The Sons of San Fernando

From the family station wagon that hauled us around town to getting behind the wheel of the first vehicles of our own, cars were a different kind of beast in the 70s and 80s. Seatbelts? Optional. Would they start on a cold morning? Probably not. We were lucky if we had air conditioning and a tape deck. And let's not forget the infamous cigarette lighter. As kids, cars took us place

In the 70s and 80s we made it our mission to shove as much fast food into our gaping pieholes as humanly possible. Burgers, fries, tacos, burritos and a stready stream of soda to wash it all down. If Sheriff Brody and Hooper sliced us opnen they wouldn't have found a Virginia license plate, but instead a steady stream of sugar, sodium and a bunch of chemicals you can't pronounce. B

Slides, swings, monkey bars, merry-go-rounds and ball pits. In the Gen X days these playgrounds were mine fields just waiting to skin our knees and crack our wrists. Simultaneaously teetering on almost certain disaster. There was no fear in the hearts of the young. Only in the faces of the parents looking on. Or were they even paying attention??

Arcades were all the rage in the 80s. We were kids hell bent on keeping the planet safe from Space Invaders, traumatized by the inevitable destruction of the world in Missile Command and completely addicted to scarfing down dots with Ms. Pac Man. Whether we played at the arcade or at home on our Atari consoles, video games were our drug of choice.

Like, gag-me-with-a-spoon, the Galleria! For Gen Xers in the 80s there was no better after school hang than the local mall. Grab a Slurpie, scarf down a Hot Dog on a Stick and get your 5 dollar movie ticket to see Fast Times at Ridgemont High. From hanging in the food court with your friends to finding the best deal on parachute pants, the mall was the place to be seen.

What were GenX birthday parties like, you ask? Picture this: homemade Betty Crocker cakes, mountains of ice cream over which you could not see, gallons of soda, scoring handfuls of quarters to play old school arcade games at the local pizza parlour and the pressure of trying to keep up with the "cool factor" of rich kid b-day parties.

Southern California was a haven for theme parks in the Gen X days. You could puke your guts our on spinout at ride Six Flags Magic Mountain and use your E ticket to ride the Matterhorn at Disneyland while munching on a corn dog then be face to face with Jaws at Universal Studios before the weekend was over.

In the 70s and 80s, recess and lunch were more important than church. Any opportunity to wolf down as much sugar as possible before beating the crap out of each other during a spirited game of jungle ball was a welcome relief from the duldrums of sister mary whatshername. Any Gen Xers will tell you that recess and lunch were battles of the fittest.

A quick teaser to give you just a taste of what you'll hear on our Gen X podcast.