Grew up in a small, rural Illinois town. No one, and I mean no one locked doors. You would go to a friend's house, knock on the door a couple times, then open it. You'd peek your head inside and say "hello" and if someone answered, you were good to go inside. If no one answered, you left. My grandparents didn't start locking their doors until about 10 years ago. Meth and Chicago transporting juvenile delinquents down south brought the crime.
I remember leaving on my bike with a bag lunch at dawn and my friends and I would ride for miles on end in the middle of nowhere. No cell phones. No check-ins. Nothing but our friends and our bikes. IF something went wrong, we knew we'd have to knock on a stranger's door and call for help. We knew to stick together. The only rule was to be home when the street lights came on.
I lived in a small rural town in Illinois when we raised our kids. None of us locked our doors. To this day, some people in town still do not lock their doors. It was such a blessing to raise our children in that town.
I remember that Liberty5309. We never locked the doors unless going out of state or something. I lived in a rural town in Maine population 500 in East Machias ME.
We never had to worry about crime. Never had to worry about the police. Never had to think about if my mother let me walk to the local convenience if the cops would arrest her like they did that lady recently.
Yep. Doors were definitely locked in my neighborhood. It was so common there was even had a name for it in the 70's and 80's. "Latch key kid."
I had to enter through the garage and use the key (which my mother made we wear under my shirt around my neck) when the bus dropped me off from school.
Yeah what do people think the "latch key" part meant? How else were we going to get in when we came home from school a couple hours before our parents got home from work?
Grew up in the 60's-70's on a farm in the Midwest. Neither Front or back door had locks installed in the doors. Tool shed, barn, various animal buildings with doors, no locks. Parked the cars and trucks in the yard, keys in the ignition. Rifles hung in the back window of the truck (which we occasionally drove to school)
Nobody even thought of touching someone else's rifle without permission - and the owner being present. Wasn't unusual for a kid to take a new shotgun/rifle into school to show a teacher.
Now we're talking my era. Mom did not work nor did she have to. Father worked on the Railroad and made good money. They had 8 kids together and all of us were clothed, fed, had good birthdays and great Christmases. We each had bikes. Never had to worry about being home alone after school because Momma was there getting ready to prepare Supper. Watched the Big Show, Gilligan's Island and Dark Shadows after school. Always something good on the Big Show because we'd have Elvis Week, Godzilla Week, Monster Week, etc. Those were the DAYS.
I'm not going to say that we would shoot arrows straight up over our heads with bows and then run to get out of the way of the descending return flight of the sharp metal-tipped arrows...
... cause no one in their right mind would have ever done that.
We lived in a nice neighborhood. I had a key and dad always made sure everything was locked at night. He sure as hell didn't leave his keys in the car either. That's some careless ass shit.
Lived in a small town,in the middle of nowhere. No drug addicts in those days. Why bother taken keys out,if no one is stealing cars? And it wasn't just us, everyone in town was the same.so you lived in a shithole that looks nice not a nice neighborhood.
LOL, I grew up in a small town in the north and people not only left their keys in the car, but they also left their cars running in the parking lot, unlocked, when they went into the grocery store during cold winter months!
The key that started the car was also the key that unlocked the car and there were no key fobs or automatic locks. So if you wanted your car warm when you came back, and if you wanted to avoid it not starting, you just kept her running.
If you wanted your window down, you rolled it down. No automatic anything. If you really had your shit together you hid a coat hanger in the wheel well so if you accidentally locked your car with the keys inside, or with the car running, you could fish the coat hanger through the window and snag the lock and pull it up.
A very different time!
Rocky IV, Top Gun, Spies Like Us, Red Dawn... Reagan Cold War Kids had it all!
I didn’t have a key, but there was one hidden outside in a special place. I was trained to get the key, get into the house, lock the door behind me, then walk through the house to the back and put the key where it belonged.
We did not leave our doors unlocked in the 80s. I don't know anyone who ever did that.
Grew up in a small, rural Illinois town. No one, and I mean no one locked doors. You would go to a friend's house, knock on the door a couple times, then open it. You'd peek your head inside and say "hello" and if someone answered, you were good to go inside. If no one answered, you left. My grandparents didn't start locking their doors until about 10 years ago. Meth and Chicago transporting juvenile delinquents down south brought the crime.
I remember leaving on my bike with a bag lunch at dawn and my friends and I would ride for miles on end in the middle of nowhere. No cell phones. No check-ins. Nothing but our friends and our bikes. IF something went wrong, we knew we'd have to knock on a stranger's door and call for help. We knew to stick together. The only rule was to be home when the street lights came on.
