How was California in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's? (San Jose: movies, school)

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

I wonder how many contemporary Californians can relate to the state the Beach Boys sang about.

Maybe in this song, although it did make it sound as if everyone in CA surfs. It's certainly a tribute to the beaches here. (Ah, the 60s....life really was a lot simpler here then.)
BEACH BOYS LYRICS - Surfin' USA

[DauntlessDan]

I was out in CA in the mid-late 70s and early 80s. LOVED it. Lived in the central valley (Solano County) then up in Sacramento (Sacra-tomato). Was single and the women were nice and also pretty (Maybe I had rose-colored glasses on but what the heck). Sunny a lot. Downright HOT but dry in the summer. Everything turned yellow. Rained in the winter but travel an hour up into the mountains and you have snow. Would jump on the freeway and go to the "Sun Valley Mall" in (I think) Concord? Rode the bus to SFO (wouldn't drive in that traffic) stayed in a Holiday Inn and spent the weekend "vagabonding" around the city. Remember cities like Vacaville, Vallejo, Fairfield, Walnut Grove and more that I visited. Dr. Donald Rose on the radio. The "Sacramento Bee" newspaper. Bonnie Hubbard products. Albertsons, Raleys, AM/PM mini markets, Jack in the Box, Del Taco. So many fond memories of you California.......

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Maybe in this song, although it did make it sound as if everyone in CA surfs. It's certainly a tribute to the beaches here. (Ah, the 60s....life really was a lot simpler here then.)
BEACH BOYS LYRICS - Surfin' USA

The surfer craze kicked off the first skateboard craze, for kids who were surfer wannabes.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by DauntlessDan

I was out in CA in the mid-late 70s and early 80s. LOVED it. Lived in the central valley (Solano County) then up in Sacramento (Sacra-tomato). Was single and the women were nice and also pretty (Maybe I had rose-colored glasses on but what the heck). Sunny a lot. Downright HOT but dry in the summer. Everything turned yellow. Rained in the winter but travel an hour up into the mountains and you have snow. Would jump on the freeway and go to the "Sun Valley Mall" in (I think) Concord? Rode the bus to SFO (wouldn't drive in that traffic) stayed in a Holiday Inn and spent the weekend "vagabonding" around the city. Remember cities like Vacaville, Vallejo, Fairfield, Walnut Grove and more that I visited. Dr. Donald Rose on the radio. The "Sacramento Bee" newspaper. Bonnie Hubbard products. Albertsons, Raleys, AM/PM mini markets, Jack in the Box, Del Taco. So many fond memories of you California.......

I couldn't hack the summers in Sacramento. I ended up spending summers in the San Juan Islands, WA--much cooler and hospitable. But spring and fall I'd spend weekends taking BART or bus to the City, and wandering all around. Also, catching Golden Gate Transit to Sausalito. I was also a Jack-in-the-Box fan at that age, lol!

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

The surfer craze kicked off the first skateboard craze, .

My dad made my first skateboard. He came home from work one day...he'd seen them someplace, I've no idea where..... got some wood and took apart our skates. He screwed the skates onto the wood and off we went. It was a couple of months before you could buy them in stores. I was one of the few girls who rode them. For a long time I was the only girl who rode them. The first store-bought skateboards had steel wheels. Then they came out with clay wheels that caught every pebble. Which made them stop abruptly and send you flyin' off it. When I got my first Hobie board I was over the moon. Hobie boards were a big, big deal.

I used to ride it incessantly. I was outside on my skateboard when my mother came out to tell me Lee Harvey Oswald had just been shot.

I still ride them. Every once in a while, when I see some 15-year old riding one outside of Target, and they think I'm going to give them the cranky Boomer stink eye, I compliment them and ask if I can see it. Then I kick flip it, do a couple of roll overs and take off.

The look on their face is priceless.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

My dad made my first skateboard. He came home from work one day...he'd seen them someplace, I've no idea where..... got some wood and took apart our skates. He screwed the skates onto the wood and off we went. It was a couple of months before you could buy them in stores. I was one of the few girls who rode them. For a long time I was the only girl who rode them. The first store-bought skateboards had steel wheels. Then they came out with clay wheels that caught every pebble. Which made them stop abruptly and send you flyin' off it. When I got my first Hobie board I was over the moon. Hobie boards were a big, big deal.

I used to ride it incessantly. I was outside on my skateboard when my mother came out to tell me Lee Harvey Oswald had just been shot.

I still ride them. Every once in a while, when I see some 15-year old riding one outside of Target, and they think I'm going to give them the cranky Boomer stink eye, I compliment them and ask if I can see it. Then I kick flip it, do a couple of roll overs and take off.

The look on their face is priceless.

The first skateboard craze was big with girls. The thing about the clay wheels was that they had ball bearings, so they were supposed to go faster, I think? Now they have even more advanced wheels.

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

The first skateboard craze was big with girls. .

The girls in my neighborhood, who were few and far between, stuck to roller skates. Come to think of it most of them were younger too. Maybe that played into it.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

I still ride them. Every once in a while, when I see some 15-year old riding one outside of Target, and they think I'm going to give them the cranky Boomer stink eye, I compliment them and ask if I can see it. Then I kick flip it, do a couple of roll overs and take off.

The look on their face is priceless.

I missed this part of your post. Very cool!

Yeah, the thing way back then was to wear a surfer shirt (certain type of striped knit shirt) & other surfer paraphernalia, while doing your urban surfing. I guess that was a California thing, for obvious reasons.

[Those Who Squirm]

Originally Posted by caliguy92832

For those of you who experienced what California was like in the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's...what was it like living in? Because back then there wasn't an mass exodus happening like it has been the past 20 years. People from all over the U.S. were coming to California back in those days instead of fleeing the state like present day.

I mean, check out California's past population growth in those decades compared to the recent past....

1950's - 48.5%
1960's - 27.0%
1970's - 18.6%
1980's - 25.7%
1990's - 13.8%
2000's - 10.0%
2010's - 4.2%

Keep in mind, there were only about 10.5M people in the entire state at the time of 1950 census. Compared with today, California was thinly populated and highly attractive to Easterners at that time, what with the weather, beaches, and cheap land/housing. IOW it was like a population vacuum drawing the G.I. generation in.

[Those Who Squirm]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

The 2010's aren't even half over yet. We don't know what growth will be like for that decade. Judging by the explosion in Bay Area rents, people are still flooding here, though. People may be leaving, but many others are arriving. Hence, the net growth.

If growth slows down or stops, or even reverses, it wouldn't be a bad thing. I can tell you that back in the 80's, long-time residents and native Californians thought the Bay Area was already "full", and couldn't handle any more growth. Judging by current traffic patterns, they were right. The area hasn't handled subsequent growth well at all. There was no expansion of transportation infrastructure to accommodate it.

As the economy improves, I think the population will begin to tick up again, but as with most of the past couple of decades or more, the growth will be driven by foreign immigrants rather than intrastate. To the vast majority of them, whatever ills they have to contend with when they get here is still vastly better than the lives they leave behind. And that doesn't speak too well about the situation here, by any other measure. We're better than a hardscrabble Salvadoran farm or a factory city in the PRC. Go us!