i remember waxed paper for sandwiches--baggies hadn't been invented (later in the 50s, there were waxed paper sandwich bags, if you were rich enough to get them.); penny candy cost a penny, gum ball machines that gave you a gum ball, and "charms", as well. "cracker jacks" actually had little prizes in them--not just flat paper books and cartoons. prizes came inside cereal boxes, too. the local "corner store" was run by a retired butcher, who was minus some fingers, but he was kind to us kids, and would sell us half a popsicle for three cents if we didn't have the nickel for the whole thing. we kids could be sent to any store to buy cigarettes for our folks. some stores required a note from mom or dad, but most didn't. we even had a popcorn stand on the street in the summertime--we could buy a small bag of popcorn for a nickel, a big one for a dime. eventually, they had a new fangled treat, too--sno cones. we kids experienced a new level of brain freeze, and we loved it. the traveling carnival came to town every summer, and we went "alone", with our friends, because we knew everybody's folks were looking out for us. there were always dire warning about the "carnies", but there were always adults who were watching any group of kids who were on their own.
rollerskates had to be clamped onto your leather soled shoes--and if your friend didn't have skated, you loaned them one, so you could both "one-foot skate" on the sidewalk. (i still have my skate key, and my mom's as well. she and dad met at a roller rink, and that key was symbolic of a marriage that lasted 62 years.) the red metal wagon was our main amusement in the summer--gravity propelled it down the hill by our house, with us in it. the ride was the reward, and then we got to hike back up the hill, and do it again. and if you lived close enough, in minneapolis, you could walk to minnehaha falls, and follow the creek all the way to the place where it joined the mississippi river.
so, yep. i'm not only older than dirt--i was probably there when it was invented...