What was daily life like in the mid-70s and early 80s? (1980s, interior)

[High_Plains_Retired]

Of course one's experiences at any time in history depends on where you were and what you were doing. In the mid 1970s I was a university student in New Mexico beating my brains up every evening studying for an exam after a late evening of driving a semi-truck for less than minimum wage. My wife and I lived in a 10'x50' "trailer" house formerly owned by migrant workers on a small city lot that I had purchased to get me through school. My daughter learned to ride a bicycle and roller skate in the middle of the street. The town had a newer McDonalds and at least three other drive-in restaurants with carhops. Convenience stores were now in full swing and in vogue. There were no Sonic Drive-ins.

As I recall food tastes about the same in the late 1970s and early 1980s as now but, in the 1970s in the grocery store, one had to follow the groceryman down the isle as he stamped a newer higher price on the groceries. A can of beans or soup would have six or seven successively higher prices stamps on it. Gasoline prices rose from around $0.35 to just around a $1.00 a gallon and people began to get serious about stopping smoking so they could keep their gas tanks half full. The price of automobile antifreeze, pantyhose, sugar and many other commodities skyrocketed. In the late 1970s good paying jobs had all but disappeared and I completed a graduate degree while applying all over the country and even in Australia and New Zealand. I keep a detailed log of the 500 or so places and people I had applied to regarding jobs. I once drove from New Mexico to Missouri for a job interview only to learn that game wardens can't wear glasses.

As to culture, the local churches were full in the 1980s but the secular world didn't seem to care.

In the early 1980s Carter had finally been sent back to the peanut farm and the economy began recovering from his micro-mismanagement. Optimism returned to private sector America and I graduated for the last time. In 1980 I was offered professional jobs in NYC, NOLA, and in Oklahoma. I took a job in New Orleans and my family did well financially through the early 1980s with me doubling my salary with overtime in a port city whose economy was also booming from import and export.

The last of the full service gas stations and drive-in restaurants finally disappeared in the early 1980s and one now had to leave their car to eat or fill-up their tank for a much higher price. Many more folks could now eat at home since mortgage interest rates began their long decline from the Carter-era 13% and 14%. Consumer prices leveled out and a paycheck finally allowed one to save if they chose to. Through the 1980s I saved enough to buy a small retirement farm without touching my retirement annuity.

As far as music, I enjoyed some of the 1970s disco but since I was more into the country sound which changes at a slower pace than rock and pop, I don't recall when the BeeGees and Donna Summers finally left the music scene. In 1980 I bought the Martin guitar that I had always wanted but could never afford.

Regarding a less sterile, dirtier, grittier time in the early 1980s, I lived in New Orleans during the early 1980s so I really have no fair basis for comparison. The City was then, and continues to be, a dingy place that smells like a mildewed dish rag.

For me 1978 was much different than 1982. In 1978 I was a grad student living on $4,000 a year hoping some of the tax money Carter was throwing at alternative energy would reach our university. Like the billions Obama is now throwing at these guys, none of it "trickled" down but by 1982 I didn't care because I was making over $60,000 in salary and overtime in a real job. My daughter attended a private school and by 1984 I finally bought my first real home in booming SW Lubbock, Texas. This was a 1,300 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, newer brick home for a little over $39,000.

Economically the 1970s were rough on my family and the early 1980s were great. The current economics for my family is very similar to the 1970s, i.e., a stabilized income with the costs for energy, property taxes and groceries increasing dramatically.

In a cultural sense, residential neighbors keep our courts busy by suing each other over a tree hanging on both properties, barking dog or street parking. My shop and home have been burglarized in the past few years and last March my granddaughter was abducted at gunpoint and held overnight after school. This month my renters lectured me on what it means to be a Christian while we were standing beside my totally destroyed rent house arguing over whether or not they were supposed to pay the last month's rent. Morality is relative to whatever you think it is and to whatever you can get away with. The churches are now empty yet the secular world cries as if they are wounded.

Regarding music and the arts, writers and producers are all going back to old stuff so they can sell anything. Mediocrity in the arts is disguised behind long boring dialogue, outrageous garb, crude lyrics or nasty language. Half of America seeks the same hope and change that Jerry Clower's coon-hunter sought when he found himself up the tree with a "wildcat."

[2nd trick op]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I even remember one of the wackos in his cabinet claiming we could survive a nuclear exchange with dirt and shovels. We were just lucky the guy on the other side was Gorbachev and not Kruschev or Stalin.

It might be helpful if you got your facts straight.

