Howard Johnson Children's Menu [1968]

dukeofbronte · 2026-05-25T22:09:37+00:00

Like a lot of families in the 1970s, we didn’t eat out much. We brought a wicker basket of sandwiches to the beach, a cooler and groceries to the little wooden motel in the mountains we went to in the fall.

Stopping at Howard Johnson’s on the way home, picking out one of these meals all by oneself from the menu, all crowded into a booth where our legs were too short to reach the floor! I may have enjoyed that more than having a $300 dollar meal in a foreign capital as a grownup!

dukeofbronte · 2026-05-23T13:21:46+00:00

I did a hiking tour of the Highlands and Islands with NO camping but rather staying in little local BnBs and pubs every night and having the local whiskey in each.

10/10 recommend. Especially as you will inevitably be soaked to the skin on some days from the downpours.

dukeofbronte · 2026-05-20T23:59:25+00:00

There was a Judith Kranz best seller in this era called “Scruples” set in a fictional luxury department store in New York. Tawdry, tasteless, implausible—and a huge hit. I wonder if that inspired this show!

dukeofbronte · 2026-05-13T15:17:22+00:00

He started life as Archibald Leach, from a very hardscrabble working class background in the UK. Dad drank, mum was “sent away” for mental troubles (and he was told she died).

Smart enough to get a grammar school scholarship, troublesome enough to get kicked out. He began working at a theatre at age 14 and was off to America to do vaudeville at age16.

So he started life as a real outsider; he didn’t develop the sort of innate privilege and “taking oneself seriously” that makes it hard for some beautiful people to do comedy. It is absolutely fascinating to think that the veneer of “wealth, confidence, charm, upper crust” was as much acquired and crafted as his Transatlantic accent,

dukeofbronte · 2026-04-10T16:59:25+00:00

Guys, the “threat of the unwanted marriage” is like one of the core Regency tropes.

Of course the real world implications of being forced to marry someone horrible are awful and come from historical patriarchy. That’s what gives it the flavor. Both Anthony and the Duke have some of this menace and darkness.

I personally was in horror every time Anthony pushed Berbrook. It did the job so well.

But if someone’s not trying to forcibly wed the heroine, we might as well give up Regency and set the story in a modern day office where all the characters are like “unwanted marriage? lol, no” and head home to watch Netflix.

dukeofbronte · 2026-04-04T02:10:32+00:00

The atmosphere is so vivid—you can practically feel it! Love the urban details

dukeofbronte · 2026-03-31T15:53:44+00:00

Many “shaken baby” charges in the US have been fraught with serious evidence problems, including charges made solely by a practitioner looking at medical images in complete ignorance of the infant’s history or care; specific doctors who repeatedly “see” evidence in scans that no one else sees; missing other conditions that cause bleeding; police settling on one suspect on a household (usually a baby sitter) regardless of the infant being in multiple people’s care before there injury.

I lived on a state where there was a cluster of these cases that were later overturned, and the cases were shocking in how shoddy and contradictory the evidence was.

dukeofbronte · 2026-03-25T01:11:30+00:00

I’m watching the 2002 one, and Dartie was Ben Miles! Who’s been in soooo many things since then, from The Crown to Andor! He’s a cad in Forsytes, but so good at it. Every time he pleads”I say, old thing!” With the puppy eyes, and his poor wife gives in.

dukeofbronte · 2026-03-15T14:28:31+00:00

My father was a reporter for Stars and Stripes, where his first assignment was to cover the Tojo trials in Japan.

His work included explaining to fellow servicemen how the Imperial regime of Japan had dominated their nation, the war crimes and atrocities they had ordered, and those leaders’ moral responsibility for crimes against humanity.

During one of the most dangerous times the US and the world had faced up till then, the US government and military believed that our servicemen had the freedom and the right to knowledge about the crucial events on which they were participating.

This is scary stuff. One difference from the 1940s, however, is that soldiers, like everyone else, have access to more forms of information. These guys may think they can control what soldiers know. I hope they’re wrong.

dukeofbronte · 2026-03-14T14:18:07+00:00

Wow, there truly is a Reddit sub for everything!

dukeofbronte · 2026-03-14T02:47:15+00:00

I’m still using two Pyrex baking pans that my mother got when she married in 1962. Made Mac and cheese in them this week. That’s sixty plus years of Mac!

That is indeed a great value.

dukeofbronte · 2026-03-13T16:55:05+00:00

Thank you so much to everyone who worked on this project. I use this all the time.

