I was invited to a 9-year-old’s birthday party this weekend. (Happy birthday Eli!) We had such fun playing games and watching him unwrap all of his toys. The joy in his eyes reminded me how important toys and playing are. Not just to the 9 year old but to all of us adults.

 I recall one year for Christmas, I bought all my adult friends racecar tracks. Not expensive ones, just the 20 dollar ones. It was a gift that made adults bend down with their achy backs and bad knees, get on the floor, and race their cars around the track with a smile in their heart and a sparkle in their eye. The actual gift I gave was their ability to feel like a child again.

 After playing hard with a child, and like a child this weekend, I decided to take a quick glance at the history of toys. I would love to hear what your favorite toys were. For me, I had many, but I loved my walkie talkies, Barbies and Barbie’s playhouse, and my hot wheels.

 1902 In America, toy bears begin to be called Teddy Bears” named after President Theodore Roosevelt.

 1903 Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith produced the first box of Crayola crayons.

 1913 Former Olympian (Gold, Pole Vault, 1908) and medical doctor A.C. Gilbert invented the Erector Set.

 1914 Charles Pajeau developed a collection of rugged wooden toys similar to the Erector Set, but designed for younger children; he called them Tinker Toys.

 1916 John Lloyd Wright, the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright invented Lincoln Logs.

 1929 The yo-yo is popularized in the United States after entrepreneur Donald Duncan saw the toy being demonstrated in Los Angeles.

 1935 Parker Brothers introduced Monopoly.

 1938 Piano tuner and camera buff William Gruber was the mastermind behind the View-Master three-dimensional viewer.

 1943 Richard James discovered that a spring will “walk” end-over-end when knocked over. James brought the discovery home to his wife, who named the new toy “Slinky”.

 1947 Tonka trucks were invented.

 1950 Silly Putty was introduced at the International Toy Fair in New York.

 1952 Banking on the idea that children like to play with their food, Hasbro introduced Mr. Potato Head.

1954 Jack Odell created the original Matchbox car.

1956 Play-doh entered the market as a wallpaper cleaner. Non-toxic and less messy than regular modelling clay, it was soon recognized that the cleaner made an excellent toy.

1958 Wham-O founders Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr began marketing the Hula Hoop.

1959 The Barbie doll is introduced at the American Toy Fair in New York City by Elliot Handler, founder of Mattel Toys.

1965 Stanley Weston created a doll for boys called G.I Joe.

1966 Elliot Handler, one of the co-founders of Mattel, Inc., invented Hot Wheels.

1969 Parker Brothers marketed the first Nerf ball.

The 70s marked the introduction of video games, and toys slowly have lost their meaning. No longer do children roller skate in the street, toss their Nerf ball, or play for hours with silly putty. They just flip open a screen or turn their TV and game consoles on, and become plasmic ooze. There is something to be said for the simplicity of playing with toys.

Give me a robust Ruben sandwich with lean corned beef on perfectly toasted rye bread served with rabbit food (celery and carrots). No make that a grilled cheese sandwich with the best tomato soup in Tucson, actually let’s make it the best tomato soup in the world. Oh forget it, just give me some homemade ice cream, maybe the root beer flavor, in fact how about a root beer float?

 You can order these tasty delights and more at Austin’s Old Fashion Ice Cream. Walking into Austin’s is like walking into some sort of time warp. It should be, in fact it should be institutionalized in time; after all, it has been a Tucson icon since 1959 serving up overstuffed sandwiches and homemade ice cream.

 Homemade ice cream is not the only thing they make from scratch at Austin’s. Their soups, potato salad, coleslaw, egg salad, tuna salad, and even their salad dressings are all homemade. Austin’s takes a great deal of pride in their homemade heritage.

 Linda Wilson, who has been the owner of Austin’s since 1991 believes that homemade food and ice cream, and simplicity is what creates comfort, she believes that Austin’s is the epitome of comfort, and I fully agree. Wilson, who worked in Hollywood for 20 years before eventually buying Austin’s said, “People come to Austin’s to be comforted, and that is what they get.”

I have been eating at Austin’s since I can remember, and I go there for just that, good food, and comfort. I am not the only regular that visits Austin’s on a weekly basis. Old timers come all the time, and much like me, have memorized the menu, and know just what we want. Now I can even go there for breakfast.

