Cities and Decades

[Novella]

In a book I was reading the other day, the author coupled cities with decades as follows:

1900s: Vienna
1920s: Paris
1940s: New York
1960s: London

That got me wondering about what city could be paired with the 1930s as "the city" of that decade. I'm also curious what everyone thinks of the pairs that were presented. Agree? Disagree? Have some better suggestions? Any thoughts also on what could be called the city of the 1910s or the 1950s?

I'm sure there are all sorts of things wrong with trying to pair a city with a decade, but it's fun. The book I was reading didn't have too much to do with this question, but just to credit the author, it's Dimbleby and Reynold's An Ocean Apart.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

one would ave to see the rationale for each pairing.

bk

 

[Bill O'Rights]

1930's - Chicago

1950's - Levittown

 

[Elaina]

I don't know where they came up with it, but I know in books, litature or not, it seemed you can pin point the year by what city it's in.

Look at romance novels. When they first started ('60's) everything was in London.

 

[Novella]

one would ave to see the rationale for each pairing.

Good point! Unfortunately there wasn't much rationale given. The chapter was on British and American culture of the 1960s and it cited a lot of the cultural influences coming out of London in that decade. The sentence that labeled the decades was something like - as with the 1900s and Vienna, the 1920s and Paris, the 1940s and New York, the 1960s had London. So maybe the rationale behind each is a question on it's own!

I don't know where they came up with it, but I know in books, litature or not, it seemed you can pin point the year by what city it's in.

I hadn't thought about that!

 

[Viola]

'30s = Chicago and NYC in my mind. I blame noir writers.

-Viola

 

[LizzieMaine]

And don't forget Hollywood -- definitely could make an argument for it being the City of the '30s, especially the latter half of the decade.

 

[WH1]

Berlin-1930'

No sarcasm intended. The argument could be made because of its impact culturally and politically throughout the decade, both good and bad. Think Marlena Deitrich, the 1936Olympics, The Weimar Republic (early), Nazi architecture, uniform design, aircraft and vehicle design, etc. again both good and bad included.

 

[BuddyJ]

I'll second Berlin. Look at Cabaret and Isherwood's Berlin Stories.

 

[Quigley Brown]

1930s = gangsters. Gangsters = Chicago.

 

[Haversack]

I think gangsters are associated with Prohibition which is much more 1920s than 1930s. The popularization of gangsters through the movies is 1930s however.

This question reminds me of a history course which was very popular at UC Davis back in the 1970s. It was taught by a professor from England named F. Roy Willis and was entitled "Western Civilization, An Urban Perspective". Rather like a package tour, we got ten cities in ten weeks. Each city was presented in its glory days and we got the art, music, literature, & architecture, as well as the political tenor of that time and place.

If I remember right, the cities were:

Athens under Pericles.
Rome under Augustus.
Constantinople under Justinian.
Seville before the Reconquista.
Paris under Louis IX.
Amsterdam in the 17th C.
Paris under Louis XIV.
Berlin under Frederick the Great.
London under Victoria.
New York under Walker & La Guardia.

A fun course it was.

Haversack.

 

[Smithy]

WH1 I think you are spot on, Berlin for me as well.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

If Hollywood deserves any decade, I would give it the 30s. Hardcore Day of the Locust style. Although, the 30s was kind of the beginning of New York's cultural center of the world era, too, so it is a close call. I don't think any of the European cities can claim it, it still been a Wasteland of the great war and all. Weimer Germany would be the greatest contender, but ...

 

[HadleyH]

PARIS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 1920s (my favorite time and place ever)

Chicago>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 1930s ( gangster time...)

New York>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> late 50s (beatnik time...)


as an afterthought, well, it has to be Berlin in the 20s ... nothing can beat that when it comes to insanity... got to love it...lol

 

[Marc Chevalier]

1920s: Paris.

I'd say:

1900s Paris and Vienna
1920s Berlin, Paris, and New York
1930s New York
1940s New York
1950s New York
1960s London

.

 

[HadleyH]

1960s London

.

Yes! I forgot that!!!! the 60s in London.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

As soon as I saw the first post, I thought of 30s:Berlin but didn't want to be the one to say it first. I confess I never or rarely think of gangsters. My first thought of 50s...ooh that's a toughie. Los Angeles? Sunshine, hope after the war, corruption? I don't know. New York was already taken.

 

[Lincsong]

Just because older people I know are so fond of it;

1940's Oakland

1950's San Francisco

1940's Oakland and the jazz and swing bands; Sweets Ballroom.

1950's San Francisco and the International Settlement, Hungry i, Bimbo's Club scene.

 

[Fletch]

30s: New York. So much of what we treasure from that time came from here - including the glamour and sophistication we think of as "Hollywood." So much of the thinking and writing and buying and enjoying and creating went on here that without NY, the 30s would not have been at all the same.

40s: LA. Aircraft plants, bungalows, film noir, the birth of car culture, the sprawling sense of possibility and (somewhat tainted) promise.

50s: Washington, DC may seem an odd choice. Blame my parents, who met there at the close of the 50s and whose memories of it are vivid and fond. There's a staid and soothing charm in DC: I could feel at home driving a tailfinned Ford Fairlane around the traffic circles, walking Embassy Row in white bucks. And then there's the (now de facto) segregation.

60s: San Francisco. Can there be any question? In the US, anyway?

70s: Minneapolis. Don't laugh. Mary Richards aside, a lot of what we now consider lively and livable in urban life was exemplified by 70s Minneapolis (and is by Mpls today). I know; I spent many enjoyable weekends there as a child.

80s: I dunno. Houston? Money, money, money, the purpose of which is to make more money. And build skyscrapers and freeways and stuff.

90s: Vancouver. The post-everything metropolis. The personal city, green and watery and wired. With enough development and Asian flavor to remind you the world is a village, and there are people looking up North America's behind.

 

[rockyj]

HEY CALL ME BORING!

1930's St.louis
1940's Tonronto
1950's London