A few vintage matchbooks from my personal collection..
This Godfather's matchbook is from 1980. Godfather's made awesome pizza back in the day. Their catch phrase was "a pizza you can't refuse". I remember the folks behind the counter having no problem with a ten year old helping himself to a book of matches. Yes, it was a much different time!
I picked up this matchbook a little over 25 years ago during my honeymoon in Colorado Springs. I recently showed it to my bride and she couldn't believe I still had this in my possession. That's me though, I tend to tightly hold on to keepsakes and mementos for long periods of time, and I don't foresee that changing anytime soon.
The Bali Hai in San Diego
The Castaways in Las Vegas
I have no idea how I retained this matchbook for so many years, but as I've said before.. I love to collect things!
I swear I remember seeing this little red headed fella at Circle K stores during the 70's. His attire leads me to believe that he was put in place as the company mascot during the 1960's, or possibly the 1950's when Circle K was established. I'm not quite sure how long he was employed by Circle K before being retired however. Hmm.. .this subject may warrant some further investigation.
When I was a small boy, I used to love sitting on the front porch with my grandfather at his house. We would sip on iced teas and Shasta soda's, watch freight trains and traffic pass by, and talk about life (as a six and sixty-five year old knew it).
While visiting my grandparents, more often than not, my granddad would pull a crisp one dollar bill from his billfold, hand it to me and say, "Darrin why don't you run down to Circle K and get us a bag of Dorito's. I'll even let you keep the change". Yes.. back in 1975, you actually had change left over from a dollar after buying a large bag of Dorito's! I would quickly run to the end of the block, buy us a bag of Dorito's and maaaaaybe a half dozen pieces of candy and a couple toys for myself. I'd rush back to my grandparents house, where my grandfather and I would subsequently plow through the bag of Dorito's all by ourselves. We'd then go inside and flip on the old Zenith television to watch Bonanza and Mickey Mouse Club reruns.
Wow.. It's amazing that something as simple as a matchbook can trigger such memories isn't it?