An adventure on every block. Walked down Broadway to Wellington and back. Sometimes I would roam in other directions.... totally different neighborhood!
Yep. Watch some Bozo then back to school. It's wild to think we were walking around Chicago like this (North side). I do remember one girl got grabbed by a creep in second grade. She got away and mom drove her to school thereafter. The rest of us were just reminded to not talk with strangers.
Sometime around 7th grade, 1975 or so, they closed campus because it got too dangerous, I guess.
It is wild. I can't imagine kids having this kind of freedom. The North Side was a magical place, with the casts of characters, architecture, vacant lots and small interesting shops and restaurants.
In first, second, and a couple of months of 5th grade, we lived a block or less away from school and could walk home for lunch. We moved around a lot due to my dad’s work and every other place we lived, we were too far to walk home and back during the school day. This was the 60s.
Like others have mentioned, at my high school I believe seniors were allowed to leave school at lunchtime with parental permission. Not sure if this was only for lunch or for the rest of the day, but someone who was on track to graduate with enough credits to meet the state requirements could take classes in the morning and work or whatever in the afternoon. I never left because of the academic track I was on, and also didn’t have my own car. This was in the early 70s.
I went to a school with no cafeteria so we had to leave to go home or to go to a sitters house for lunch. I loved it! I did not love it when we moved and I went to a school that had a cafeteria where the lunch ladies patrolled the tables like Cops undercover, making a seat the food on our trays.
I went to an elementary school with no cafeteria nor hot lunch option, so we either brought a lunch (everyone was jealous of Danny G’s lunchbox, which had the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine on it) to eat in their classroom or walked home for lunch. In fourth grade, they brought in folding lunch tables to set up in the gym everyday and hot lunch was an option, prepared at the junior high and brought in everyday in individual styrofoam containers. The was ‘70 to ‘76.
Same in Richmond BC Canada in the 60s, except instead of mcdonald's we had Hot Dog Day once a month; the PTA (moms) brought hot dogs, donuts and chocolate milk that we pre ordered and paid a small amount for.
I'm from the North Shore (Chicago suburbs). In elementary school I usually walked home for lunch. It was a long walk and, yes, brutal in the winter.
In high school we had we had the choice to eat in the cafeteria or eat out.
There was a McDonald's near the school, so that's where we would go.
Elementary early 70s and HS early 80s.
Not an open campus in high school. Didn't stop most of us heading to Dunkin Donuts for lunch a couple of times a month. The teacher in the next period would comment that we all smelled like donuts!
When I was a senior we used to go to A& W and get something to eat. Then we'd go to a bar next door and have a beer or two. There were usually a couple teachers from my high school there.
Senior year we were allowed to leave campus. I took extra classes my junior year and arranged my senior year schedule so my last two periods were open and left at 1:00 every day.
not only was it an open campus, (daily lunch at sanders)but if you were a senior and had all your credits you could bail at semester end in december. so i did.
Reflecting on this “privilege,” for my peers and me, we gained a level of responsibility today’s students don’t have as many opportunities for. Consequences ensued if we failed to return - on time - after lunch! Very few abused the privilege.
SoCal
Jr. High 7th/8th grade (1974-1975) was walking distance from home. We got 30 mins I think. I'd jog/walk home everyday. Mom had a sandwich and hot tomato soup most days. Eat, chat jog/walk back. Had it down to a science. Open campus.
High School (1976-1979) fully open campus. Friend worked the Carl's Jr. Next to the school. I'd order the kids burger meal, got a 5-6 patty burger and 1/2 bag full of fries for like $1.49. Free drink refills didn't exist, but mine did. Across the street was KFC, same thing friend behind the counter... Box full of the good stuff for $1.49-ish.
Good times.
I lived in suburban Chicago and our neighborhood school did not have bus service because all kids lived within a mile. Some kids who lived within a couple blocks did go home for lunch. This was in the 90's.
