These photos capture what growing up in 1970s New Jersey was really like

Whatever you remember about 1970s New Jersey take this fun little scroll down and check out each of these nostalgic items you haven’t seen since that long-ago decade. The 10th  one down the list, my father used to let us play with in his car, which seems insane now!

So I was really little, but yes, I was alive and remember bits and pieces of the 1970s. Obviously late '70s more than the early '70s. Some of you will remember those years far better.

I remember a bit of hearing about Watergate. Didn’t understand much of it though. I was practically oblivious to anything regarding the Vietnam War. The first large-scale American conflict I recall very well was the first Iraq War under George H.W. Bush. I do remember people talking about the energy crisis and the gas crisis, when my dad had to fill up according to his license plate.

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Growing up when the world felt simpler

But my '70s were filled with playing in the backyard and shooting BB guns and knowing more about what Evel Knievel did than what our presidents were doing. As it should be. And I was aware there was this disco thing going on that I was far too many years away from being able to actually experience.

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I do have a sense from my childhood though, how much more innocent the world seemed back then. Or maybe how much more naive? Well, both really. It’s something that if I were born in the 90s and experienced the 9/11 attacks as a child I would never have had.

No one likes being older but at least I’m old enough to have experienced that world where we got to delude ourselves into thinking humanity was better than it actually is. It felt more innocent. For that, I’m grateful.

What New Jersey was really like in the 1970s

That decade here in New Jersey started out with no income tax and Gov. William Cahill in charge. Never heard of him then. Brendan Byrne, I vaguely heard of at the time but of course now know all too well about the campaign promise he broke to bring in the state’s first income tax.

Stores in New Jersey back then included Two Guys and E.J. Korvette. Burger joints like Gino’s and ice cream chains like Buxton’s. Scotch Plains still had its Terry Lou Zoo and its Bowcraft.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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