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16 smells that will take you right back to childhood in the 1960s
Take a whiff of the Sixties.
What did the Sixties smell like? No, the answer is not "hippies." For those who grew up in the era, the decade was a bouquet of fresh grass, new plastic, Ipana toothpaste, orange sherbet and meatloaf.
We also think the following scents will take anyone back to the 1960s. If you could manage to track them down today.
Alas, scratch-and-sniff computer technology does not exist. Close your eyes, open your nostrils and imagine these odors. Do they take you back? What smells scream "1960s" to you?
1. The singed wiring and hot oil of electric train sets
What kid didn't want Lionel Trains? Toys today just don't have the heft of those mini metal replicas. Also, the odor. You could smell the electricity coursing through the wires, not to mention the hot transformer. If you had a track running around your Christmas tree, add some fresh pine to the mix.
2. Sun-scorched vinyl seats inside your car
Leather seat? What are we, the Clampetts? Most of us had bad vinyl bench seating in our cars, and those synthetic fabrics would roast on a hot summer day.
3. The shaved cedar and graphite of sharpened pencil shavings
If we were making a list of the sounds of childhood, the nagging grind of a hand-crank pencil sharpener would have to top the list. But the woody smell of a freshly sharpened nub ranks high, too.
4. The pasty can of Play-Doh
This is an odor that spans generations, but you had to live in the 1960s to play with the Play-Doh Funny Pumper.
5. The soapy musk of Brylcreem
British Brylcreem (citrusy) and American Brylcreem (muskier) had different scents, for some reason. Odds are, your dad's head smelled like this.
6. Model kit glue
Building plastic scale models was a much bigger hobby for kids of the 1960s. Heck, there were stores devoted to the craft. Perhaps you put together a Star Trek Enterprise?
7. Rubbery Artgum erasers
After you made mistakes with all those freshly sharpened pencils, you could wipe them away with an Artgum, "the Dry Cleaner and Eraser."
8. Devil's food cooking in an Easy-Bake Oven
Nothing smells quite like a 100-watt lightbulb cooking cake mix.
9. The oily newsprint of Silly Putty
Silly Putty certainly has its own unique muddy, greasy odor, but you most likely used the gunk to lift images off a newspaper page, forever linking those two scents.
10. The maple oatiness of hot Maypo Cereal
As the name implied, Maypo smelled like maple syrup, which, combined with the warm cereal grains, made the perfect aroma for watching Saturday morning cartoons.
11. The burnt plastic of Creeple Peeple
The "Thingmaker" toy was most likely a fire hazard and not suitable for modern safety standards. You were essentially grilling plastics, and that has a sharp stench.
12. The notes of eucalyptus and camphor in Noxzema
Teenagers today have an array of weaponry to battle acne. Back in the day, Noxzema was our main chemical to erase zits.
13. The papery bubblegum of Candy Cigarettes
Dusty powdered sugar, bubblegum, flimsy paper — it had a smell, yeah, but it sure beats tar and ash.
14. The chemical whiff of LePage's Mucilage glue
Way, way back in the day, LePage's "fish glue" was manufactured from fish skin. That undoubtedly reeked. Later, the mucilage maker switched to chemical components, but it still had a sharp, memorable smell.
15. The scorched carbon and paper of cap guns
The red strip of paper ammo reminded us of a cross of fireworks and candy dots.
16. The inkiness of Ditto paper
Before copy machines, students and offices relied on Ditto paper to make multiple copies. The thin layer of transferring ink had a sweet smell that some found intoxicating.
SEE MORE: 20 smells that will take you right back to the 1970s
Time for another dose of nose-talgia. READ MORE
51 Comments
Loved the smell of the mimeograph ink.
Also, I remember when I was in the 8th grade most stores that sold model glue (Testors) had put it behind the counter because kids were stealing it to get high!
I loved my Easy Bake Oven, but WAY better than the cakes was the red jelly candies. The mix was hard to find.
I really enjoyed my Creeple Peeple, but for outdoor play, caps were it. Can't find your cap gun? Just unroll a strip of caps on the (concrete) backyard steps and grab a hammer!
floor and hammer caps on the characters!
One distinctive smell you missed: Toni home permanent.
Bet I would've loved Maypo. Hope Waffle Crisp is a sufficient replacement.
I know Noxzema too.
if I REALLY behaved myself. Don't remember much about Easy Bake Ovens,
except the dry cake mix was tasty.
I thought smoking looked cool and would pretend to do it with pens and whatnot, but luckily I never wanted to actually try it for real...
nostalgic candy stores. There's one near me that stocks about 500
modern and classic candies.