in a once in a while, and we'll go to a show, um, and you know, that they'll have all the stuff, the concessions, all that. Um, but back in the day when we went to the this is like in the seven, like late, no, maybe early 80s. Um drive-in. Yeah, they had drive-ins and stuff like that. I don't know that we I don't think we did the drive-in thing like maybe once or twice when we were kids. Um, but you know, when me and my older sister um had a chance, we would go to the theater. Mama would drop us off, mom or dad would drop us off at the theater.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Did they ever ask you what movie you were gonna see? I don't remember the movie.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

I don't remember them asking us now. No, we went somewhere. But we looked at that. But think about it though. We were back then rated R or anything, or and they there weren't really a lot of ratings back then. You know, think about it. The ratings didn't really start till um later on, you know. I I don't know the exact date, but uh I don't think everything was there was no rated X or there was rated R maybe, uh, but we knew about it. You know, we didn't go out to the movie theaters and see rated R movies, you know. Me and my sister went to see movies that were, you know, like fun or sci sci-fi or stuff like that or comedy. We would go to a movie theater, and you know, at that time they had the multiplexes, you know what I mean? And so you'd go to one movie, they really couldn't check you. So we me and my sister would spend like the whole day and go to movie after movie after movie.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

See, they didn't have that in a city, it was one theater.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

No, see, we had yeah, the movie houses, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

They had movie house, and that was it.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Right. Well, we grew up in uh suburbs, but uh I'm also I'm thinking, okay, that was probably in the mid-80s.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Okay, because to the 90s, we would go to Tiffin Theater, there's Logan Square.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

Uh-huh. I'm trying to think of the other ones, which which don't exist anymore.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Logan doesn't exist anymore. Logan exists. Yeah, I thought it was. Yeah, they've been they renovated it.

SPEAKER_04 29:22

Holy cow.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

And there's an there's another one on Western that um I think they're renovating again, uh, or renovating, but it uh it was never there's a Montclair that doesn't, I don't know if it's still there.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

Will Rogers, I think.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

No, I think Will Rogers is gone. Will Rogers is gone, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

I think that's where we saw our first Star Wars movie.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

We did we did a paranormal thing years ago on um, I think it was on Western, I forgot what theater it was.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

Um which which theaters did you go to, Sonia?

SPEAKER_04 29:53

Um, there was one by my house that no longer exists. It was Royal. That was the biggest one. Um, because it was right there on Milwaukee, right by Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Oh, was that wasn't it the one that turned into an X-rated one?

SPEAKER_04 30:05

No, that's Oak.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

That's the one that's uh Western Hermitage. That's Western Hermitage, the Oak Theater.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

You're talking about the Admiral Theater.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Yeah, the Admiral, all of those.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

And I'll tell you, I've I've been there.

SPEAKER_04 30:22

Yeah, you have to put like honestly, like when we used to like, even if my parents would have asked me what movie I was going to, like, they wouldn't have known. Like, I could have told them anything. Right. Um, there was no there was no way for them to check, and you know, probably maybe the language thing they didn't understand. I was like, okay, well, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

And you know, um, I actually tried to figure out how do we figure out what movies we're playing. All right, yeah. All right, here's here's no directory.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Here's a good one. When out when back in the 70s, the late 70s, when Saturday Night Fever came out. I think I've said the story before. My parents, uh, there used to be a restaurant, I forgot what it was called, Cattle Company or something like that. And you'd go there, they uh if you had dinner, they'd give tickets uh to the uh Yorktown cinema that was right next to the um uh restaurant. So if you had a dinner or bought dinner or whatever, they would give you tickets to the movie theater. So we we ended up having dinner. We went to see Saturday Night Fever thinking it was a like a dance movie, like singing in the rain or whatever, you know, like my parents thought it was. And so then we uh we all sat down there and when that scene in the car, when when John Travolta's getting a uh, you know, a blowjob, um my parents put their hands on my on our synth and uh to uh to obviously from shield us from what was going on, but they had no clue. They thought it was they thought it was uh a clean, wholesome movie. You know, we all thought so too, because we were kids. But you know, and and that's the thing. Sometimes, you know, at that a at that time, you didn't know what kind of movie it was, you know what I mean? And so we we also went to see um Live and Let Die with James with uh Roger Moore there. But uh my mom to my mom, I remember that was her favorite James Bond movie. But we yeah, you know, we James Bond, you knew it was not gonna be dirty, even though the the insinuation was there, but you knew it was not gonna be dirty.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

I remember going with my mom when we were older, where I was driving, but when we were younger, I remember being dropped off, and my brothers and sisters loved horror movies. I hated them. I love they used to complain, but my mom said, You go, you gotta take the younger ones with you. So they always had to drag us with, but they knew I didn't like them, so I would sit there with a hood over my face the entire time. And I remember them dragging me to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Right, right, right, right. To this day, I still have not seen that movie. Oh no, yeah, I don't I don't see I don't like slasher movies. Um, I like horror movies, like paranormal type movies, but slasher movies agreed. I can't do that.

