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My friend was class of 1969. He showed me his class picture and all the boys look exactly the same, suit, tie, hair parted on the side.
I started high school 1965. The teachers had been in ww2. I was class of 1969, one year we all look like we're going to college prep, the next year the hippie movement hit and everyone had long hair. The whole class got busted and then nobody ever talked about it. Remember in 1969 we still had short hair in the pictures, but we were all doing lsd and smoking dope. My mother found a bag of weed ' what is this?' I said it was a school experiment. Something about james browns first song 1965. How dramatic everything was. There was no media. Most of America had not heard of bob Dylan until like a rolling stone and that was a 10min long song. Ringo Starr thought he would just make enough money to open a hair salon.
I told her I'm kind of young I need to play the field. You heard a smack. I never got a coke thrown in my face as bad as I was. My hand would stray, it was part of the whole romance thing. but that one little thing she went off on me. I don't know where we went over the line, she called the shots. I never asked it wasn't manly.
What do you mean by the bolded? Most of what you describe was all over the media of the day: the Beatles (you can still watch their performances on the Ed Sullivan Show on youtube), the hippies, the march in Selma, AL, and the "freedom rides" on the interstate Greyhound buses, etc. Of course the media were all over those events, as well as the Vietnam War, and so much more.
Not just small commutes, there were also smaller, but more, branches of the major supermarkets (think A&P), in addition to many smaller grocers/delicatessens embedded within walking distance of city neighborhoods. Supermarkets had not yet become the gigantic mega-stores with large parking lots that they are today. Maybe just a few aisles of groceries, and a handful of checkout registers, and many many smaller corner grocers.
I recently saw an old newspaper ad from the 30s and 40s, and saw that A&P at the time was operating many of the corner grocers in my city, with over 200 locations, before they began selling them off when they built the larger stores. Many/most of these smaller stores (under different owners) continued to operate for decades until cities became more car-centric.
Even by the late 1960s, just off the top of my head, I can recall at least a dozen or more of these small stores within a 10 minute walk from my house, in addition to 2 larger grocery stores (including an A&P with 6 to 10 aisles of food). Just within 1 block of my house there were 4 corner grocers, on residential streets, operating through the 60s and 70s, until chains like 7-11 and large supermarkets put them out of business (more variety, longer hours, sometimes lower prices) and more people had cars.
This is a great point. I grew up with neighborhood "supermarkets" that were relatively small, locally-owned stores serving most neighborhoods. There was usually a small, independent pharmacy nearby, as well. This was in Berkeley. Oakland and San Francisco were the same. And they still are: many of those stores have survived, because of their convenience. And San Francisco also still has the little corner grocers, like you described. Back in those earlier eras, nearly every neighborhood was "walkable". Nowadays, people pay a premium for homes in "walkable" neighborhoods.
When I moved to Seattle for college, it was very different in that regard. In many neighborhoods, one had to take the bus to the store. There were only the big supermarket chain stores, which was kind of a culture shock for me. No locally-owned neighborhood pharmacies, either; only branches of national or regional chains. I never felt entirely at home in Seattle, for that reason, among others.
That is a good point about walkable neighborhoods before cars were very common.
When I was two, my parents bought a blue Ford, not new but probably a late 1940s model. But we still walked to many places - school, church, the bank, library, even the doctor and dentist offices in our small town.
My parents both walked to work also. The car was used for some shopping and visiting relatives but not on a daily basis. My mother did learn to drive quite young as her parents had a car (her grandparents had an old Model T).
We moved from that town as my parents wanted better schools for us. It was a big change to be in a newer suburban neighborhood with big lawns but we could not walk anywhere except friends’ homes. No shops or services were close by. DH grew up in a smaller city where he could still walk to the movies, drugstore, school and corner groceries. I missed that.
Last edited by shamrock4; 05-09-2023 at 12:35 PM..
"Unpleasantness" was swept under the rug. There were no LBGTQ+ people -- they did not exist.
MIL was alive back then albeit a young girl... She was eventually pressured to do exactly what was expected of a woman during that time; got married, raised a child, and remained loyal to her husband even putting up with his crap. Divorce was considered a big no-no. Openly talking about your sexuality, especially if you knew you were "different", was a big no-no. By the time her daughter was heading off to college, she finally got a divorce and came out of the closet. When she told her mother, her mother in not so many words said it was about time and she always kinda knew. She got remarried a few years before retiring and has been happy. Even today, she would say one of her biggest regrets wasn't divorcing earlier as she thought she was "protecting" her daughter. My children love their three grandmothers very dearly.
No LGBTQ people? It was just different - though transgender surgery wasn't available of course. Being gay runs in my family on both sides it seems; I am gay as is my cousin, but going back a few generations, my great aunt lived in NYC as an out lesbian. My father's first cousins were gay - I think they are then my first cousins once removed.
I found out much later about the gay social network in my small southern city - without a bar, they would meet in each other's homes; I went to a party once in the early '80's and met an older man who was from my hometown; I asked if he knew my cousin, he did and filled me in on the details of living in that era. My cousin's first husband left her for a man in the Navy and they settled in NYC. Often gay men in a relationship would say they were living "with their cousin."
