25 FORGOTTEN Five-and-Dime Store Treasures Kids Bought With Pocket Change

A penny for wax lips. A dime for a balsa wood glider. A quarter for a baby turtle in a plastic dish. In the 1960s, a kid could walk into the five-and-dime alone with pocket change and walk out feeling rich. Most of those treasures are gone now, and so are the stores. I'm Hal Whitmore. I taught American history for 36 years, and in the summer of 1966 I was an eight-year-old with a quarter in my pocket on Paint Street in Chillicothe, Ohio. In this countdown I go through 25 forgotten five-and-dime treasures: balsa gliders, wax lips, candy cigarettes, jacks, marbles for keeps, paper dolls, cap guns, peashooters, army men, the yo-yo craze, putty in an egg, dime store turtles, comic books from the spinner rack, the super ball, baseball cards with that slab of gum, and the penny candy counter. Plus the true story of the Greensboro lunch counter and why the dime stores went dark. Chapters (approximate, confirm after voiceover) 0:00 Paint Street, summer 1966 2:04 What nostalgia leaves out 3:25 25. The balsa wood glider 4:31 24. Wax lips and wax bottles 5:40 23. Candy cigarettes 6:50 22. Jacks 7:50 21. Marbles for keeps 9:01 20. Paper dolls 10:00 19. Bubble gum with a comic inside 10:52 A store where kids were customers 12:02 18. Cap guns and rolls of caps 13:05 17. The peashooter 14:07 16. Plastic army men 15:11 15. Sugar in a paper straw 16:06 14. The yo-yo 16:58 13. The putty in an egg 17:58 12. Pickup sticks 18:51 11. The kaleidoscope 19:41 10. The dime store turtle 21:00 9. Candy buttons on paper 21:59 The penny candy counter was no accident 23:06 8. Whoopee cushions and joy buzzers 23:55 7. The jump rope 24:47 6. Comic books from the spinner rack 25:47 When the dime stores went dark 26:57 5. The water pistol 27:50 4. The super ball 29:04 3. The box with the prize inside 29:50 2. Baseball cards with a slab of gum 31:01 1. The penny candy counter 32:22 The bigger picture 33:22 Close Key sources: F. W. Woolworth's first successful five-and-ten (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1879) · the Greensboro sit-in (February 1, 1960) and the counter now at the Smithsonian · S. S. Kresge's first Kmart (1962) · the FDA ban on small turtles (1975) · Woolworth closing its last U.S. dime stores (1997). This video is history and education. #fiveanddime #1960s #nostalgia