What do you think was the best decade in America? (80s, years)

[MetroBTR]

I loved the 50's. I was ages 5-15 and it was the most carefree decade of my life.

[Brent85]

I'm suprised the "roaring twenties" didn't get many votes.

[DOOWOPMARINE]

I think everybody is partial to their own generation! Mine was the 50s.
I loved the music, movies, cars, economy, personel freedoms and morals.
About the only thing I didn't like were the girls long dresses.

[gold dust]

1970's. Disco!!!!!

[Tom9]

I grew up in the 50's and I had a great youth. I could go anywhere at any time and feel safe. I met famous people on the street and they were natural and normal. No one stalked them or mobbed them. I lived in Los Angeles during high school and a few years ago I went to a class reunion. We all lamented the fact that the city has become very racially divide. Much more so than in our time. I lived in a neighborhood that was made up of mostly Japanese Americans, Mexican immigrants, Chicanos (or "Californios" as they are known ), Chinese and many kids of mixed ethnicity mostly from Hawaii. I cannot remember a truly racial incident at the time. It was a great reunion for our "gang" The Unholy Five as we called ourselves: On Mexican, one Sicilian American (in 1950 Los Angeles just another white boy), One black kid and one Jewish kid. We would have died for one another and today 50 years later we still are in contact and feel the same way.

On a more mundane level; the cars had personality, the music was great, and the burgers at Tommy's were better than they are today.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by Busch Boy

I agree about minority oppression during this time (I mentioned it as one of my few dislikes from this decade). But during the 1950's, extreme urban blight was not that common and cities were still livable. Drugs weren't as rampant either. I'm from NJ and one of our worst cities is Newark. During this time, it was still a great and vibrant city.

That is because cities were not bisected and destroyed by freeways back then. Freeways are what destoryed city life. When I was a kid, our neighbourhood was a very nice place- safe, clean, good schools and commercial businesses that catered to the the neighbourhood. Then came I-135 and the Hiway 54 project. The bulldozers came along and plowed all the businesses that supported the neighbourhood and gave jobs to people down. The IGA store, the hardware store, the cleaners, restaurants and the neighbourhood tavern all gone. The neghbourhood cut in half- our side cut off from the grammar school that used to be a crosswalk light across 4 lanes of traffic on Kellogg Street now separated by a 6 to 8 lane freeway with screaming traffic and the only way to get to school was a huge walkway over the traffic. All the streets were now walled off and you could no longer walk to the other side of the neighbourhood. Many homes were destroyed and the decline of the Sunnyside neighbourhood began. People sold and followed the freeway out of town.
Freeways are what destroyed cities in this country. More than anything else. The interstate highway system was not originally planned to cris cross American cities. They were orginally planned to ring the perimeter of the city and allow people to exit on to the local roads to go where they wanted. That would have been the better way to go in my view.

[nva79]

i think the 90's. biggest issue was clintons thing, and that is minor compared to other decades. soviet union collapse, no fears, one small war that claimed 90 lifes, redskins won superbowl. cons are high crime in early 90's, rwandan genocide, zimbabwean economic collapse.

i really like the 70's- music, sports (go cosmos!), well it really wasnt that great, but i think it is really intriguing. (not that i was alive)

50's are over rated, boring, nuclear war threat, lack of entertainment and music (except johnny cash, elvis).

00's are under rated. i love right now, highly under rated decade (music ain't that good though). great tech. and this decade is the best for movies.

[mofford]

I voted for the 50s, but the 20s and 90s would be close seconds, with the 80s right behind.

In the 50s, we produced half the worlds goods, reaping from the 40s that we paid in blood and sacrifice. The last time americans had this kind of success, was in the 20s. We did not handle our first brush with prosperity well. Prohibition brought us the mob, greed led us to buy stock on margin and the black tuesday crash of Oct 1929. Morals were slipping fast, but corrected by the depression and WW2.

IMO, the 50s were too big for just one decade, really the period from 1946 to 1963 should really be considered the 50s way of life. The 50s were different in that we had learned our lessons living thru the extremes of the 20s thru 1945. Excesses were limited, wholesome values persisted, new opinions about race relations were forming. The space age was upon us from Chuck Yeager in 1947 to mercury in the early 60s , tail fins and science fiction captured our fancy.

Theres a reason Leave it to Beaver is still aired today, its a shrine to the american family. It shows the american family unit at its peak of civilization, as far as it will ever be depicted. When Ward pulls up in that big car, Wally and the Beav come running up the sidewalk and June waiting at the door with a smile and a kiss, WOW

But if your not a white guy, then the 90s might of been the decade to please. Things were going well in the 80s but the economy did not fare well for most everyone like it did in the 90s. Bubba mirrored the decade well, like Eisenhower was to the 50s. The 90s finally brought us all those toys they told us about in the 70s, but no one could afford. Like the cell phone, satellite TV service, the computer with use of the web ect. Dirt cheap gas prices and big SUVs with people building 2000 sq ft houses. What a decade.

Certainly have to wonder what living in the time from 1900 to 1917 would of been like. Can we really imagine people still using horses? No radio or television, silly movies with no sound, think of how socially different life must have been. They sat out on the porch and visited, or played the piano. All the entertainment was pure social, and right outside your front door. I cant imagine there being many lonely people shut up in the house back then. Certainly an elderly person would like to be be treated 1910 style, with great respect. Staying with their family as head of the house until death. It could of been grand to live back then, we can only speculate.

The 30s could of been a fine decade to live in, if you had any money. Think of the travel options, you can take a car, the bus, a train, a plane, a luxury liner across the ocean, might of even been a few steamboats left on the river. You could finally watch movies in air conditioning that had sound, picture and storyline too. Or you could curl up next to the radio and let the shadow carry you away. If you had money in the 30s you probably felt like a god. I would have to consider it the first real modern decade, though few could take full advantage of what it had to offer.

[StuckPA]

In my time it was the 90s.

[cpg35223]

The next one.