Reminiscing with some friends about the good old days in Las Vegas, remember the Hacienda and the Bingo Palace, the Rum Runner and the poker room at the Dunes, when the name Sinatra was preceded by the word Mister, when dollar well drinks weren't advertised since everyone served well drinks for a dollar.

Remember when the top of the Horseshoe was the highest place to dine in Vegas and a coat and tie was expected of the men. Well I remember all that but I grew up in Chicago in the 50's - 70's so if we're gonna reminisce we're gonna have to go back farther than Las Vegas so here goes....

Remember...

• Grape Fizzies and Sweet Tarts...
• Locking the back door only when you left home and leaving the key under the doormat...
• Removing your shoes before getting in dads new '59 Buick LeSabre....
• The smell of raking the grass after dad just mowed it...
• Making snow angels in winter and sand castles in summer...
• Checking out your first girl on roller skates at Sonic Burger....
• Stealing cigarettes from your mom's purse...
• Your first cigarette and how cool you were smoking it
• Your first beer and how dizzy you got, (years later you'd refer to it as a good buzz)
• Going through dad's pants for spare change....
• Spare change....
• Fries and a Coke after school for 65 cents and a 10 cent tip...
• The pride you felt when dad bought you that #7 Yankee shirt (#7...MICKEY MANTLE)
• Roy Rodgers, Dale Evans (I never did believe they were married if she had a different last name…so what were they doing living together? And what was with that guy and the jeep, he called it by a girls name and told it how much he loved it if it would only turn over.
• Carrying your Roy Rodgers lunchbox to school...
• The greaser that lived on your block with the hot car always smoking a cigarette in the driveway
• Remember greasers
• The fight that ensued when dad said it was time for a haircut
• Your first little league uniform you'd wear everywhere...game or no game...
• Your first pair of spikes and how cool you felt when the girls saw you wearing them.
• Remember the Twilight Zone and staying up late to watch it.
• When just the face of Rod Serling would scare the shit out of you even before that scarey music started...
• Reading under the covers with your flashlight...
• The Cubs winning the World Series... (I don't remember that????)
• The White Sox winning the World Series (I was 7 )
• The Willie Mays over-the-shoulder catch in the World Series....
• Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series....
• Trading baseball players' cards and trying to chew that piece of pink cardboard bubble gum...
• Lights out by 9pm....
• Jack Parr and Steve Allen before Johnny Carson....
• When making out WAS going all the way...
• Ricky and Lucy ...Rob and Laura...Bugs and Daffy...Road Runner, Coyote and the Acme Rocket Company....
• When the smartest guy you knew besides your dad was Andy Griffith...
• Preying to God that Barbara Eden's bellybutton would pop out ONCE!!
• How much cooler Bud Anderson was then Wally Cleaver?
• Trying to figure out how ANYONE could be friends with a guy named THE BEAVER.
• When Moe slapping Curley and tearing out a clump of Larry's hair would crack you up...
• The most important decisions in life were done by taking odds or evens...
• Picking sides depending on whose ball and bat it was...
• Being depressed for a day cause you spelled H-O-R-S-E first....
• Hitchhiking as a viable mode of transportation...
• The first time you rode your bike out of your neighborhood and all the new worlds it opened for you.
• Banana seats and monkey bars on your bike.
• Sneaking a can of beer with your best friend in your back yard bushes....
• Measuring the distance you could spit...
• Nickel candy bars and 33 cent gas even though you were too young to drive anyways....
• Pistachio ice cream was a weird flavor and green color, even though the nuts were red... but tasted great...
• Riding the L trains was still an adventure...
• Bringing your glove whenever you went to Wrigley Field....just incase...(Nope, never caught one).
• Shooting free throws underhand between your legs...
• Keeping your chewed gum on your dresser overnight...
• The smell of mom's spaghetti sauce cooking in the kitchen on Saturday night....
• Trying to talk mom into letting you play outside just a little longer...
• Playing catch in the dark just 'cause she forgot you were out there....
• Discovering Baseball in '61thanks to Maris and Mantle...
• Discovering Hockey thanks to Bobby Hull...
• Discovering Golf thanks to Arnie and Jack.
• Discovering Basketball thanks to Wilt Chamberlain..
• The Harlem Globetrotters, Meadowlark Lemmon and Curley O'Neil.
• The first time you went to Wrigley and saw Ernie Banks doing a live interview on WGN
• Discovering girls thanks to Lynn Schwartz.... (sorry Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz)
• Looking for the center disk to play your sister's 45's...
• Buying the Chubby Checker album for your first twist party....
• Hoola hoops....skate keys... (what the hell was a skateboard?)
• My three favorite gums, Clark, Juicy Fruit and Beechnut. (I hated Black Jack Licorice gum)...
• Watching the Marx Brothers on New Years Eve (I still can't figure out how Zeppo got into the act)
• When Slinkies were knew and amazed you walking down the stairs
• Barney Fife's bullet in his shirt pocket
• Long hair was weird
• Transistor radios were still new and the earphone stuck right in your ear.
• At dances, the girls hung with the girls, and the guys hung with the guys and you didn't cross the room unless you were prepared to ask for a dance. And the really long walk back to your friends if she said no.
• The Green Hornet sucked but Kato (Bruce Lee) was really cool.
• You took Batman (Adam West) seriously
• Some place called "The Coast"
• Going to the park after school just to hang out
• Archie Bunker blew everyone's mind.
• The Beatles broke up and the Rolling Stones didn't. (It should have been the other way around)

So here we are in 2002, a more sophisticated world, more high-tech and much, much more dangerous.

Finding our way isn't as simple as it once was back then. We don't quite move so quickly in the mornings and need our coffee and Advil like never before. We question our future and realize the saying "Life is what happens while your making plans for the future." Is truer than ever before.

Happy New Year
-Ken Pearlman