The wall of lunchboxes...

[Adam West]

I guess I should have clarified regarding the banning of metal lunchboxes. I don't doubt that some schools really did ban them. There is a myth about lunchboxes floating around that they stopped making them because of a Florida lawsuit against Thermos and Aladdin regarding them being lethal weapons but some research was done and nothing was ever found. Even though the myth still exists, it is more likely they stopped making them because plastic is cheaper and doesn't rust.

BTW, I was in Wal-Mart the other day and saw metal lunchboxes that were intended to be sold for kids to bring their lunch in so it looks like there is a bit of a resurgence in them.

[Adam West]

I'll also add that I was at the Smithsonian a few years ago and there is a collection of lunchboxes in the pop art section. I thought it was pretty cool to see that they had them on display but thought the condition of most of the boxes were not that great. They weren't horrible but most of them had a lot of rim wear and rust. I'm sure they probably had more that weren't on display but my own personal collection was better than what the Smithsonian had on display (they didn't even have the '54 Superman on display which is probably one of the nicest looking boxes along with the '66 Star Trek Dome).

I actually contacted the Smithsonian to see if they would be interested in having some boxes from my collection on loan understanding that I would get them back at some point.

The Smithsonian told me that unless I wanted to donate them outright, they weren't interested.

Oh well...their loss.

[MegoGeekJr]

Since school will be starting in Oakland soon...

Does anyone remember before they banned metal lunchboxes, how you'd go to the grocery store and see this HUGE display of lunchboxes? Like the Ben Cooper costumes, you used to be able to get a lunchboxes w/ just about anything on it, superheroes, TV sitcoms, musical groups, cowboys, Barbie, comic book characters, movies, anything. Even though my mom was anti-lunchbox (I had to use a friend's Bobby Sherman hand me down), I was always in awe of those displays.

What was your favorite? Didja get a new one every year? Were you like me, and denied this lunchtime treasure? Were ya just the plain ole red plaid type?

Pass the PBJ sandwich, and your thermos of milk and share some lunchbox memories!

Why did they ban those types of lunch boxes?

[Adam West]

Kids were banging each other upside the head with them. I also surmise quite a bit a theft went on.

There were many lunchboxes that my friends had that I wanted but my mom made me use the Adam-12 lunchbox because it wasn't broken.