Photos from the "old days"
- Thread starter DLD
- Start date
In the 1970's, when the Soviets completed their natural gas pipelines to the adjacent socialist states, we began to receive a whole lot of products made in those socialist states and exchanged with the Soviets on a barter system. (there was no need to involve foreign currency here) From Poland, the Soviets got these two items.
https://cdn2.masterofmalt.com/vodka/p-2813/polmos-poznan/wyborowa-vodka-1970s-vodka.jpg?ss=2.0
https://img.thewhiskyexchange.com/900/vodka_zub6.jpg
I remember once sitting at our relatives dinner party, thinking, "Why do the Soviets buy vodka from Poland? Don't we have plenty of our own?" It was a valid economic question. The answer was that the Soviets signed a deal with Pepsico to sell Pepsi in the USSR. Once again, this was a barter system, with the Americans getting Stoli in exchange.
https://cdn2.masterofmalt.com/vodka/p-2813/polmos-poznan/wyborowa-vodka-1970s-vodka.jpg?ss=2.0
https://img.thewhiskyexchange.com/900/vodka_zub6.jpg
I remember once sitting at our relatives dinner party, thinking, "Why do the Soviets buy vodka from Poland? Don't we have plenty of our own?" It was a valid economic question. The answer was that the Soviets signed a deal with Pepsico to sell Pepsi in the USSR. Once again, this was a barter system, with the Americans getting Stoli in exchange.
The proof of the Pepsi deal.
https://rttlme.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/russian-pepsi.jpg?w=1400
In 1978, mom took me on a vacation trip to Sochi. We had already applied for a permanent exit (emigration) visa and she thought that, in a likely approval, I'd never visit one of the most popular Soviet Black Sea based resorts. Which was a correct line of thinking. In any case, while in Sochi, she asked if I wanted to stop by a local Mediterranean style restaurant. We never went to a restaurant, but had some money then. So, we sat down and asked for a bottle of warm Pepsi. It kind of tasted like soap. I found that delicious.
https://rttlme.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/russian-pepsi.jpg?w=1400
In 1978, mom took me on a vacation trip to Sochi. We had already applied for a permanent exit (emigration) visa and she thought that, in a likely approval, I'd never visit one of the most popular Soviet Black Sea based resorts. Which was a correct line of thinking. In any case, while in Sochi, she asked if I wanted to stop by a local Mediterranean style restaurant. We never went to a restaurant, but had some money then. So, we sat down and asked for a bottle of warm Pepsi. It kind of tasted like soap. I found that delicious.
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Summertime and the drinking is easy. But this isn't technically a beer tank but a kvass tank. It tastes sort of like a dark/Bock beer but has very little alcohol.
I was talking to a Chicago based e-friend, also a long time immigrant, and he said that the only decent kvass he found in the US, he had to order online from Canada. The US made drinks were no good.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass
One of the most famous Soviet restaurants called "The Seventh Heaven" inside the Ostankino TV tower.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cf/1c/ac/cf1cacd0305294aed0f09ecd5ee0dd53.jpg
And, yes, the restaurant revolves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Heaven_(restaurant)
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cf/1c/ac/cf1cacd0305294aed0f09ecd5ee0dd53.jpg
And, yes, the restaurant revolves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Heaven_(restaurant)
Run&Gun
Veteran
The proof of the Pepsi deal.
https://rttlme.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/russian-pepsi.jpg?w=1400
In 1978, mom took me on a vacation trip to Sochi. We had already applied for a permanent exit (emigration) visa and she thought that, in a likely approval, I'd never visit one of the most popular Soviet Black Sea based resorts. Which was a correct line of thinking. In any case, while in Sochi, she asked if I wanted to stop by a local Mediterranean style restaurant. We never went to a restaurant, but had some money then. So, we sat down and asked for a bottle of warm Pepsi. It kind of tasted like soap. I found that delicious.
Doesn’t taste much better cold in America, either. The US could export every ounce of Pepsi and it’s various iterations to Russia or the Moon and I would be just fine with it. And we don’t even have to get anything in return, either.
ahalpert
Major Contributor
Is that because you prefer coke or you dislike soda?
Soviet chewing gum (mint, coffee, orange, strawberry).
For the longest time, it was considered a sign of capitalist excess and having it in one's mouth in school was ground for a very stern talking from the teachers and/or the principal. Naturally, every kid tried to find any facsimile and (this will sound gross because ... well, it was gross) a typical gum stick was used and reused over and over again. The Soviets didn't manufacture it until 1975 but it became super duper popular after the hockey USSR-Canada Summit Series of 1972, where practically every Canadian was chewing on something.