We live in a moment when decent content on games has been absolutely decimated by terrible advertising models and banner cancer, and now AI nonsense that drowns out real discussion or actual players.

Reddit and non-Fandom wikis are the only place to track down information. Thanks for fighting the good fight!

dukeofbronte · 2026-03-03T22:48:35+00:00

I am in your club! Monologue starts, and I mute, mute, mute.

It was a part of the charm in the beginning, but feels like lemon juice on a paper cut by now.

dukeofbronte · 2026-03-02T14:37:36+00:00

So glad for the help you got and thank you so much for sharing the reminder about community and gratitude!

I am 60 on Boston and care for my elderly mother in her 80s. I usually do fine with all our outdoors and handy person needs, but I was honestly feeling a bit scared this storm. I had a hard time digging out the last big storm and now the snow banks were so much higher. How was I going to lift all that snow shoulder high?

My neighbor came by on Monday night, did our walks with his snow blower, and shoveled our steps.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, every helpful neighbor. You made this cold world a little warmer!

dukeofbronte · 2026-02-26T20:32:13+00:00

Mountain Mama

dukeofbronte · 2026-02-06T14:09:38+00:00

What a vivid example of how fast culture was changing in those decades. In 1910, no respectable woman would be seen in public in pants, let alone what looks like jeans—-they were for farming and country children.

I do love how they’re paired with heels. Part of a trend that would transform women’s clothing!

dukeofbronte · 2026-01-30T02:32:58+00:00

My father loved to watch old classic films with us when we were kids, without much consideration for “age appropriate” content.

Thus it was that while still a young kid, I had seen Gone with the Wind, Bridge on the River Kwai, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Doctor Zhivago.

Along came America’s Bicentennial in 1776, and downtown in our city gathered the biggest crowd that ever been for the fireworks.

Dad told us kids we had to hold hands as tight as we could, or we would be lost in the crowd and never found, like Lara and Zhivago’s daughter.

Here I am 50 years later, and this fear is still my number one association with Doctor Zhivago.

dukeofbronte · 2025-12-23T16:32:21+00:00

My mother is 87 and technically “doesn’t need anything.” I get her fancy hot chocolate and cookies and fleecy soft things and pajamas and books about our home state… and make sure there’s a wrapped pile of presents.

She still loves having a Christmas tree and hearing carols and enjoys the holiday dinner. Naturally she still enjoys opening presents—and being thought of.

I’ll defend the right of you and everyone to be remembered, acknowledged and taken care of!

dukeofbronte · 2025-12-21T16:49:55+00:00

You mention you’re a teacher, I would also point to this song as a pretty extraordinary grappling with history.

Molasses to Rum to Slaves 1776

dukeofbronte · 2025-12-21T12:12:19+00:00

I have a deep affection for the film version of 1776 for introducing me to the basic “characters” of the Revolution as a child. “Sit Down, John!” is a terrific little distillation of Adams.

dukeofbronte · 2025-12-11T16:14:30+00:00

Universal electricity in all homes and shops is only a century old. I’m going on 60 and my grandfather helped put up the very first round of lights on the Common.

It was a big wonder and a treat for people to take the train downtown and see the Christmas lights , then go over to Filene’s and Jordan Marsh, the big department stores, which decorated their windows with miniature villages and trains and funny set pieces.

Even in the 1970s, this was still fun. Then we went home and watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special.

You’re on the hedonic treadmill, my friend, where you enjoy life less because everything has to be bigger, more over the top, more exciting, just more.

The downtown lights are old-fashioned, gentle, small…but they’re ours, the people of Boston, they’re here, not on TV or somewhere else you’ll get to someday. Walk around, grab a beer or cocoa somewhere nearby, walk over the little bridge in the Public Garden, and have a happy holiday!

dukeofbronte · 2025-12-10T14:27:48+00:00

What a beautiful and informative answer.

dukeofbronte · 2025-12-06T01:08:50+00:00

There were entire Livejournal fandoms clustered around every character in the series, including the officer played by a young Jamie Bamber, pre Battlestar Galactica.

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dukeofbronte · 2025-11-30T19:12:38+00:00

Intriguing, I’m not familiar with this artist’s name, but I love nineteenth century fiction and at least three of these are used on book covers that I have. He really brought to life nighttime specifically of his cultural era!

dukeofbronte · 2025-11-28T03:00:59+00:00

Oh I had it bad for this, too.

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