SPEAKER_04 33:06

I'm there with you.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

But Julia, to answer your question, I remember like finding out about movies because you know my dad had a newspaper subscription, the Sun Times. So you I we would look on the newspaper and um in the movie section, and it would have all the um movies listed. And then sometimes, yeah, sometimes if it didn't have um if it didn't have the show times on there, you had the the um the number and you would call. That's it. And then you have to listen to the recording of what time, and then that's how you figured it out. Yeah. Of um to uh right, because we used to do the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

We would go always the sometimes, um, and yeah, you they there was a section with all the movies. They don't have that now, do they?

SPEAKER_01 33:56

No. No, and that's something that obviously we as boomers are we had the TV guide too. We had the TV guide, we had we don't have any of that. I mean, some of the things it okay, like I went through a list of things that um the boomers um have that people today don't. Okay. So here obviously the green stamps, remember those, Sonia? Yes, the books. It was my job to get them all in the books, right? And that's the way we, you know, like when we had um we had to do chores and we had to take the bottles in, we get money, and um I think that my parents, when they went shopping, they got stamps. So we would fill those stamp the booklets up and then we'd get merchandise.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Okay, that ended in '86. Believe it or not.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

What was the company that did that?

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Uh Green, it was called uh SNH Green Stamps.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

That was the actual company.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

That was the actual company that did that, yeah. Um, the other thing too is drive-ins. Uh, we had drive-ins today. There's very few, if any. Um, obviously, the wild wide world of sports. Remember that on TV? Howard Coat Sal. Howard Coat Cell. Howard Coat Cell. Yeah. So, I mean, that's stuff that uh they don't have obviously um the shows Bonanza, Wild Wild West, Big Valley, stuff that doesn't exist. Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah. What was that? Uh the cowboy with the white hat.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Long ranger. The Long Ranger, yeah. The Long Ranger, yeah. That was one of my dad's favorites. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Um, rotary phones. Rotary phones.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Yeah, we had rotary, but we went to push button right away.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

No, no, no. I mean, we I still remember rotary phones. Sonia, do you remember rotary phones?

SPEAKER_03 35:37

Yeah, and you we would use a pencil for the back end of the pants.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

And and you know, back in the day, also you could smoke on planes. You can't do that now.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

You you'd be able to smoke at work and in data centers. You don't you can't do that anymore. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

And even on TV. Do you guys remember seeing like the newscasters? They would give the news and they would be smoking.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

And they and you can't advertise billboards uh for tobacco, right? Right. So um Encyclopedia Britannica. I worked, believe it or not, when I was a teenager, I worked for Encyclopedia Britannica in a telemarketing firm and we would sell Encyclopedia Britannicas.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

Did they go door to door? Because they that was a thing too.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Yeah, that was door. No, we we worked in a call center, and that was, I think, in the 90s. Yeah, that was in the 90s.

SPEAKER_04 36:28

Uh or or worse, do you remember um the your like your local grocery stores or certified grocers? They would also give you stamps and you would collect those stamps, and then you can actually trade those in to get the different volumes of encyclopedias. I have what a funkin wagnel.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Yeah, I do I do remember that. Yeah, I do remember that.

SPEAKER_04 36:51

Yeah, yeah, or the dishes, or dishes. Usually, yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

I remember the dishes. Well, remember uh me and Julie have talked about this before. Woolworths used to have um a lunch encounter, right? Yep, yeah. So you'd be able to go there and have lunch. And did did Wall was that the first one that you remember that had that? Because it was so many, I think back in the 20s and 30s.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

I remember it because when I was younger, I used to have rashes on my legs. So my mom took me to children's memorial all the time. And I was on a bus. My mom traveled everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Because of Woolworths?

SPEAKER_02 37:24

No, and so when my older sister would go with, and she knew my mom would always afterwards take us to go get food or go eat, and it was a treat because it was just like the two or three of us. So her thing was tell mom, let's go get some grilled cheese from Woolverts, and that's where we would go. Right. Because it was a trip with the it was the five and dime diner. So it was very cheap, and uh, that's where where we that's why I remember it, and uh my sister still to this day remembers. Yeah, I remember you I tell you, tell mommy you're hungry, tell mommy you're hungry so we can go eat. Wow. Did did Goldblatt's have something like that or no?