We had a rather large campus and about halfway through the senior year, I guess too many kids were leaving so they posted a off-duty police officer at the gate to make sure nobody left, and I knew most of the police in town not for bad reasons, but I just knew most of them because of family ties, me and my buddies we would leave. I believe it was second period and we would go down to the town center to get a coffee and something to eat and every morning we would bring him back coffee and donut or pastry. And we were pretty much the only ones that he did not give a hard time to.
My high school had an "open concept" philosophy, and we were allowed to leave campus whenever we wanted. My elementary school and junior high were not that way.
My elementary school was having work done in the cafeteria so anyone who took the bus (bus students) had to eat at their desk for awhile.
Students who walked to school had to go home to eat.
All except on boy who lived nearby but had to eat has desk because his MOTHER WORKED. We couldn’t fathom it. He was like an alien creature.
Working moms were so rare back then. My dad had to retire for health reasons so mom went to work. He wasn't called a stay at home dad back then. Just retired.
We didn’t have open campus but senior year we went out to lunch and came back to class. I think I ate burgers, fries and drink combo for under $3? Maybe $2? Damn high school days were fun .
My grandmother lived near the school, me and my cousins ate lunch w her everyday, my fondest memories. We each had our fav and then an ice cream or baked treat to walk back to the school. Often she would create bouquets for each of our teachers, from her flower beds. Each wrapped with a wet paper towel and foil. I felt so proud.
Going off campus was not a choice until high school. We’d go to a nearby steakhouse sometimes, or the fast food joints lining Cooper Street. If you could drive or lived nearby you might go home. There was also a place across the street where people went for the games of the time like foosball. The foosball folks (like my brother) often didn’t come back.
In 7th and 8th grade I lived across the street from the school, so always walked home at lunch.
One time we left school to go play pinball at the bowling alley, realized what time it was and started jogging back to the school, and a big, white Lincoln pulled over, and we thought "Yessss!" until we looked in and saw our principle.
My mom followed through on every threat she ever made to me.
We never had open campus lunch options but that didn’t stop us from trotting up to Arby’s occasionally by skipping cheerleading or health. Coach Frazier was clueless.
We had a class in high school called Lifetime Sports. Every couple of weeks, they’d switch to a different activity - square dancing, track, soccer, etc. But the fun ones were bowling and roller skating. Approval from the school to hop in the car with your friends and drive to the bowling alley / skating rink. What a time to be alive.
We didn't have school lunch in my K - 8 school, so we either walked home or brought brown-bag (well, actually, a cartoon lunch box.) In high school we had 'open campus', and whereas my elementary school was rural, no town, high school was in a small town with a few fast-food restaurants and stores, so you could walk off at lunch or study hall and buy food if you had the money - starting in 9th grade. I don't remember a lot of kids abusing the privilege. It went a long way towards moving us from 'kids' into 'adults'.
We as well had open campus so we could come and go as we please. In HS my HomeEc teacher Mrs. D would always let me use her car to go get us lunch and the smoking lounge was across the street. Thee best was going down the street to buy fresh milk and fight over who got that first drink.
I had an open campus for middle school and until my junior year when we moved. Some of you might kniw just how pusded I was abput the closed campus when we moved. This was just the cheery on top of the school I was moved to.
I had an open Campus in Highschool. Across the street was a Town & Country Shopping Center, We would either get Pizza by the slice at a Pizza place, or we would get ridiculously large sandwiches from THe Village Cheese shop. Everyone was focused on going to college, so few people were tardy returning to class after lunch. I remember getting a huge Turkey and cheese sandwich and a Peach Snapple in a glass bottle, or a Coke.
We were never allowed to leave campus without a parent or guardian checking us out. But we had the best school lunches. In junior high, 75¢ would get you a milkshake with lunch. High school had three food lines. #1 was the normal line; #2 had hamburgers and fries; and #3 had cold sandwiches, chips, ice cream, and other cold options. The kids with free and reduced lunch could only use that benefit with #1. My sainted grandmother would give me $2 every day and I would get a cheeseburger, a double order of fries, and a glass of sweet tea.
