What Was It Like Growing Up In The 1970s? (ancient, influence, Mexican)

[highway29south]

What a fun thread! I was born in the late 60's so the 70's and early 80's was when I grew up.

I lived in Virginia as a child and I remember disco, Sunkist soda, complete mixing of black and white and Indian kids- everyone played together. Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Barry Manilow, Peter Frampton and the Beatles were all big then (I had the posters to prove it!). Remember Tiger Beat?

Tight jeans, sayings on shirts, and Farrah Fawcett hair. Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman were the best shows. Isis wasn't bad either on Saturday mornings! Dukes of Hazzard was a big favorite too.

Cartoons were on only on Saturday mornings and if you missed them, too bad! No cable T.V., no internet and no cell phones. You went outside to play or you found something to do inside in your room. We went out all day and were on our own. I did almost get kidnapped once on the way to school, so it did happen then. But we didn't have CNN and Fox News to scare us 24 hours a day so it wasn't a big issue.

If you ate out, it was once or twice a year, not every week. Dads worked, moms stayed home and didn't drive (at least the ones I knew!). There was little competition between neighbors or friends.

Gosh it was a corny time, but it was fun!!

[NJ2MDdude]

Back then, it was common to see families with between 4 and 8 kids, living in houses that were substantially smaller than the homes built today. Station wagons were the mini-vans of that era. Hand me downs were passed on to younger siblings. Families ate dinner and watched TV together.

Unlike today, kids used to play together on the street or on a school playground or even on an empty lot. It didn't matter wether it was cold or hot, day or night, kids socialized face-to-face.

School wasn't as stressful and expensive as today. There were no real academic pressures to succeed (being #1), because opportunities were plentiful. Tuition was paid with cash, like everything else.

It was common for parents to socialize back then. My parents had numerous evening parties at our home, where guests would arrive formally dressed. Sometimes, the guests would bring their kids with them.

Most of the stores were local. No Subways, Taco Bells, Macys, Targets or Wal-Marts. Heck, we didn't even have a McDonalds. That was ok, because the European immigrants had their pastry and donut shops, bakeries, pizza parlors, delis, meat markets and neighborhood convenience stores. Of couse, we dealt with them on a name-to-name basis.

Evening editions of local newspapers were popular back then. I had an afternoon delivery route that I'd do around 4:30 pm Monday thru Friday. My friend had the morning route. Nobody wanted to deliver the morning route. HaHa!!!

Oh yeah...FM radio was cool back then.

[lilred0005]

I'm really enjoying your posts, keep 'em coming, lol! I noticed several of you mentioned that there was a big cultural difference between the early and late Seventies, the line of demarcation being around '74. What were the differences? I didn't understand if you meant the earlier '70s were preppy? I always thought the earlier '70s would be "hippie" because of the influences from the late '60s. This seemed to be a time of far less restrictions and it makes me sad to see how much today's kids have had to give up just for technology.

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by lilred0005

I'm really enjoying your posts, keep 'em coming, lol! I noticed several of you mentioned that there was a big cultural difference between the early and late Seventies, the line of demarcation being around '74. What were the differences? I didn't understand if you meant the earlier '70s were preppy? I always thought the earlier '70s would be "hippie" because of the influences from the late '60s. This seemed to be a time of far less restrictions and it makes me sad to see how much today's kids have had to give up just for technology.

As per my previous post: one huge factor was the end of the Viet Nam Draft so guys at least no longer felt the 'need' to rebel against authority i.e. long hair, tiedyed shirts, etc.

And the other factor was by 1973; we were in a nasty recession----------which still seems to be the cultural demarcation line even today between the older Baby Boomers vs. the younger ones (like myself). Why I say that it was still easy to find a high paying job with just a HS education up till 1973 hence the older cohorts still seeming to have a bit more self confidence that things will improved whereas the younged ones still seem a bit 'dazed and confused'.

There may be other factors as well i.e. more of the older kids growing up in two parent families hence more stability.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by lilred0005

I'm really enjoying your posts, keep 'em coming, lol! I noticed several of you mentioned that there was a big cultural difference between the early and late Seventies, the line of demarcation being around '74. What were the differences? I didn't understand if you meant the earlier '70s were preppy? I always thought the earlier '70s would be "hippie" because of the influences from the late '60s. This seemed to be a time of far less restrictions and it makes me sad to see how much today's kids have had to give up just for technology.