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Oh they may have goldblasts was pretty big, right?

SPEAKER_04 38:07

Yeah, no, I think they had just like um they had like a little food from what I remember. The goldblats, my mom went to they had like a little food area uh um where they had like the corn dots and then they had popcorn. And um Montgomery Wards also had something like that. And then Montgomery Wards had they had the bargain basement where you could find like the weirdest things or the discontinued last seasons or stuff that was yeah, clear and style.

unknown 38:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

There was, I think Sears also had something like that.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

And well, they had their outlet stores like in the park.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Yeah, but yeah, there because I think their major, the big one was in Oak Brook, right? The Sears. Yeah, that Sears Oak Brook. I remember going to big Sears out a big Sears store in Oak Brook. Um, but the other one too that had uh uh like a food area or whatever was Kmart. Kmart had also the same.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

Yeah, they had a little diner.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

Yeah, they had like a little dining area, yeah. All that's gone. I mean uh they replaced it obviously with with the malls and they have food courts and all that. But I mean the stores that uh you know thinking back to you know, obviously nostalgia, you know, those were the stores that had like the little diners in them within them. Yeah, you know, so those, yeah. I remember that.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

All the store old stores are gone zers.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

Right, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

Uh what was the other one? Um ventures. Turnstyle. Oh my god, turnstile was before ventures. Yes, it was like a ventures, but it was before it was before ventures.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Really? Yeah, I don't remember that one.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

It was the first one was near the brickyard. The brickyard in Chicago. So was that just Chicago? I I don't know, but I remember turnstile was there because my sister worked there, Deborah. Okay, and I remember my brothers having to go meet her to uh meet her after work to, you know, just so she had company coming home because she had to take a bus. So they went and um drove a car to go pick her up. They actually got stopped by cops um and um said that they were out after curfew, and they were like, hey, we just went to go pick her up from work. We weren't out, you know. We had curfews, they don't have curfews, right?

SPEAKER_05 40:23

Right, right, right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 40:25

And um they were gonna take them into the police station, but they kind of talked them out of it. And back then there were cops known to be pulling girls over and and kind of with well, I mean it was it back this was like late 70s, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Remember that cop that was uh he's already passed, but I forgot what he was a bad cop. And remember there was uh some trials in Chicago that um this guy did all sorts of illegal stuff. Oh yeah, yeah. So cops were bad back then.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

I mean, so I think that's why they know going out at night was no, you didn't go out at night. Um we the girls were not allowed to go out um before they were 18.

SPEAKER_05 41:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

And you couldn't leave the house unless you were married. So it was your job to stay at home and do what mama said. How about you, Sonia?

SPEAKER_04 41:15

Um my parents were strict. I think that they got more strict as I got older. Weirdest thing. But um I wonder why. Yeah, I wonder why. Um I got in trouble a lot. I yeah, I had curfew, but I got in trouble a lot. So I didn't always make curfew. I mean, there were just too many people to see and too many things to do.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

So well, let me ask you a question. You went to church every Sunday, right?

SPEAKER_04 41:44

Um yeah, I got to an age and then I was like, yeah, no, I'm done with that. And then it was like, okay. So at some at some point parents figure it out that they don't have total control like they think they do. So if you say no, like well then you get to a point that like they can't they're not gonna kick your butt, you know?

SPEAKER_01 42:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

So uh my mother never that oh she didn't care. She didn't care how old you were. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Oh, you always went to church every Sunday. We did too. I mean we went to church every Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

I I think until I was like actually got married, and then then I didn't have to.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Yeah, I think well, even after I got married, um, I think I still went to church. Um, I didn't uh I didn't stop going to church. I still go to church. Um, but you know, sometimes I'm just you know a little bit more flexible on my Sundays and with football and stuff like that. I just kind of, you know, God will understand.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

What was your most memorable event growing up, Sonia? Like historical like historic-wise.

SPEAKER_04 42:43

Historic-wise, uh the the moon landing, and so now my heart is broken because apparently it was all a hoax. But I I remember watching the moon landing in 1969 in July of that year. I do. We were like, I was watching it on yeah, I was while we my brother and I were watching it on this tiny little black and white TV, and I was just I was just my mouth was hanging open because I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that like men were on the moon. Like it was, you know, I mean, being obviously five years old, um it was such a it wasn't a hoax, was it?

