Penny Candy
June 29, 2007 by gawilli
Today’s Theme: Sweet. Become a Photo Hunter. Visit the Blogroll.
Remember when you could fill a bag with candy for a quarter and it would last all weekend long? I do. Well, almost all weekend anyway. When I was a kid my parents would drop me at my Gramma’s house on Friday evening. I’m not quite sure where the quarter came from, but after breakfast on Saturday morning I got to walk all the way down the gravel road along the lake to spend it. By myself.
There was a little store, not much bigger than our garage. I think there were Sinclair gas pumps out front, and I vaguely remember them selling minnows and other forms of bait somewhere nearby. It had a cement floor and a wooden screen door that would spring closed with a slam. Right inside the door to the left was a huge glass case filled with penny candy. Kids were not allowed to put their hands on the glass.
Some of the candy really only cost a penny, but other pieces were a little more. Sometimes you could get three or four pieces for a penny, but they were usually ones I was not particularly fond of, like Mary Janes. I agonized over my choices, and they would place them one by one in a paper sack. Having parted with my quarter I would make my way back to Gramma’s. Sometimes I would stop and visit Mrs. Wolforth or Aunt Helen. Once in awhile I would scare myself walking past the woods and just go straight home. Fast.
The hard part was eating only a little at a time…that is unless it was sunny and the water was warm! Then the candy could wait…
I remember penny candy. In Fort Wayne, Lapp’s Drugstore, which was about four blocks from our house, sold penny candy. (The drugstore also had a soda fountain.) For some reason, I remember funny candy hats similar to the consistency of today’s gummi bears. Did you ever have Jujubes, the candy the tasted like soap?
Yes, I remember Jujubes! Do you remember Chuckles?
love the old photo. we had blackjacks, fruitsalad, shrimps, parmviolets, drumsticks, mice oh i do so remember all the lovely treats we had.
Oh, I remember those days. 25cents went a long ways. Going into those little corner stores that had all those jars and jars lined up on the counters and boxes of sweets along the shelves for just pennies. Great post!
Her Indoors - I Googled your candies and though the names a different, they are similar to some of the ones I brought home. Good stuff!
Michele - A quarter use to go a long way - especially to a little kid!
During the Fourth of July parade here, everyone in each float tosses out candy to all the kids. You have to take a grocery bag to collect it! And the candy looks just like in your photo.
Now it would cost a small fortune, but still worth it.
Cheers Mark
Great post… we had a similar store in our neighborhood when I was a youngster. Brought back some fine memories!
I remember all those fabulous jars lined up on the shelves. And there was always an old lady behind the counter to tip their contents onto the scales.
Meeyauw - They do that here too, but it usually is a bunch of hard candy. I bet the kids take it home and the moms throw it out.
Mark - This bag full was about $15.00. I’m going to take it to work and leave it in the Break Room. It will be gone in no time.
JC - Your picture for the Hunt really did look like penny candy.
Tod - I had forgotten that some it had to be weighed, but you are right.
We gots a new sweet shop in our town recently - yummy!
I loved Chuckles except the black ones. Jujy Fruits and Necco Wafers are other old-time candies.
Mjd - Neccos are the best! I bought a roll for the picture, but it didn’t make it in. The chocolate ones were my favorite and now you can buy a whole roll that is just that. Go figure.
Chocolate ones are the best. I never liked licorice of any kind. I think that I remember licorice Neccos. Daddy D always gets my licorice-flavored candies. Occasionally, I might share some of the better flavors too.
I loved candy smokes. They were the best.
I love all of your old photographs. They bring back such fond memories. In a town I worked in when my daughter was young, they still sold penny candy. She remembers it fondly too.
Lemon heads…yummmmmmie.
Looking at that photo reminded me of an article I just very recently read about candy cigarettes and the marketing of cigarettes to children…and that in turn reminded me of one chilly, frosty morning when my best girlfriend and I got called to the principal’s office because he saw us smoking on our way to school. We were six, eating/puffing on candy cigarettes and our breathe was visible as “clouds of smoke.” I don’t know if it was the candy cigarettes or the example set by our parents that turned us into teenage smokers BUT if that principal had caught us then!!! HOOO LORDY, we’d have quit on the spot.
When I was a kid sweets (candy) were rationed and a rare treat. When rationing ended in Britain we children went mad and stuffed ourselves stupid. The photo shows sweet cigarettes, my favourite.
I well remember Penny Candy. In fact I remember candy that may have cost two cents that was called “Guess What”.
It had a piece or two of candy and a prize, similar to a Cracker Jack prize. It was wrapped togetherand looked something like a tamale.
Does anyone else remember the Guess What?