Readers Remember

On a rainy night, I had flown to Manhattan. Walking to a hotel, I was drenched in seconds. In a recessed doorway, I saw a man huddled on the ground.

I hurried into the hotel, rushed up to the registration desk and in a loud and excited voice announced: “There’s a man lying on the street just around the corner!”

The look in the eyes of the clerks told it all. It was if they were saying: Welcome to Planet Earth, the society with haves and have-nots.

EMMA GOTTLIEB-ELLINOY

Seal Beach

I was about 7 years old in 1955. I was at my grandmother’s house with the rest of our family, watching the Rose Parade on her round screen TV, the only TV in our family. I was glued to the set when all of a sudden there was Monty Montana.

I yelled out with glee: “Is that Monty Montana?” The announcer said: “Yes, it’s Monty Montana!” I was convinced that the announcer had heard me. For several years after, I would scream into the speaker in hopes of repeating the incident.

SERGIO HERNANDEZ

From the Internet

I was watching an afternoon talk show in the early 1950s. They introduced a large, boxy thing they called a “Radar Range.” I watched in disbelief as they demonstrated boiling water in a few seconds, as muffins began to rise in less than a minute.

“In the years to come we will all be cooking with sound waves!” the host said. “Yeah! Right!” I sniffed. “And right after that, we fly to the moon! Hah!”

DOROTHY BELLESILES

Ventura