The chewing gum mania resulted in a very tragic story. In 1975, the Soviets hosted a similar hockey series between the junior teams. The Canadians were sponsored by Wrigley and, when the Canucks bus departed the arena for the last time on their way to the airport, the players decided to throw a whole bunch of Wrigley gum to the kids surrounding the bus purely as a gesture of goodwill. And a gift from the team sponsors. Unfortunately, nether the sponsors nor the players understood the magnitude of their act. Seeing free American gum, a huge crowd rushed toward the bus and began to trample everyone in its wake. Twenty one people were crushed to death. The whole story was hushed down by the authorities and didn't become known until much later.
When we flew from Rome to the JFK on a Pan Am 747 in April of 1979, our midday snacks were a small bag of peanuts and a can of Pepsi. In a grand sort of way, it was indeed -
Our family car, 1964 Moskvich 403. Dad bought it used in 1972 for 4,400 rubles. It was 2,500 rubles new. That was roughly what both of my parents made per annum. Officially, 45 hp but that was on premium gas, which wasn't sold in the USSR. Its 0-60 was .... uh, wasn't. We only once got it to 55 mph and that was on a rare (only?) highway near Kiev.
And, while looking for more road photos, I stumbled onto an album taken in the summer of 1981 by a foreign auto tourist named Jorgensen. Photos are in color, something that was very rare in those days for the domestic enthusiasts.
http://lj.rossia.org/users/dr_bogdanov/7417815.html
Most of the pictures are from the Soviet Northwest, including quite a few pictures from what was then known as Leningrad.
http://lj.rossia.org/users/dr_bogdanov/7417815.html
Most of the pictures are from the Soviet Northwest, including quite a few pictures from what was then known as Leningrad.
Speaking of Russian cars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I9AdLnjP0M
Yup, the waiting list for a new automobile was about a decade but you only had to pay for the car when receiving it. The wait for new apartments could be even longer but those were often free. Co-ops had a 3-4 year wait but one had to pay for it via the 3% mortgage. The waiting list for furniture was about two years. Electronics - TV/radio - were generally available in stores. The plumbers was a no wait, only a few days.
We had to wait about nine months to apply for our immigration papers. Sort of. The KGB immigration office took two applications per day twice a week. To avoid the long and unnecessary lines at a KGB building, the records were kept privately by a chosen immigrant of high morals (or, sometimes, someone who could write). My parents tried to time our filing with my high school graduation and signed up for it in January of 1978. I graduated after the Super Finals at the end of June, got my KomSoMol membership revoked in middle of July and mom then went into the immigration office on August, 8. We received the permit on October, 12th and left on November, 27th. Just about forty two years ago.
We had to wait about nine months to apply for our immigration papers. Sort of. The KGB immigration office took two applications per day twice a week. To avoid the long and unnecessary lines at a KGB building, the records were kept privately by a chosen immigrant of high morals (or, sometimes, someone who could write). My parents tried to time our filing with my high school graduation and signed up for it in January of 1978. I graduated after the Super Finals at the end of June, got my KomSoMol membership revoked in middle of July and mom then went into the immigration office on August, 8. We received the permit on October, 12th and left on November, 27th. Just about forty two years ago.
combatentropy
Veteran
I get a kick out of some of the videos on a Youtube channel called Aging Wheels, hosted by a young guy who buys exotic cheap cars, like a 1981 Trabant.
The car was made in East Germany 1963-1989, and it went almost completely unchanged throughout its production, including the same 2-cylinder engine that put out a whopping 26 horsepower.
That was barely enough, since it weighed just 1,300 lb., owing to its simplicity and panels made out of recycled cotton. "This little plastic communist car made out of old Soviet pants is going to provide me so much entertainment . . . "
An Introduction To My Trabant, by Aging Wheels (8:46)
The car was made in East Germany 1963-1989, and it went almost completely unchanged throughout its production, including the same 2-cylinder engine that put out a whopping 26 horsepower.
That was barely enough, since it weighed just 1,300 lb., owing to its simplicity and panels made out of recycled cotton. "This little plastic communist car made out of old Soviet pants is going to provide me so much entertainment . . . "
An Introduction To My Trabant, by Aging Wheels (8:46)
NorBro
Major Contributor
Beautiful color quality? lol...makes sense you went with the Sony. :zombie_smiley:
And it's not uncomfortable; just how humans used to interact with each other for millions of years.
