Just Being Cool

what was it that made us "Cool"? Or what made us think we were "Cool"? was the way we talked? the way we walked? or was it just the way anything made us feel in the Fifties.

Here is a place where you can jot down a paragraph or two of the the things that were "Just being Cool".

"The Drive In Theater and The Drive In Restaurants"

The Drive In Movie theater was a great place to go in the summer. Buck night was a popular thing with kids and some cars were packed to capacity. One thing was important--that you get a space to park that had a "good" speaker (meaning one that actually had good enough sound that we could understand the dialog from the move!) It was also important that you get a spot close to the refreshment stand. Most of us did not feel these things were so important that we come EARLY for a movie! But, if you did happen to come early, you could always get out of the car and walk around and see who was there and WITH WHOM. As I remember it, mosquitoes were not really a problem. I wonder if the theater sprayed for bugs or something. The Drive In was on the east side of Albert Lea. I worked at Ron's Drive In (a root beer stand) and we always got a lot of business after the movie. Everyone liked to come in for root beer floats, malts, etc. One thing Ron's did not have, was a blacktop parking lot. Needless-to-say, the feet of the carhops were very very tired from walking on gravel all night and carrying the heavy frosted root beer mugs on those trays. All this work for only about 65 cents per hour! And the tips were not always too good, either! Once got a $1.00 tip from a truck driver. I mean a real huge semi truck. I had to climb way up on those truck bumpers to reach the window to deliver this guy's food and coke. I was happy that I did not spill it on the way up! I have lots of other happy memories about going to the other drive-ins like A & W and The Dairy Bar drive ins. They were all great places to see friends and eat a quick hamburger and fries. Maybe more of you can remember other stuff I have forgotten. It brings back happy memories of home town life in Albert Lea with family and friends and classmates.

Renee (Johnson) Emerson

"THE RAIL"

I would like to have a penny for every minute I spent sitting on the Rail on the corner of Clark Street and Broadway. The times we used to have, I'll never forget. We used to whistle at all the good looking girls that would drive by. I remember one time a car load of girls from I think Austin stopped for the Red lite in front of the Rail. Two or three of us jumped into their car. I can't remember who the one or two guys that were with me were, but we ended up cruising the next couple of hours with them. What a nite, what can I say!!!! I don't remember if it was the city or the owner of the Cleaners, but they put pointed objects on the Rail in hopes of discouraging us from sitting on the Rail. To there dismay it didn't work. We just went home every nite with wrinkles on our tail ends and didn't allow the rough Rail to discourage us. We would sit there up to two hours at a time and have the best time of our lives, besides we weren't spending money for gas. When the tank got alittle low, we would go about 30 feet to the left to Golds Grill for some french fries and then back to the Rail.

Larry R.

Harold C.

"Cruisin Cool"

While Cruisin up and down Broadway, You had to look good. We used to sit real low where we could barely see over the dash, but we were real cooooool. We used to jack up the rear end and stick a 24 inch 2X4 between the axle and the body. So now we would have a radical rake in the front end. It was baaaaaaaaad. The tires would really squeel as we peeled out around the corners. Suspensions shot and springs broke but that was all a part of Growin up and bein "Coooool"

Larry R.

"Hoods in White"

1957 I believe. The year of the White jacket. I don't know if white is why we got them, but they did have collars and could be flipped up real quick just to be COOOL. I remember hours in front of a mirror trying to get that special look you needed. You remember that James Dean look? Even us guys knew the days of ketchup fights were over. We would had to face MOM and that was not cool.

Jerry S.

send me a paragraph or two about something that you thought may have been "cool" to you during that period. At least it did back then.

You can E-Mail them here