The Day After was released in 1983; it was a last-ditch attempt by the Hollywood Left Establishment to derail the Reagan-inspired reconstruction of our military that finallly brought about the collapse of a Soviet threat which didn't have the economic underpinning (better known a captialism) to match it.

Your reference to "ditches and shovels" also sounds suspiciously like the "mine shaft gap" line in the last scenes of Dr. Strangelove.

[AK-Cathy]

and I mean SHAG... it went up to your ankles...

Yeah. We had the green SHAG with yellow plaid wallpaper in one room, brown SHAG with orange geometric print paper on the ceiling in the living room. It was super modern and stylish at the time. Since I love traditional and very simple interiors I really hated that house. As a teen I was tasked with housecleaning chores and vacuuming those rugs was a bear. The finishing touch was raking. Yep, we raked those stupid carpets with a plastic "carpet" rake. LOL! As an adult I've gone to hard floors and never looked back.

I loved the clothes of the earlier 70s. Hand embroidered jeans, easy gauze tops, strappy sandals that were a throwback to 40s styling. Straight simple hair, ethnic jewelry. It fit my personal looks better than the slick sophistication of the next fashion incarnation which I did not adopt.

Oddly very few were diet conscious and people weren't as fat as we are today. Hum, wonder if that goes hand in hand?

Like you, as kids we came home from school, changed clothes, raced through chores and went outside to play till dinner or dark if lucky. Folks would socialize at home more. We had family friends that we had Sunday brunch with twice a month after church. The kids all got along. We had BBQs and went to the lake, went camping and on vacation with other families. Is that even done today? We lost touch in the 80s when everyone got so busy.

One thing for certain, there were no helicopter parents in our area hovering over their kids. If you hurt yourself, broke a bone, you should have been careful.

Adults went to lodges like the Elks for dancing and drinks. The women dressed up and fixed their hair for these events. Folks discussed news events but I don't recall there being shrill rhetoric around politics that we have today. Though there were the decided generational struggles still in play. I don't idealize those times but there was a civility and community that we've lost over time.

Really good thread.

Originally Posted by ilovemycomputer90

I'm curious as to what daily life was like during this time period (roughly 1975-1984). Reading through various threads on this forum and hearing stories from relatives, I have this general image in my head, i.e., clunkier cars, lots of smoking, children always playing outside, going out to dinner was a rare treat, colorful appliances and interior decorating, etc. I knew smoking was allowed in restaurants (heck, the ban is relatively recent), but I was surprised to read that people also smoked in the grocery store. Overall it seems like it was a less sterile, dirtier, grittier time compared to the present. I mean that literally and metaphorically. How did the food taste? Was it better, worse, or on par with today? Did a cup of coffee or a cheeseburger in 1980 taste the same as it does in 2012? I'm especially interested in what was life was like in the early 80s since it doesn't seem to be discussed much for some reason. When did the 80s become distinct from the 70s? Was 1982 really that different from 1978? Was the disco era confined to the mid-to-late 70s or was there any spill over into the early 80s? I understand this was a rough time economically with high unemployment, inflation, etc. What was it like when the economy came roaring back (I ask that considering we're still in a malaise from the most recession)? Economically, politically, and culturally, how would you compare this time period in the US to the present?

I know this is a hodge-podge of both specific and broad questions, but I've been thinking about this for a while and would like to hear your thoughts.

I was a teenager in the 80's but I remember alot of people smoking everywhere, I grew up without a computer no cell phone and the only extended television was HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime - some of my first naked ladies on film were from late night channel surfing - he! he!. I was outside alot -everyday all day morning and night - the skateboard and bicycle was a great way to travel - I had friends that lived 10 miles away - exploration and mischief was the agenda. Every now and then the Arcade was a must - we would spend about an hour or two at the mall and bum quarters off of people (told them it was to call our parents) and get about $5-10 to spend on a movie, video games, or food - the days were full of crap like this. Collected crap from behind store and Malls and then built other crap from it in our garages only to destroy it later. The parents knew every kid better than they did the other parents - some of them were like 2nd moms. Those were the days.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by ilovemycomputer90

I have this general image in my head, i.e., clunkier cars, lots of smoking, children always playing outside, going out to dinner was a rare treat, colorful appliances and interior decorating, etc.

I was winding up high school, attended college, moved away from home and started my career in this time period. My car went from a 1973 Mercury Comet -- very heavy and powerful for a compact car -- to a 1983 Mercury Lynx, which was a tin box with a lousy carburetor that didn't last half as long as my previous car, but at 20 mpg it was an improvement over the 12 mpg from the Comet. My friends began buying used Datsuns and Toyotas, and my dad would tease my dates mercilessly because they came to pick me up in a "roller skate." Front wheel drive was a marvel.

