By the Way: Old newspaper tells the way it was

Astronomical prices. Sticker shock? If you’re like me at all, you’re experiencing shock and awe in the grocery aisles. Right now, it’s almost terrifying.
Everything seems to cost more than I anticipated – sometimes a little more, mostly lots more – and especially now when a trip to the grocery store can be almost impoverishing. That’s distressing for many of us but for the people struggling just to survive, it’s devastating.
The dreadful truth of just how much more things cost descended on me not too long ago after my husband brought home an armful of old newspapers he had found in a house he was painting.
The owner didn’t want them and so my favorite packrat volunteered to dispose of them, which meant, in a feline-like moment, he dropped them at my feet.
I didn’t really mind because the yellowed newspapers looked interesting – intriguing, in fact – a quick run through the recent past. I glanced at them quickly and filed them away on a bottom shelf.
In light of today’s skyrocketing prices I thought I’d dig them out and see just how bad things are. Ouch! Worse than I anticipated.
For once, I concentrated on the ads and ignored the news in the pages of local papers dated October 1978.
Wow, you say, “That was a long time ago” – 44 years to be exact. Jimmy Carter was president then. Some random reminders of the times: the first Home Depot opened; Ted Bundy and the Hillside Strangler were still wandering around claiming victims; Affirmed won the Triple Crown and the home-brewing of beer was legalized.
Since the fear of figures at the check-out counter is something we all share, I started my little price review by examining grocery prices.
So, let’s start with breakfast. To be totally honest here, the prices shown were sale prices – a “fill your freezer” promotion, but still enough to make a 2022 shopper cry. Why keep all those tears to myself?
Three six-ounce cans of frozen orange juice for $1. A dozen large white eggs for 49 cents and two pounds of scrapple for 69 cents.

I didn’t find any ads featuring typical luncheon foods, but the dinner prices were real zingers – sirloin steaks for $1.68 a pound, chicken breasts 88 cents. Filet mignon and loin lamb chops both priced at $2.59 a pound.
Dining out?
One restaurant advertised a T-bone steak dinner for $3.49 For an extra dime at another restaurant you could feast on steak and shrimp for $3.59.
A shrimp and clam platter was priced as $2.99; golden fried shrimp at $3.49 and good old filet of flounder for only $2.89. All for less than the price of a single Big Mac.
Clothing came next. A furrier based in New Jersey offered furs priced from $395 to $25,000 and leather, suede and cloth coats and fake furs for $100 to $1,250.
One ad offered skirts for $13.99, women’s pants in tweeds, solids and herringbones for $16.99 and a variety of sweaters, Shetlands, crew necks, cowls, cardigans and pullovers, for $9.99.
Appliance prices were downright astonishing: A large capacity fridge for $378 and matching stand-alone freezer for $329; an upright vacuum cleaner with attachments for $69.88; a heavy duty washing machine with a $328 sale price and a stereo system with built-in cassette recorder/player, originally $250, on sale for $180.
Fun to look back? Yes. But I wouldn’t want to live there anymore.
kathyclark817@gmail.com

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