There was an entire gay network of course in the Catskill's called Casa Suzanna and Fire Island was already a gay destination. And while gay life was centered on the coasts, Denver had a very active Mattachine Society. Daughters of Bilitis, the Mattachine Society, Knights of the Clock, One Inc. were early gay rights organizations founded in the 1950's. In short, gay life was everywhere for someone willing to look.
Even Richmond had a very gay scene with Marronis - a bar in the Capitol Hotel basement, the Broadway and Etons - the gay friendly Capitol Hotel was closed in 1962. There was the USO and Broad Street bus station for pickups. Of course, Richmond had the notorious "block" for more closeted pickups; that block was known as far back as the Civil War, but that is getting off topic. Knowing men from that era, they told me the police would leave the bar patrons alone. Portsmouth was notorious for its "erotic and physique" studios catering to gay men with customers and models from the Navy.
Oh, they were there but a person would not be public about it. Homosexuality was considered a mental illness. Chemical castration was employed by law in the UK (see Alan Turing) in the 1950s for "gross indecency" but was not imposed in the US until later, mostly for repeat sex offenders, and then not all that common. Sometimes it was part of a "treatment" in mental health practices. There were stories circulating about certain people getting sex change surgery in other countries.
There was considerable finger pointing and whispering about some celebrities in the 1950s. I recall some fellow students in upper grades being bullied and taunted because they were different in one way or another. It often had to do with presumed sexuality. There was a machismo element that permeated the culture, probably based on movies or sports. There were Charles Atlas ads in comic books. No self-respecting guy at the beach wanted a bully to kick sand in his face.
One thing that was briefly mentioned in a post earlier is the fact that in the 1950s there were so many "lifers" in employment. Many men held one job for an entire working career and or worked their way up in a company.
There was duel loyalty back then and people got pensions and didn't have to rely on the stock market for their retirement. Also, older workers got a bargain from Social Security because they didn't pay into it for the first 10-15 years of work because it didn't exist. (The guys who retired in the late '30s and '40s made out like bandits).
These days corporations and companies will terminate an employee for any reason at any time in many cases. Back then they didn't. Partly because of Union protection but I really think companies by the 1950s had evolved to demonstrating better ethics.
Certainly companies give way more luxurious perks these days but retirement ceremonies for workers were a big deal back then. They really honored you.
Yeah, the Americans were weird, but basically good people.
It was a wonderful time to be a immigrant. Lowest point in the number of immigrants. My father after working minimum wage jobs for a few years was able to get a good paying job even though he couldn't speak English.
Unions were still around to counter balance the corporations, unlike today.
What I remember is how cheap the unprocessed food was in America. These days food is very expensive.
The schools were great. I got pulled out of class, to go to a speech therapist to get rid of my accent. I got into English immersion classes right away, since it was forbidden to speak another language in school.
Being poor is never easy. Being poor in the 50's was much easier than being poor today, if you worked. Today, if poor, your better off NOT working.
One thing that was briefly mentioned in a post earlier is the fact that in the 1950s there were so many "lifers" in employment. Many men held one job for an entire working career and or worked their way up in a company.
There was duel loyalty back then and people got pensions and didn't have to rely on the stock market for their retirement. Also, older workers got a bargain from Social Security because they didn't pay into it for the first 10-15 years of work because it didn't exist. (The guys who retired in the late '30s and '40s made out like bandits).
These days corporations and companies will terminate an employee for any reason at any time in many cases. Back then they didn't. Partly because of Union protection but I really think companies by the 1950s had evolved to demonstrating better ethics.
Certainly companies give way more luxurious perks these days but retirement ceremonies for workers were a big deal back then. They really honored you.
My father worked for the same company for 44 years. My first husband, who graduated from college in 1966, worked for the same company for 40+ years too. Now, it’s different.
Fast forward to my grandchildren..one is a quality control engineer for US Steel and he knows the company will be reshuffling in the next few years, so he will be either in or out. Grand daughter is a nurse who loves where she works and I doubt if she will change jobs unless it’s about a future husbands career. Grandson #3 does not like his job and will, for sure, go job shopping next year.
Oh, they were there but a person would not be public about it. Homosexuality was considered a mental illness. Chemical castration was employed by law in the UK (see Alan Turing) in the 1950s for "gross indecency" but was not imposed in the US until later, mostly for repeat sex offenders, and then not all that common. Sometimes it was part of a "treatment" in mental health practices. There were stories circulating about certain people getting sex change surgery in other countries.
Homosexuality was illegal in the UK until 1967, and resulted in a prison sentence.
The most famous person to be jailed was Oscar Wilde, as for Turing, he agreed to chemical castration as a way of avoiding a prison sentence.
The Buggery Act of 1533, being passed by Parliament during the reign of Henry VIII, meant that sex between men (buggery) was punishable by death. The act was repealed in 1861, and replaced with a prison sentence which included hard labour.
Moderator cut: Current Events comment removed.
Last edited by mensaguy; 05-11-2023 at 05:02 AM..
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