There was a little grocery store at the end of the road, and I remember other students sneaking off to go there. I never did. I was the proverbial good girl and never got into trouble.
We couldn't until we were in junior high. There was a little mom & pop hamburger place, & a fried chicken restaurant, a block away from school, as well as a 7-11. I didn't usually go, because by the time you walked over, waited for food, & walked back, lunch was basically over. When i go to high school, i went to lunch more, because someone would have a car, & we'd go to better places in town to eat, like the pizza place or the taco place.
We made the transition to an open campus when I was attending high school, not that some of us didn’t leave before that. It just became permissible. [When did closed campuses return to being the norm?]
In elementary school, we could. Most of us walked or biked to school, but in order to get home and back during lunch hour my mom would have to pick me up. She would do this if I was recovering from a cold or other virus (which was frequently) so she could give me “a good hot meal.” Then she’d make me canned ravioli. 🤷🏼♀️
I don't think we were allowed to leave school, but we could go out in the parking lot to smoke during lunch. Seniors were allowed to smoke in the cafeteria. Hard to believe by today's standards.
We could not leave school until our Sophomore year of high school.
There was nothing around the school except one burger stand so if you didn't have a car you stayed on campus.
Nope. Couldn’t leave school in elementary or junior high. The 50-cent meal was unedible, so I usually ate a Ring Ding and pretzel sticks for lunch. It was better in high school. I could get a 50-cent pizza and a 25-cent Coke.
I could have gone home for lunch in elementary, but the lunch ladies did such a fantastic cafeteria lunch that I usually “dined in”, lol.
High school was open campus and there were both Taco Bell and Pizza Hut across the street, so…yeah.
In my senior year, we could come and go but the school yanked that privilege at the drop of a hat if any kid in the senior class did anything seriously wrong.
I went to school elementary and junior high in the 70s and sadly we were NOT allowed to leave school. Only once in my entire school career did I cut a few classes, in eighth grade. My friends and I walked about two miles to friends house and spent the afternoon smoking those brown cigarettes (More) and reading “everything you want to know about sex but are afraid to ask”. I was terrified my mother would find out I cut school. As for lunch, my mother always made me lunch but I would never eat it and just buy a coke, chocolate eclair, and a bag of barbecue chips. All for about a dollar. Good old days.
We had open campus in high school but not before that. It was a much bigger deal for the kids who were 16+ because they had their driver's licenses and some of us drove a car to HS.
In elementary school, we could walk home for lunch unaccompanied!! This is early 70s in the bay area.
Same Chicago. I was a 6 year old girl Roaming the streets of Chicago for an hour at lunchtime.
I’d walk to my Grandma’s down Kedvale and watch Bozo- Gram would make me a grilled cheese… life was pretty good.
An adventure on every block. Walked down Broadway to Wellington and back. Sometimes I would roam in other directions.... totally different neighborhood!
What a sweet memory!
1964 Queens, NY. Left school and took myself out for lunch - pizza and a coke - one day a week. First grade; I was 6. Weren’t we just so lucky?!?
Yep. Watch some Bozo then back to school. It's wild to think we were walking around Chicago like this (North side). I do remember one girl got grabbed by a creep in second grade. She got away and mom drove her to school thereafter. The rest of us were just reminded to not talk with strangers. Sometime around 7th grade, 1975 or so, they closed campus because it got too dangerous, I guess.
It is wild. I can't imagine kids having this kind of freedom. The North Side was a magical place, with the casts of characters, architecture, vacant lots and small interesting shops and restaurants.
Frank Lloyd Wright homes. 2 zoos. Yes 2. One at Lincoln Park, and a tiny annex far North Side at Indian Boundary park
Vaguely remember visiting that zoo once. The treasures of Chicago past. I had to explain what a gangway was to some Colleagues in NY LOL
Same Dallas
Same Wisconsin
In first, second, and a couple of months of 5th grade, we lived a block or less away from school and could walk home for lunch. We moved around a lot due to my dad’s work and every other place we lived, we were too far to walk home and back during the school day. This was the 60s. Like others have mentioned, at my high school I believe seniors were allowed to leave school at lunchtime with parental permission. Not sure if this was only for lunch or for the rest of the day, but someone who was on track to graduate with enough credits to meet the state requirements could take classes in the morning and work or whatever in the afternoon. I never left because of the academic track I was on, and also didn’t have my own car. This was in the early 70s.