SPEAKER_01 43:25

No.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

Well, that's what they're saying.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

I don't think it was all a hoax. I don't think I don't believe it was a hoax, no. But I remember watching that. I mean, it would be so elaborate of a hoax that it would just be Yeah, because they just show peep pictures of the moon.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

It looks the same.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

Yeah, I mean, I don't I don't believe it was a hoax. I mean but those same people are probably the mega, you know, people that believe in, you know, that Trump is the greatest uh of ever.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

John actually uh at a podcast event in Florida just this January, a woman does believe the world is flat.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Yeah, there there was a woman who actually believes the world is flat. Yes. I'm like, and I asked her, so at what point do we fall off? She couldn't she couldn't answer. But her husband doesn't believe that. I'm like, okay, how do you live with somebody that believes that the world is flat? But they believe someone they are. So it's like you meet every type of person if you eventually, if you eventually you if you bump into people, you're gonna meet somebody who has completely out of these world uh ideas. You know what I mean? So it's yeah, so anyway.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

I know I think we grew up in a time where there was more structure, more discipline, yeah, more family interaction because we had no choice.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

I yeah, I totally agree.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

But we had religion, we had values, and we had we were we were raised to have respect for other people, right? You know, we had discipline, exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

My you know what one thing about my parents, my parents are very good at keeping uh our family together, you know what I mean? And that's something that I've always uh thought of now is completely kind of a different story because um all of us uh uh siblings are we have our own mind, we have our own direction, and some of them are out there in Lala Land. So I don't really um I don't really um what's the word? Um or what's the phrase? Um what what they gave us um and uh and our way of thinking, I think was good. I think what everybody does uh once they grow up and have their own ideology, that's that's their thing.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

But on the other hand, because we grew up in a strict environment, when we had our own kids, we gave them leeway. And in that aspect, I wonder if that's where we kind of did a disservice to our kids. No. Because they were able to have a little more room for choice, and they don't have the tradition, tradition and the value that we had growing up.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

I maybe you're right, uh a little of that. I think that will look with my my daughter, um, I think that um I gave her enough. She had so many different people though, giving her um, you know, raising her because come from a divorced uh family. And so, you know, she had her mom, she had me, she had uh my uh my uh my family to give her um different points of view and all that. So sometimes when you grow up with so many different things, you grow up to to have your own either to dislike that or to dislike that or to like that or whatever. So you kind of um gather all the information and you become who you're gonna become. You know, I think my parents gave me what I needed at that time and I became a better person. And um, you know, and I'm way different than anybody in my family, I'll tell you that much. You know, so I mean, good or bad, I don't know. But I'm a completely different person.

SPEAKER_02 47:07

I think we're all individuals. I mean I'm different than my other siblings. You know, I was the only one who went to a Catholic high school. Um, and that was just due to the fact that I'm so light-complexed.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

I'm the only one that hit a nun.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

But I mean, I I think maybe because of my experience going to a Catholic high school, I'm a different person.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

Right.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

Because I'm I wasn't raised the same way as they were in public school.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

I don't know. It I'm Sonia, what do you what do you think? I mean, uh as far as like, you know, has growing up the where where you did and how you did um defined you.

SPEAKER_04 47:51

Um I think um nature or nurture, yeah. Um I think definitely my surroundings, um, the nurture part um played a huge part. I'm definitely nothing how my parents were brought up, um, different country, different uh and I think every generation is just um it differs because of you get the fundamental values, but um your your world really does play a part, your experiences and who you ultimately become. Um my parents could not relate to my world that I was growing up in. Um, you know, with my children, I found it, you know, in some ways hard, although, you know, we're both born and read here in America, but their social structure was different. And I find myself at a true loss when I hear my granddaughter talk about some of the things that you know she is experiencing and seeing, you know, with her friend group and you know, in what's going on in her world. And I'm like, um, I'm lost sometimes, you know, she's um fifth gonna be 15 soon. And wow, already yeah, and so sometimes like, how do I even relate to that? So I yeah, I think every generation, depending on what society looks like and how that impacts them, has a definite bearing on, you know, shaping them and shaping us. So right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

No, I did yeah, I mean, it's it's like anything else. It's you know, as time goes on, um you can you kind of you know it's funny because I think we're going backwards in society. I think that, you know, one of the things that I saw today, uh, as far as like the list of boomers is like when they f uh they signed the Civil Rights Act and all that. And guess what? We have an administration that's trying to do away with everything, trying to basically do away with history. And so, you know, what is what is going to be left for the future when you know we have uh people who think so um one dimensional and uh you know are so one dementia? One dimensional, yeah, dementia. Yeah, and I mean it it's it it it's it's so sad to see what the future is gonna hold for us because we're going backwards, we're not going forward, you know. We're not uh you know they want us to go backwards, where they had more control, they want to control us, they want to hold us to where to where they can that can uh do you imagine if they had that birthright citizenship, they didn't have it when we were growing up.