Bell bottoms went out, hippies were scorned when preppy materialism became the fad, disco was the rave and then it sucked, but we still went to discos because they were good places to pick up guys. It had a good beat and you could dance to it, so what the hell.

I didn't smoke, and endured much peer pressure because I didn't. My high school had a student smoking lounge, I guess to keep the sight of students smoking on the front lawn away from the general public. My parents smoked like chimneys.

As for colorful decor ... My bedroom was carpeted in gold shag, and had gold walls; my bedspread was cobalt blue and I had traffic-signal throw pillows everywhere. Our family room had green shag rugs, with paneled walls. The kitchen had harvest gold appliances, and my mom recovered her 1960 Danish Modern turquoise living room chairs in a chocolate, orange and yellow floral print. My sister's room was avocado green with a yellow and orange bedspread and yellow walls. Everyone had a pool table in their basement, and basements usually were only partially finished ... and we got along just fine! LOL

When did the 80s become distinct from the 70s? Was 1982 really that different from 1978?

I'd say with Reagan's inauguration in 1981. The industrial collapse that began in the mid-70s still continued despite his trickle-down economic policies; a lot more people were out of work in 1982 than in 1978, and a lot of people had left the industrial cities for the oil industry in Texas and other southern destinations. The Cleveland Plain Dealer ran more than one Sunday magazine article (remember those?) about the migration away from the city; one cover photo I remember in particular showed Cleveland's skyline in a rear view mirror.

What also trickled down was unemployment; as factories closed and people left town or had no money to spend, the people who worked in places where factory workers spent their money also lost their jobs. I was a 23-year-old reporter at a newspaper with plummeting readership, ultimately standing in the unemployment line with the factory workers. It wasn't necessarily hard for me to find another job, but it was hard to keep one because the new position would be eliminated in the next round of layoffs.

I understand this was a rough time economically with high unemployment, inflation, etc. What was it like when the economy came roaring back

It did not roar back; it limped slowly back over the 80s, just in time for a short recession in the early 90s.

Originally Posted by AK-Cathy

God I feel old....

I guess this is the modern version of "Did they have cars when you were little, Grandpa?" LOL

Originally Posted by Caladium

Gas lines were a big deal in the early 80s. I can remember waiting in one for over an hour one time. Didn't keep me from going on road trips, however.

Me, either, you just had to plan. And after the gas lines and high prices in the summer of 1981, prices then dropped almost 50 cents a gallon during the next winter. I remember wanting to dig a huge tank in my landlord's yard and store gas at 79 cents a gallon for future use.

12. Economically, politically, and culturally, how would you compare this time period in the US to the present? It's harder to get a job now. You apply online rather than walking into a store and impressing the owner with your personality/character. People are nastier now--IMO, it's a result of the kind of bullying you see online spilling over into real life behavior. People are much less honest now, and often don't even care if you know they're being dishonest.

Good assessment.

People also need to call each other all day long--I can recall going off to college, calling my parents once to tell them I arrived, and then not calling them again for 2 weeks (and that was considered normal and healthy). IMO that independence was very healthy, although in some ways it fostered polarization between the generations.

I'd also leave the house in the morning and not return until dinnertime, and my parents weren't all that worried. Also, I don't see the polarization between generations was any worse then than it is now.

back then it was normal to leave home at 18 (or after college graduation), and some even left at 17 if they could get parental permission to sign an apartment lease. And it's not like you hated your parents, it just was considered the normal time to move out.

I couldn't wait to move out of the house!

People got married on the beach, in the town gazebo, etc. and then had a simple reception at the Kiwanis hall or maybe in the park, a condo community building, or in a nice backyard.

You know you're from Pennsylvania when ... the phrase "fire hall wedding reception" doesn't faze you.

Originally Posted by Caladium

Speaking about Reagan, I can remember that when he won my friends and many other people I knew were convinced that he would use nuclear weapons on someone and disaster was imminent.

Our arguments -- between liberal arts majors and economics and business majors -- were more about the economy and Regan's supply side theory, trickle down economics, etc.

We watched movies like "The Day After" and even stayed up a few nights having long bull sessions about this.

That was because we couldn't sleep after watching the movie.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by Shiloh1

The parents knew every kid better than they did the other parents - some of them were like 2nd moms. Those were the days.

