I'm from Northern Calif., and I had the same experience in the late '60s when the Army sent me to Missouri. Oddly, in the San Francisco area in those days you couldn't buy meat after 6 p.m. or on Sundays (probably a butchers' union deal; it never occurred to me to question it), but almost everything else was OK. In Rolla, Mo., they stretched paper over the toy racks in stores on Sunday so kids wouldn't be tempted to play on the Sabbath. Playgrounds were closed, too, I think (I was 20 and didn't have kids, but I remember seeing locked gates). There were some weird tool restrictions, too, like that hammer thing. Apparently the nails were OK because you might need them unexpectedly, but hammers weren't because that meant you were planning some work. Or something; I don't know. In California as well as Mo., most businesses closed at 5:30 or 6 p.m.; it was a huge deal at Thanksgiving when the downtown stores (no malls then) started staying open until 9 on Thursdays and Fridays "for your Christmas shopping convenience." About half of all stores, including big ones like Macy's and the few chain groceries, were closed or had limited hours on Sundays, too. I remember my mom rushing to get milk by 2 p.m. so we'd have it for Monday breakfast.