Finding things to do on Saturdays as a kid.

04/10/11 - posted by Rick

Saturday morning naturally started with cartoons by 7-7.30.
Loonytoons kicked things off and my favorite Johnny
Quest would wrap it up by 10 am.
Unless the weather was particularly crappy mom would insist that we venture out of the house into the fresh air,
Most often returning for lunch then going right back out
For the balance of the day.
With no solid plans or even vague notion of what to do with ourselves there were several options.
We could explore the interior regions of the sand dunes
Years before S.I, climb trees on sunset BLVD or possibly
Slide down the grass hill at sunset reservoir on sheets of cardboard. Another tact was to saddle up our stingrays bikes
And explore distant corners of the sunset
Even traveling as far as Playland if we were feeling brave or lucky that day.
One option always available was the local schoolyard and if all else failed it was there that we would gather.
In those days (mid-late 60s) most public grammar school playgrounds were staffed by a park and rec employee after school and all day Saturday.
The schoolyard director would dispense basketballs, kickballs
Volleyballs etc, also available was gimp or lanyard with which we would weave key chains and a board game called karum or carum were you shot checker sized disks into the corner pockets with a short pool cue type stick.
Several times a year you could sign up for field trips to playland or a Giants game provided you obtained your parents permission.
It was all basically free of charge with the exception of a nominal fee for the field trips.
No cell phones and minimal adult supervision in those days
resulted in a feeling of independence and adventure and taught us how to look out for ourselves and and avoid potentially dangerous situations.
Almost forgot; catching crawdads at pine lake with bacon tied to a piece of string. Life was a lot simpler, I sure miss those days.