Pandemic musings by R Cane

Pandemic musings … of bygone days

The pandemic sure has us looking for interesting things to do. Reminiscences float up!

Recently I found myself daydreaming and reminiscing about the old days in Los Angeles and Hollywood-West Hollywood in the 1950's when I was growing up… I remembered the Helms Bakery Truck that came by .. and how it was such a big part of our world back then. Everyone loved the Helms Truck ! Those were the daze - when stuffs came to you ! 

I got to remembering some of the old neighborhoods – and recalled the various other vagabond vendor trucks coming thru with products for sale .. the odd rag man, or junk man collecting scrap metals and glass .. a few times,  I saw  “Tinkers” trucks roll thru …. calling out products in a sing song chant --selling dry goods and loaded mostly with cookware and kitchen stuff, but they also sharpened knives while you waited.

In the early 50's, incinerators were common in our backyards … my morning chores included going out to burn the trash in the backyard incinerator before leaving for school on the weekly 'burn days'. LA in the morning in mid 1950's often looked like classic pictures of steel mills belching and churning out smoke . On those days the LA basin would fill with soot and smoke from all the incinerators burning. We had that smokey-haze – long before it was called  'smog' .. but I digress … we had separate metal lidded trash cans for glass, for metals and cans, and for wet garbage – all paper and burnables went to the incinerator ! Recycling was standard operating procedure.

I can picture old Ford flatbed trucks loaded high with watermelons – or fruit in season – citrus' ; oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes,  by the lug avocados, apples, pears, and peaches. The trucks would go slowly, creeping thru the neighborhoods …usually with young men trotting along each side of the street to run and pick the perfect melon, or lug of fruit for anyone who called out from a porch. A rolling produce stand!

Jingle playing neighborhood ice cream trucks are still around, but I vividly recall waiting every day in the summer of 1958 for the 6 pm (just after dinner) Good Humor truck. I knew that jingle meant I could get a 20 cent caramel sundae, and a 15 cent 'drumstick' cone for sis. 25 cent Eskimo pies were favorites of the adults.

The best and most regular truck and everyone’s favorite .. (and one we actually counted on regularly for wonderful breads and baked goods ) – was the Helms Bakery truck and the 'Helmsman' who knew what everybody liked.

He brought us special orders and the best pastries and doughnuts .. the incredible smell when they opened the doors – oh my! I would try to catch a sniff even when I couldn't get anything that day. The man would roll out the endlessly deep wooden drawers of gorgeous baked goods and breads .. always incredible arrays of tempting and inviting doughnuts and pastries .. the Helms truck always came the same days and times … and we could hear the unmistakable whistle down the block. We knew heaven was just rolling up !

I'm surprised that I've lived long enough to actually recall the old time "Ice Man" bringing blocks of ice to my grandmother's fridge …an old Ice Box - literally! .. this is one of my first kitchen memories .. I was amazed at he wrangled the big ice tongs -- slinging a huge and heavy crystal clear block of ice - all the way from the street truck … down the drive, and up the high back steps to the kitchen.Then he would swap out of the remaining mostly melted ice and water, and then install the new block.

We also had milk delivery companies over the years – Milk delivery was in glass bottles and more common than getting store milk in cartons!

The first milkman I recall was grandmothers delivery man – who wore a crisp white outfit and white, black brimmed, service hat. I would follow him to and from that wonderful specialized milk truck, just to see what he had inside, or bring back last minute requests from grandma. He always had eggs, a line of cheeses, hard and soft like cottage cheese large curd, buttermilk and yogurt - cream in every stage; sweet to sour, and a  panoply of other specialized dairy goods.Often fresh orange or other juices. He knew our regular order, but we had little order slips to put in the empty milk bottles to place orders - in case of a substitute driver. 

Other home delivery services I recall using or having … all long gone now  -- dead as the dinosaurs.

Tailors came to the house to fit clothes - over and over till they were fitted! 

Dry Cleaners would pick up / drop off at no extra charge - same day service too. 

Diaper and Linen services would bring / exchange diapers and linens.

Butchers delivered meats cut to order.

Water was delivered to homes - every one had a water cooler; Sparkletts, Arrowhead etc.

Pharmacies delivered 'same day' or night. 

Neighborhood Grocery stores had bicycle delivery – bigger stores delivered with panel trucks – but grocery delivery was common, easy, and and practical.

Doctors actually made home visits !My friend has a receipt for birth at home in 1940 -- The doctors fee was $1.75, and the attending nurse was $1 more – total bill was exorbitant at $2.75 !

I recall several times having a doctor visit me at home as a kid .. it was common and not the least bit expensive or unusual.

Besides deliveries, neighborhoods were social centers for kids. Scouts and Grade School Kids went door to door selling and collecting for various school, church, or charity drives and sales ..

Remember school paper drives ? Or your class selling some cookies, cards, or subscriptions?

I recall how all us kids went door to door with pillow cases for candy on Halloween .. and you knew all the folks on your street !.

Didja ever have a bicycle 'Paper Route', and learn the fine art of folding and delivering 130 papers … precisely on the porch mat ?

When your car needed help, mechanics gladly came to you to fix your car ; flat tires, 6 volt battery boost, charge or jump, maybe a little fiddle with the carburetor float, or other shade tree mechanical stuff – often taking pay only for parts -- and refusing pay for the labor !

The pandemic may bring some of these kinds of services back again … home delivering is the wave of the future for the pandemic quarantined folks .. but now ...  

... WE LOVE PIES !!!  What to do Percy? ... Pie Delivery ? ..  Perhaps that's the answer ?

I want to know where home delivered pies fit in ? Everyone loves pie, and in these troubled times we need truthful comfort food now more than ever … and as is often said .. 
... PIE DON'T LIE !

Pie Delivery indeed !  We need the Helms Truck again !

Is that Pie in the Sky?

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