Five and Dime Nostalgia

David Lyttle has fun today reminiscing about the old five and dimes. He does a nice job of citing some of the things that evoke sharp memories of these former mainstays of our pre-mall culture.

The thing I remember most about the five and dimes was the God-awful smell--an unholy mélange of stale candy and popcorn, cheap cosmetics, and vinyl.

Then, of course, there were the lunch counters with the old ladies on both sides of the counter. Every sandwich, it seemed, was a "toastie," smashed to smithereens in a sandwich press, served with flaccid potato chips and the ubiquitous Coke in the classic curved glass