👌🙏🏻😎
We did that in the 70's. So glad to see it lasted for at leat a decade more.
60's for me. It was a great childhood.
I lived in a small rural town in Illinois when we raised our kids. None of us locked our doors. To this day, some people in town still do not lock their doors. It was such a blessing to raise our children in that town.
👌👌🙏🏻
I remember that Liberty5309. We never locked the doors unless going out of state or something. I lived in a rural town in Maine population 500 in East Machias ME.
We never had to worry about crime. Never had to worry about the police. Never had to think about if my mother let me walk to the local convenience if the cops would arrest her like they did that lady recently.
Yep. Doors were definitely locked in my neighborhood. It was so common there was even had a name for it in the 70's and 80's. "Latch key kid."
I had to enter through the garage and use the key (which my mother made we wear under my shirt around my neck) when the bus dropped me off from school.
Yeah what do people think the "latch key" part meant? How else were we going to get in when we came home from school a couple hours before our parents got home from work?
In the 60s ----- we had a mom at home full time
We made our own skate boards ---- and lawn darts.
Grew up in the 60's-70's on a farm in the Midwest. Neither Front or back door had locks installed in the doors. Tool shed, barn, various animal buildings with doors, no locks. Parked the cars and trucks in the yard, keys in the ignition. Rifles hung in the back window of the truck (which we occasionally drove to school)
Nobody even thought of touching someone else's rifle without permission - and the owner being present. Wasn't unusual for a kid to take a new shotgun/rifle into school to show a teacher.
Celebrate diversity ....
Now we're talking my era. Mom did not work nor did she have to. Father worked on the Railroad and made good money. They had 8 kids together and all of us were clothed, fed, had good birthdays and great Christmases. We each had bikes. Never had to worry about being home alone after school because Momma was there getting ready to prepare Supper. Watched the Big Show, Gilligan's Island and Dark Shadows after school. Always something good on the Big Show because we'd have Elvis Week, Godzilla Week, Monster Week, etc. Those were the DAYS.
Speaking of lawn darts...
I'm not going to say that we would shoot arrows straight up over our heads with bows and then run to get out of the way of the descending return flight of the sharp metal-tipped arrows...
... cause no one in their right mind would have ever done that.
Survival of the fittest they say.
Well, I'm still typing today. 🏹🤦🏻♂️
I walked through the unlocked door and locked it behind me.
Hence the "latch key" kid
I was gonna say the same thing.
I never had a key to our house, and I never saw my parrents lock the door. And we never took the keys out of the car.
We lived in a nice neighborhood. I had a key and dad always made sure everything was locked at night. He sure as hell didn't leave his keys in the car either. That's some careless ass shit.
Lived in a small town,in the middle of nowhere. No drug addicts in those days. Why bother taken keys out,if no one is stealing cars? And it wasn't just us, everyone in town was the same.so you lived in a shithole that looks nice not a nice neighborhood.
Ah! You must have grown up in the era I grew up in. Miss those days.
LOL, I grew up in a small town in the north and people not only left their keys in the car, but they also left their cars running in the parking lot, unlocked, when they went into the grocery store during cold winter months!
The key that started the car was also the key that unlocked the car and there were no key fobs or automatic locks. So if you wanted your car warm when you came back, and if you wanted to avoid it not starting, you just kept her running.
If you wanted your window down, you rolled it down. No automatic anything. If you really had your shit together you hid a coat hanger in the wheel well so if you accidentally locked your car with the keys inside, or with the car running, you could fish the coat hanger through the window and snag the lock and pull it up.
A very different time!
Rocky IV, Top Gun, Spies Like Us, Red Dawn... Reagan Cold War Kids had it all!
Our neighbor had two grills stolen out of their backyard in the summer of 1982. He cemented the third one in.
Neighbor down the street had their whole lawn stolen overnight. They had a crew install sod the day before.
Almost makes one wonder if the crew that installed the lawn by day removed the lawn by night.
Just think. You could reuse that sod over and over and make some bank. LOL
🤔🌱
Starting to wonder if you lived in my neighborhood.
I didn’t have a key, but there was one hidden outside in a special place. I was trained to get the key, get into the house, lock the door behind me, then walk through the house to the back and put the key where it belonged.
👌👌🙂
Same
My doors were never locked at my mom's house, but we lived in what was then a small town.
Mine were
Kind of depends where you live I would think