SPEAKER_02 50:33

We wouldn't be here.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

That's nuts.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

We would not be here, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:36

Exactly. Yeah, I mean, my parents wouldn't be here, you know. I wouldn't be here, right? So it's it's it's it's terrible to to see what other people, I mean, we're we're kind of lucky because, you know, we were born here and you know, we are um we're we have birthright here. But imagine the newborns that are born now that uh, you know, let's say they they do this uh birthright uh BS. Do these kids have a home? Are these kids born uh that are that are from one parent from here and one parent from there? Are they gonna be able to stay here or are they gonna get deported as a newborn to another country that they have no clue what it is? That's that's just nothing insane. And that's the that's the exact thing that these people want to do is control the narrative. They want to control, you know, uh how we vote, how we eat, what we look at. It's like communism. That's basically what it is. It's socialism, communism that this administration is trying to uh portray in this government. And that and it's gotta stop. It really does. So anyway, that's just me going off.

SPEAKER_02 51:47

What was your most uh biggest event that you remember?

SPEAKER_01 51:50

Me? Yeah. Oh my god, there's so many. I mean, I invented the McDonald's drive-thru when I was uh when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

That was your biggest event.

SPEAKER_01 51:59

Well, I mean, you know, the before the drive-thru was real popular. Yeah, I crashed into a my my parents' Electra uh 7, 7, whatever, um 928 or whatever. Um, I took it. I was like 16, 17 years old, and my my my parents let me take it. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to McDonald's. So I went through like all this patio stuff and all that, thinking I was putting my foot on the uh brake and it was the accelerator and right through the uh patio patio stuff. And I was like, I was so scared I went home. The cops were already sitting there look waiting for me.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 52:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

No, I think my big event was Elvis Dying.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

That was big too.

SPEAKER_02 52:44

That was like I remember going to school, like, oh my God, he died. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 52:47

Yeah, that was big too. I mean, it wasn't there's so many deaths that we could go. That's a whole different show. But I mean, yeah, Elvis Dying was pretty big. I remember I was uh in my sister's older sister's room, and we were looking out the window, and somebody had said that Elvis had died, and I can tell you exactly that me and her were looking out the window. I don't know why we were looking out the window, but that's the moment that we um that somebody said Elvis had died, and I'm like, oh my God. And I was a big I was a big Elvis fan. I really was. You still are. I still am. I'm still a big fan. That's why I like Bruno Mars so much because he kind of reminds me of that, you know, that swagger, you know. But yeah, Elvis, uh, I was a big Elvis fan. We've gone to Graceland, um, and that was fun, right, Julia?

SPEAKER_02 53:32

I was, it was.

SPEAKER_01 53:33

It was a lot of fun, yeah. And we do it again.

SPEAKER_02 53:35

It really was.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

Anyway, so Sonia, well, thank you for being on our show today.

SPEAKER_02 53:40

Um you're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

Uh, we've got to do this again because we have so much we could talk about.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

I mean now that we know we can do a phone a friend.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

Well, that's I mean, everything that we we're doing right now is just kind of like there's gonna be more. I mean, we're expanding on this. We're gonna be able to do uh video on video and stuff like that. So it's just gonna continue to get better. So um next week's show is a big one. Uh, we're going to have, hopefully, we're putting this together. It's going to be a show of families in local theater. My daughter uh was uh is uh in a play that I saw last uh Friday. It was a remarkable play. I can't remember the title, but it's uh a time and date or something like that. It was a fantastic show. She was remarkable in it. Um, the whole cast uh was good. Uh the the play itself was very good. I was very impressed. I thought it was going to be a boring play, to be honest, going into it. I was telling my niece. Uh, but um it turned out to be a fantastic show. Um it was the village theater in Glen Ellen, and it was uh it was a very good show. I loved it. So anyway, so her mom is also in theater. She's been in a lot of theaters. Um, I've been in plays. Um, so we're all gonna talk about uh local theater, how it's affected our lives, how it affected uh generations, and maybe we'll have another guest. We're gonna have Joey hopefully here, uh, and Jessica, obviously. Uh so we'll see you next week. And thank you for listening. Uh, you've been listening to Genesis Us podcast.

SPEAKER_00 55:18

Thank you for listening to the Genesis Us Podcast. Make sure to subscribe. All our podcasts are available, and follow us on our Instagram and YouTube at Genesis Podcast. We want to hear from you the listeners of tell us feedback or questions that you would like.