The early 70s were the last gasp of the nonstop party where all you needed was love and we all lived in a yellow submarine. The late 70s were the part where we were waking up with the world's worst hangover headache, grasping the toilet seat firmly with both hands and being miserably ill, telling everyone to turn that TV down. It was just my luck to be too young to have sex and drugs in the first part, and just old enough to start contemplating my future in the second. Timing: impeccable.

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

The early 70s were the last gasp of the nonstop party where all you needed was love and we all lived in a yellow submarine. The late 70s were the part where we were waking up with the world's worst hangover headache, grasping the toilet seat firmly with both hands and being miserably ill, telling everyone to turn that TV down. It was just my luck to be too young to have sex and drugs in the first part, and just old enough to start contemplating my future in the second. Timing: impeccable.

Excellent synopsis there---------and; today's recession is eerily reminiscent of the 1975-83; hell, up to the early 1990's era IMHO. The big difference today is that inflation is very low.

[YAZ]

Growing up in Michigan during the '70's, we basically had three choices with our lives after high school.

1. Go to college

2. Join the military

3. Get a good paying job in an auto factory.

I graduated high school in 1982, so #3 was not attainable. I was ready one morning to take the oath for the U.S. Army, but my father talked me out of it at the last minute.

So, I did what a lot of kids in my neighborhood did. I lived with my parents, worked at a restaurant, and commuted to college as a part time student.

I worked with men that were used to the union pay, stuck with three part time jobs to put food on the table and roofs over their heads. Looking back on it, all of the stuff that happened in the late '70's affected the country well into the '80's.....

I still don't call in sick.

[DubbleT]

Earth day
Prairie skirts and blouses
String art
Working moms were still a rarity
Divorce and unwed mothers were still juicy scandal for the neighborhood gossips
Vietnam
Sit-ins
Watergate on every channel for months on end
Banana seat bikes, with playing cards in the spokes
VW pop top campervans

[Joe_Ryder]

There were about half as many people and about 1/10 the amount of stuff. There was a lot more elbow room.

[markg91359]

During the seventies, I graduated from high school and started college. I have heard the seventies referred to by some as the "Me Generation". Its a phrase that means after the turbulent 1960's, many of us were less focused on things going on nationally than we were with our personal lives.

I remember it well because I was in college and having a great time learning things and partying. On a personal level though, the late 1970's got kind of ugly. Inflation reached unheard of levels in 1979 of about 16% annually. Food, gasoline, and everything became expensive. As these problems mounted, the country slid into a recession. The peak was not reached until the early 80's, but like today over 10% of the work force was unemployed. I remember it all well trying to shop as a student for bargains and trying to find work when I wasn't in school. Both were a huge challenge.

Here were the most significant events that I think occurred during the 1970's.

1. The landslide victory of President Nixon in 1972 over George McGovern when he sought re-election.

2. The Watergate Scandal which lead to the resignation of President Nixon in 1974.

3. The fall of South Vietnam to the Communist North in 1975 along with the subsequent slaughter that took place in Cambodia at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.

4. The celebration of America's Bicentennial on July 4, 1976. I still remember Walter Cronkite narrating as tall sailing ships sailed into Boston Harbor. What an amazing day that was after all the awful events our nation had been through for the last decade!

5. The election of Jimmy Carter as President in 1976.

6. The passage of Proposition 13 in California which signaled the end of public support for growth in government and tax increases in 1978.

7. America's dependence on foreign oil reaches a level where a group called OPEC (made up mostly of Arab Nations) is able to raise crude oil prices to unheard of levels causing record inflation in the USA. 1974-1979 and beyond.

8. The taking of the hostages at the American Embassy in Tehran by a band of Iranian militants that leads to the imprisonment of these hostages for over one year and the "Hostage Crisis" in late 1979.

I fear that historians may look back on the 1970's as the era when America lost much of its influence as a Superpower. We learned the hard way that there were all kinds of limits on our power. The events of the seventies paved the way for the election of Ronald Reagan as President in 1980. I'm not a Reagan fan. However, it was clear in the late 70's that the country was in a drastic mood for change since the economy had gotten so ugly. Its fascinating how historical events lead into others.