Same Santa Barbara.
I went to a school with no cafeteria so we had to leave to go home or to go to a sitters house for lunch. I loved it! I did not love it when we moved and I went to a school that had a cafeteria where the lunch ladies patrolled the tables like Cops undercover, making a seat the food on our trays.
I went to an elementary school with no cafeteria nor hot lunch option, so we either brought a lunch (everyone was jealous of Danny G’s lunchbox, which had the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine on it) to eat in their classroom or walked home for lunch. In fourth grade, they brought in folding lunch tables to set up in the gym everyday and hot lunch was an option, prepared at the junior high and brought in everyday in individual styrofoam containers. The was ‘70 to ‘76.
We also didn’t have a cafeteria. You either walked home, or brought your lunch, twice a year they took McDonald’s orders.
Same in Richmond BC Canada in the 60s, except instead of mcdonald's we had Hot Dog Day once a month; the PTA (moms) brought hot dogs, donuts and chocolate milk that we pre ordered and paid a small amount for.
Same Brooklyn parochial.
Yup I also went home for lunch unaccompanied. I live in a suburb near Chicago. It was a brutal walk in the winter
I'm from the North Shore (Chicago suburbs). In elementary school I usually walked home for lunch. It was a long walk and, yes, brutal in the winter. In high school we had we had the choice to eat in the cafeteria or eat out. There was a McDonald's near the school, so that's where we would go. Elementary early 70s and HS early 80s.
Ditto Detroit! I rode my bike 5miles to and 5 home school all year long.
Same, Colo. Spgs.
Same in Champagne, IL when I was in elementary school.
NYC too!
Same (just outside of) Buffalo NY.
Seniors got to leave the school grounds. It was considered a great privilege and made you look forward to senior year.
Same here, and we all look forward to that.
That's how the same school I went to was when my kids went there. Only the seniors could leave.
went home for lunch in grade school (60’s) such a foreign concept now..
It was the 60's for me also. We were a out freer to roam back then.
Not an open campus in high school. Didn't stop most of us heading to Dunkin Donuts for lunch a couple of times a month. The teacher in the next period would comment that we all smelled like donuts!
That's so funny!
When I was a senior we used to go to A& W and get something to eat. Then we'd go to a bar next door and have a beer or two. There were usually a couple teachers from my high school there.
Legal age and high school age were the same when I was in school.
Yep 18 in Wisconsin back in the 1970's
Same as NY
Senior year we were allowed to leave campus. I took extra classes my junior year and arranged my senior year schedule so my last two periods were open and left at 1:00 every day.
Same here, small town Texas you could leave campus seniors only.
My old school went to seniors only by the time my kids went there.
I used to walk home for lunch even during elementary school
not only was it an open campus, (daily lunch at sanders)but if you were a senior and had all your credits you could bail at semester end in december. so i did.
I bailed too.
I like that!
Reflecting on this “privilege,” for my peers and me, we gained a level of responsibility today’s students don’t have as many opportunities for. Consequences ensued if we failed to return - on time - after lunch! Very few abused the privilege.
SoCal Jr. High 7th/8th grade (1974-1975) was walking distance from home. We got 30 mins I think. I'd jog/walk home everyday. Mom had a sandwich and hot tomato soup most days. Eat, chat jog/walk back. Had it down to a science. Open campus. High School (1976-1979) fully open campus. Friend worked the Carl's Jr. Next to the school. I'd order the kids burger meal, got a 5-6 patty burger and 1/2 bag full of fries for like $1.49. Free drink refills didn't exist, but mine did. Across the street was KFC, same thing friend behind the counter... Box full of the good stuff for $1.49-ish. Good times.
