Candy

As a child, in the 1980s, I ate candy quite often, so often I got punished when my dental fillings would get ripped out by certain candies, as it happened numerous times.  My dad actually forbade me from eating certain candies such as Brach's Neapolitan Coconut Sundaes and Jolly Ranchers.

Down the street from our home in Long Beach, California, on the corner of Dairy and Norton Street, the Chun family owned a liquor and convenient store.  In 1986, my mother would give me a dollar for my school lunch every day at Jane Addams Elementary School.  Lunch was only 65 cents.  That would leave me with 35 cents of candy money.

I would go to the Chun's every day after school and buy candy.  Back then, I could buy a Mr. Goodbar chocolate bar for 25 cents and have 10 cents left over to buy 2 packs of Sixlets.  Sugar Daddy's were 5 cents and Chick-O-sticks were 15 cents.  I loved Now and Later's but because they would rip my fillings out of my teeth if I chewed them, I rarely ever bought them.

When I got sick of Mr. Goodbar, I would eat a 3 Musketeers or a Baby Ruth, both also cost only 25 cents.

Today, the average candy is about $1.50.