My wife was one of those second moms. Every day after work I came home to a houseful, or garage full, of kids. My daughter, now forty, is still in touch with many of those great kids.

[2nd trick op]

What do I remember about the early Seventies? -- not much that was very pleasant, but change was on the way.

For many of us, the years after we finished our education and left the campus were a general lowering of expectations. The "GI Genration"; the old World War II crowd; were very much in control of everything, and they weren't about to let us chuck the neckties, nine-to-five, and similar examples of corporate rigdity. In most smaller communities, if you went looking for a place to rent, you were asked out front if the quarters were for yourself and a spouse, and if not, you were directed toward the second-class neighborhoods. "Cooking for One" wasn't as easy in the days just before microwave ovens and the full flowering of frozen food -- which I learned to "jazz up" with a few additions of my own.

But the acceptance of non-traditional lifestyles that had quietly developed on the fringes of the campuses was underway, just as with the development of the "beat" generation, and the rebellion centered in places like the Lower East Side of Manhattan and the tough Caifornia towns like Richmond and San Bernardino (both claimed to be the birthplace of the Hells Angels) after the Big War. The most fundamental change -- the further emancipation of women -- moved at a slower pace, but the results were far more widespread.

The culture was a strange, eclectic mix of complacency and rebellion -- a recognition of the failure that was the Vietnam misadventure. The military had been devastated by that, and the widespread use of drugs by troops in Europe drove morale even lower. The billboards which had always lured bored kids out of the hick towns proclaimed that "Today's Army wants to join you", and by some strange mechanism, the system began to right itself.

And the tedium and disappointment was puctuated by various upheavals; we got our first taste of the coming instability in the price of oil in the spring of 1973, followed by a much bigger shock after the Yom Kippur war. In the middle of all that came a strange grass-roots spasm on the highways -- sparked by self-employed truckers with Citizens' Band radios. But there were some uglier manifestations, a lot of them centered on the San Francisco area -- Patty Hearst, Jim Jones and Dan White. And all of it underpinned by the combination of statecraft and soap opera called Watergate.

Somehow, by 1980, it had become apparent to most of us that in some way, and by various methods, we had to buckle down and put together something that worked. If I were asked to name one tool that made it possible, it would have to be the evolution of the home- and office-sized computer, which really took root in the first days of the Eighties. And one day in the late summer of 1982, the Dow Jones simply exploded upward -- and would do so for another eighteen years.

We got through it, just like every generation before us.

Originally Posted by High_Plains_Retired

My wife was one of those second moms. Every day after work I came home to a houseful, or garage full, of kids. My daughter, now forty, is still in touch with many of those great kids.

It is so true - I am not sure why the environment was condusive to this? Maybe I am just older now and do not see it but it seems like something is different now. Since I was young at the time I was not aware of the politics and similar societal contexts - it was just a great time for freedom and youth.

Thanks 2nd Moms!

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by Shiloh1

it was just a great time for freedom and youth.

As were the late 1950s and 1960s for me. When I retired I recall thinking I just wanted to again experience one of those carefree 3-month summer breaks of my youth that seemed to be a year long. My youth was a rural one of building tree houses and damming up creeks to build swimming holes with friends who lived a half mile away. However I've found that you can't go back neither can you slow down the clock of time that seems to run faster and faster as you age.

Memories are good.

[Ceece]

I graduated HS in 1976 and I don't remember the times fondly. I can only comment on the people I knew in my small world but things were turning ugly in my area and my parents became over protective of me and kept me sheltered . There was a lot of drug use among my peers. My cousins all went down bad roads and I hated hanging out with them. Many adults didn't seem to like their kids and it seemed normal for them to be not so nice. Lot's of my friends parents were getting divorced and many were trying to reclaim their youth in ugly ways, lot's of secret drinking and affairs and whatnot, but keeping up appearances was still going on. Playing outside was the norm but not only because it was safer (maybe) but because the parents didn't always want them around...it's true. I wasn't happy even though my own home life was great, just having a vague feeling that other families weren't what they seemed was unsettling to me.

It was easier to get jobs in HS and right out of HS, it was also easier to get into college if you made any effort, even the great ones like UC Berkeley and Stanford, although it wasn't something many of us actually aspired to for some reason. I guess the abundance of jobs made college unnecessary for many people. 3 Martini lunches were real, women were still treated sketchy as secretaries and such and I was fortunate to not have to deal with that too much. IMO things got better in the 80's but that was probably because I became an adult and started living my own life at that point. When I married in 1982 I basically went into a cocoon of family life that kept me busy for the next 25 years.