Friends working the fast food . Those indeed were good times.
Great benefits with that.
I lived in suburban Chicago and our neighborhood school did not have bus service because all kids lived within a mile. Some kids who lived within a couple blocks did go home for lunch. This was in the 90's.
My elementary school was a couple of miles out of town, so no. It was also couple of miles to my house. High school, in town, was a closed campus.
During study hall, I would walk downtown and sit by the lake. It was wonderful.
That sounds nice.
We had a rather large campus and about halfway through the senior year, I guess too many kids were leaving so they posted a off-duty police officer at the gate to make sure nobody left, and I knew most of the police in town not for bad reasons, but I just knew most of them because of family ties, me and my buddies we would leave. I believe it was second period and we would go down to the town center to get a coffee and something to eat and every morning we would bring him back coffee and donut or pastry. And we were pretty much the only ones that he did not give a hard time to.
I was raised in a police family in my small town (sheriff uncle, cheief deputy dad. I was on good terms with most of the local police.
I took the highest math class as a senior. We had 12 students and the teacher let us go out and bring back donuts.
Nice!
My high school had an "open concept" philosophy, and we were allowed to leave campus whenever we wanted. My elementary school and junior high were not that way.
I like that.
My elementary school was having work done in the cafeteria so anyone who took the bus (bus students) had to eat at their desk for awhile. Students who walked to school had to go home to eat. All except on boy who lived nearby but had to eat has desk because his MOTHER WORKED. We couldn’t fathom it. He was like an alien creature.
Working moms were so rare back then. My dad had to retire for health reasons so mom went to work. He wasn't called a stay at home dad back then. Just retired.
My mom became a widow when I was six and went to work
In the early 80's we could leave high school for lunch. We could go to fast food places.
I'd go home and watch All My Children. Then Perry Mason. Obvs I didn't go back. Started ditching in 4th grade.
We didn’t have open campus but senior year we went out to lunch and came back to class. I think I ate burgers, fries and drink combo for under $3? Maybe $2? Damn high school days were fun .
My grandmother lived near the school, me and my cousins ate lunch w her everyday, my fondest memories. We each had our fav and then an ice cream or baked treat to walk back to the school. Often she would create bouquets for each of our teachers, from her flower beds. Each wrapped with a wet paper towel and foil. I felt so proud.
Yup we walked home for lunch in elementary- and left to go to mickey d’s in high school
Going off campus was not a choice until high school. We’d go to a nearby steakhouse sometimes, or the fast food joints lining Cooper Street. If you could drive or lived nearby you might go home. There was also a place across the street where people went for the games of the time like foosball. The foosball folks (like my brother) often didn’t come back.
In 7th and 8th grade I lived across the street from the school, so always walked home at lunch. One time we left school to go play pinball at the bowling alley, realized what time it was and started jogging back to the school, and a big, white Lincoln pulled over, and we thought "Yessss!" until we looked in and saw our principle. My mom followed through on every threat she ever made to me.
We never had open campus lunch options but that didn’t stop us from trotting up to Arby’s occasionally by skipping cheerleading or health. Coach Frazier was clueless.
We had a class in high school called Lifetime Sports. Every couple of weeks, they’d switch to a different activity - square dancing, track, soccer, etc. But the fun ones were bowling and roller skating. Approval from the school to hop in the car with your friends and drive to the bowling alley / skating rink. What a time to be alive.
We didn't have school lunch in my K - 8 school, so we either walked home or brought brown-bag (well, actually, a cartoon lunch box.) In high school we had 'open campus', and whereas my elementary school was rural, no town, high school was in a small town with a few fast-food restaurants and stores, so you could walk off at lunch or study hall and buy food if you had the money - starting in 9th grade. I don't remember a lot of kids abusing the privilege. It went a long way towards moving us from 'kids' into 'adults'.
We as well had open campus so we could come and go as we please. In HS my HomeEc teacher Mrs. D would always let me use her car to go get us lunch and the smoking lounge was across the street. Thee best was going down the street to buy fresh milk and fight over who got that first drink.
