HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 11-23-13

Amusing Memories

In the early days of the 20th Century, courting was done on a very different level than it is today. I won’t even try to go to the present methods and I wasn’t around 100 years ago. I did hear from my grandparents that they courted in her mother’s parlor. My grandfather would walk the two miles in from where he lived out on Anderson Rd. (now Pemberton Drive) and sit with my grandmother until her mother would turn on a certain light. That was his signal to leave. It was usually early by present day standards.

That leaves us with the mid-20th Century. The end of WWII brought about economic changes from which America has yet to recover. The women had gotten used to bringing home a paycheck and when the men returned from the war, the two incomes allowed them to purchase their first home. As economic situations increased, maybe a second car was in the budget. This car was usually the vehicle in which the children learned to drive and used for the “parlor”. Houses built in the 1950’s were usually constructed with a living room, dining room, kitchen, bath and three bedrooms. They didn’t have “family rooms” or “parlors”.

The only place that a young couple could expect any privacy was in the family car. In those days, there were many out of the way places for just such a quiet moment. These were affectionately known as “parking places”. Anyone that grew up in the 1950’s has many memories of their favorite spot. This was in the age of innocence when you didn’t have to worry about being mugged or worse. Leaning on the horn ring was about as bad as it got. What a mood breaker! There was also a thing called “grasshopping”. This was when somebody found your favorite spot and a group of boys would sneak up on the car and pound on the trunk and scare the bejeebers out of you. It was all done in fun and usually never led to anyone seeking physical retribution. There are stories about a road nearHebron that was known as Ghost Light Road. I have heard stories about strange thumping noises underneath the car from some people who blamed it on the “ghosts” and I have heard the same thing from some former “grasshoppers” that did the thumping.

I have recently heard a story that a young married couple had determined that the spark had gone out of their marriage. Even though they had a house, they decided that the spark could possibly be fanned by returning to the origin of their courtship. They went “parking” and found the old spark again. True story.

The drive-in theater was another destination for a young couple seeking some measure of solitude with the family car. Drive-in theaters were great in the summer and you didn’t even have to turn the sound on that metal speaker that used to hang on your window. All the cars were parked so that they tilted slightly up in the front for better viewing. Some kids even had their own jalopy. They were revered by their peers. Visiting other cars was common if you knew the occupants and they were otherwise “unoccupied”. Also, the car’s trunk provided entrance for a couple more guys on “dollar night”. As the song goes: “Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end.”