 Times have been tough with the economy though and the old-time malt shop struggles here and there. “People don’t know we are here” said Wilson, “The original Austin’s, which was on Broadway and Country Club, packed them in, but some people are unaware we moved.”

 Well Tucson, Austin’s is alive and well still making great dogs and burgers, hot opened-faced turkey and roast beef sandwiches, homemade soups of the day and of course what they are known for ICE CREAM.  Austin’s has great prices and they run a monthly special for $5.50 that normally includes a sandwich, chips, and a soft drink. How can you go wrong with that price? In fact, I believe the most expensive thing on their menu is about 8 bucks.

 Speaking of menu and items on the menu, ice cream is what this touchstone malt shop is all about. Everything from a wild kitty, which is a smaller version of the wild cat, which has scoops of vanilla ice cream on a decadent fudge brownie covered with hot fudge and whipped cream. You can delectable dandies like the dusty trail, which consists of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, topped with malt powder, and whipped cream or their GIGANTIC banana split. For me, I like to indulge in some of their sugar-free ice creams.

 So why not take a walk down memory lane. Go to Austin’s, and simply for a few moments, relax, go back in time, and let the food and ice cream wash away your worries. Austin’s is located at 6129 E Broadway, right across from Park Mall. If you mention this story, Austin’s will offer you a 10% discount. So go on in, Austin’s is alive and well, offering up some good old-fashioned comfort.

Every generation has them. They can be swallowing goldfish or sitting on flagpoles; they can be crew cuts and sock hops, bellbottoms, ipods, Blackberry’s, text messaging, and twitting. They can make us happy, drive us crazy, make us rich, be outdated, under-rated, stupid, brilliant, they can be forgotten in a flash or remembered for a life time.

I am talking about fads which can be people places, things, fashion, technology, food or any noun that people have a tendency to follow no matter how crazy the fad may seem. Fads can be very puzzling. My point being the butt-hanging pants that make guys walk like infants. In my day, we wore hip-huggers which were a tight-fitting jean that showed what we had without having to display our underwear for the world to see.

Fads remind me of my age. When I was younger and into the fashions and fads of my time, I would think people who disliked my fad, be it my love beads, hip-huggers, music, Nehru jacket, or granny glasses, were square and old. In fact, they were people that a young teen like me could not trust. After all in the 60s, T-shirts and buttons flaunted the banner statement, “Never trust anyone over 30.” Today I am one of those square, old people, who swore that I would never be like “them”. But I can’t help it. I do not like baggy pants and looking at men’s underwear. I think texting is over-rated and carrying tiny dogs in fancy tote bags is a cruel and unusual punishment (thanks, Paris Hilton).

Don’t get me wrong, some of the newer fads aren’t so bad. I have a Blackberry, and ipod, and think that blogging is all the rage. As a freelance writer, I think Twitter, Myspace and linkedin are pretty darn spiffy. In fact, I think the greatest fad of all is YouTube, which shows us some really good examples of fads gone wrong.

I think my all time favorite generation of fads was the 60s. Maybe it is because I grew up in the 60s, or maybe it was because the 60s produced a generation of young people who were socially connected to what was happening in the world. We did not have Xbox, or Gameboy to distract us. Political protests were on the rise, and the youth of America thrived on personal expression. The 60s fads didn’t puzzle me as much as some of the fads now do. Here is a list of things that I can recall of fads of the 60s. What do you remember?

Lava lamps
Hair ironing
Twister (game)
Motown sound
Surfing
Bellbottom pants
Mood rings
Flower power
Platform shoes
Nehru jackets
Afros
Klackers, Click Clacks
The Beatles
Summer of love
Granny glasses
Slogan buttons
Bubble chair/air chair
Peasant skirts
Blacklights
Pop art
Miniskirts
British invasion (music)
Superballs
Sit-in movement
Laugh-In
The mod look
Tanning cream
Gum-wrapper chain
Wide belts
Hip-hugger pants
Bouffant hairdo
Frilly shirts
Beach parties/beach movies
Banana seats on bicycles
Chinese fire drill
Troll dolls
Turtlenecks
Ouija boards
Smiley faces
Leisure suits
Tie-dye
Sea monkeys
Yo-yos
Peace sign
Love beads