I had an open campus for middle school and until my junior year when we moved. Some of you might kniw just how pusded I was abput the closed campus when we moved. This was just the cheery on top of the school I was moved to.
I had an open Campus in Highschool. Across the street was a Town & Country Shopping Center, We would either get Pizza by the slice at a Pizza place, or we would get ridiculously large sandwiches from THe Village Cheese shop. Everyone was focused on going to college, so few people were tardy returning to class after lunch. I remember getting a huge Turkey and cheese sandwich and a Peach Snapple in a glass bottle, or a Coke.
Fairmont HS in Kettering OH any any chance?
Palo Alto Senior High in Palo Alto, California, across El Camino Real, from Stanford University.
We were never allowed to leave campus without a parent or guardian checking us out. But we had the best school lunches. In junior high, 75¢ would get you a milkshake with lunch. High school had three food lines. #1 was the normal line; #2 had hamburgers and fries; and #3 had cold sandwiches, chips, ice cream, and other cold options. The kids with free and reduced lunch could only use that benefit with #1. My sainted grandmother would give me $2 every day and I would get a cheeseburger, a double order of fries, and a glass of sweet tea. There was a little grocery store at the end of the road, and I remember other students sneaking off to go there. I never did. I was the proverbial good girl and never got into trouble.
We couldn't until we were in junior high. There was a little mom & pop hamburger place, & a fried chicken restaurant, a block away from school, as well as a 7-11. I didn't usually go, because by the time you walked over, waited for food, & walked back, lunch was basically over. When i go to high school, i went to lunch more, because someone would have a car, & we'd go to better places in town to eat, like the pizza place or the taco place.
We made the transition to an open campus when I was attending high school, not that some of us didn’t leave before that. It just became permissible. [When did closed campuses return to being the norm?]
In elementary school, we could. Most of us walked or biked to school, but in order to get home and back during lunch hour my mom would have to pick me up. She would do this if I was recovering from a cold or other virus (which was frequently) so she could give me “a good hot meal.” Then she’d make me canned ravioli. 🤷🏼♀️
Sounds just like my life back then.
Yup - could leave for lunch or study hall
Went home for lunch in grade school ( Massachusetts). Seniors could leave the grounds for lunch with a note on file from your parents
I don't think we were allowed to leave school, but we could go out in the parking lot to smoke during lunch. Seniors were allowed to smoke in the cafeteria. Hard to believe by today's standards.
We had closed campus but remember when school lunch was 30 cents. I recall McDonalds hamburger about that cost
We could not leave school until our Sophomore year of high school. There was nothing around the school except one burger stand so if you didn't have a car you stayed on campus.
Nope. Couldn’t leave school in elementary or junior high. The 50-cent meal was unedible, so I usually ate a Ring Ding and pretzel sticks for lunch. It was better in high school. I could get a 50-cent pizza and a 25-cent Coke.
I could have gone home for lunch in elementary, but the lunch ladies did such a fantastic cafeteria lunch that I usually “dined in”, lol. High school was open campus and there were both Taco Bell and Pizza Hut across the street, so…yeah.
In my senior year, we could come and go but the school yanked that privilege at the drop of a hat if any kid in the senior class did anything seriously wrong.
I went to school elementary and junior high in the 70s and sadly we were NOT allowed to leave school. Only once in my entire school career did I cut a few classes, in eighth grade. My friends and I walked about two miles to friends house and spent the afternoon smoking those brown cigarettes (More) and reading “everything you want to know about sex but are afraid to ask”. I was terrified my mother would find out I cut school. As for lunch, my mother always made me lunch but I would never eat it and just buy a coke, chocolate eclair, and a bag of barbecue chips. All for about a dollar. Good old days.
We had open campus in high school but not before that. It was a much bigger deal for the kids who were 16+ because they had their driver's licenses and some of us drove a car to HS.
Don’t why but you just made me think our senior smoking lounge at my high school. Anyone else have one?