Golden Era Passtimes / Hobbies

[BeBopBaby]

I'm interested in finding out what kind of golden era hobbies/past times the FL members enjoy. Personally I enjoy embroidery, knitting, bowling and playing canasta. What do you like to do in your spare time?

Also what were popular hobbies for people in the golden age? Were there any unusual "fad" hobbies that might not be known or popular today?

 

[plain old dave]

Amateur Radio, the ORIGINAL internet...

 

[GoldLeaf]

I enjoy knitting, I have randomly tried my hand at embroidery, I am trying to learn to sew. If I didn't live in an apartment, I like to ::edit:: garden, I originally wrote "sew" a second time :eusa_doh:

Does anyone do container gardening that could offer some tips on how to actually get veggies to grow? Having a dickens of a time with my hubby's hot peppers.

 

[BeBopBaby]

What's the problem with the peppers? They should grow in containers okay. But, they need big enough containers for all of their roots and lot's of direct sunlight. Lack of sunlight really slows down veggie growth.

 

[mikepara]

Old hobbies I'm interested in.

Fly fishing.
Cricket.
Sculling [well I haven't got around to actually doing it yet!]
Whisper: Turning into a bit of a military badge collector

Would like to shoot poor defenceless pheasants too.
Skiing.

 

[Joie DeVive]

I have a few...

I draw and paint. I have been teaching myself to sew. I embroider. I love to garden!

I have tried my hand at knitting, and I'm about to try decoupage.

I enjoy walking, biking and hiking. I'd love to learn to fish.

These weren't considered hobbies so much then, but I like to cook and bake and have done some home canning.

I think I may be a little ADD....
But I'll call it well rounded! lol

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Playing the uke!

Gathering around the piano to belt out some jazzy tunes!

Of course, I can do neither


But I *can* follow the movie stars like there's no tomorrow
I'd be movie-mad if I lived in the 20s and 30s.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've always wanted to take up the uke myself -- my grandmother played one, and had a lot of fun with it. My grandfather played drums, my mother the piano, and my uncle the guitar, and the four of them spent many evenings playing old favorites.

My grandfather was an avid coin collector as well, but, alas, his collection had to be sold long ago to pay bills. I was fascinated by his coins as a little girl, and would sit poring over them for hours with a magnifying glass trying to imagine all the pockets they'd gone thru.

I've sewn all my life, but I don't consider it a hobby so much as a cheap way of keeping clothes on my back.

 

[scotrace]

Would Bridge count?

 

[GoldLeaf]

What's the problem with the peppers? They should grow in containers okay. But, they need big enough containers for all of their roots and lot's of direct sunlight. Lack of sunlight really slows down veggie growth.

Bah, my porch is... I don't know which direction it faces .... north-east? And it barely gets a bit of sun in the morning. That may be it. Perhaps I should just plant flowers My mom was a flower gardener growing up, veggies weren't her thing so I don't know much about them.

At least my flower boxes give me something to putter around with. I do have quite large containers, so I know that isn't the issue.

 

[Parallel Guy]

I have a thousand or so stereoviews. The original 3-D. I onlycollect city views since nature changes so little.

 

[Diamondback]

Well, scale model building started in the Golden Age, but nowhere near the quality of today.

Every so often, I pick up a reissue of one of the old '50s Revell or Monogram kits at the hobby shop and build it as a reminder of how lucky builders today are. (I do cheat and use modern paint/glue in the finishing, however... you think anything like that that occupied a shelf in '55 would still be usable?lol )

Unfortunately, any hobby that involve craftsmanship seems to be falling into disfavor, with the rise of the instant-gratification culture. But that's for another thread...

 

[Dagwood]

I really enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles and playing solitaire (with real cards).

 

[Pina Bridgette]

Hobbies I have known (and for some been very bad at): coins, stamps, pottery, painting, photography, chess, bowling, dancing, baking, preserving, travel, crosswords, reading, etc. If I had outside space fulltime, I would love to garden. Currently, teaching myself to sew/quilt. Would love to knit but still recovering from childhood crochet trauma. Or was it macrame?

Sportswise, I have always loved tennis. My knees are no longer so in love and I have been thinking of taking up golf. Also enjoy, swimming and fishing. Although with the fishing, I much prefer not catching anything as it messes up the calm of those early morning hours.

Recently, I have been taken with the idea of getting a croquet set for our family lake house. (Jaques, be still my heart) or badminton/volleyball net. My son, however, is lobbying for table tennis. Somewhere around, we have a set for horseshoes.

My great aunt traveled quite a bit from the 30s until her death in the 60s and liked to bring back souvenir spoons:

 

[Viola]

Gardening is the big one for me. Love it. I have a much greener thumb with flowers/shrubs/trees than veggies though. Fortunately, this means I can do fruit. Nothing beats fresh raspberries and blueberries!

I often wish I could find an old-school Ladies Garden Club where you have to come to meetings wearing a hat and gloves. I wore a fedora to the Philadelphia Flower Show this year and got some looks but lots of smiles.

I would love to learn to sew and maybe knit.

I like to cook and am learning to bake.

I do a lot of walking/hiking, it gets me out into the woods for some fresh air instead of doing all my exercise at the flea markets. lol

-Viola

 

[Mike1939]

My favorite Golden Era past time is hiking and climbing (scrambling, not vertical walls). I try to get out in the local hills every day and at least once a month to some place more challenging. Lately I've been trying to get togeather 1930's stlye clothing and gear for my adventures. I've read in, The Long Week-end: A Social History of Great Britain 1918-1939, that hiking was quite a popular and inexpensive hobbie in the U.S. and Europe during the 1920's and 30"s. I caught the hiking bug from my Grandfather (born in 1904), I remember walking through the green fields of England as boy trying to keep up with him and he was in his 70's.. It must run in the family because Grandad's sister eventually moved from England to Wales and became a mountain guide. If anyone has any info on books, clothing or gear for hiking or climbing during the 20's and 30's it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[lindylady]

I like dancing, reading, sitting down with a drink and conversing among friends. I use to do latch hook rugs. I want to resume that when I find more time. That, and possibly learning to sew.

 

[Flivver]

Most of my hobbies today are centered around collecting artifacts of the golden era and trying to learn as much as I can about the era through books and movies.

But as a kid, I collected stamps and coins, and I still do AM radio DX-ing...fishing for distant stations. This hobby was all the rage in 1922-1924!

 

[Feraud]

My dad is one of those handy types and used to make scale model airplanes. As a child he used to take my brother and I to hobby shops to purchase models. I grew up making WWII airplanes, classic Hollywood monsters (Kong, Creature from the Black Lagoon), and a few autos.

Here is a recent article article about one of the few remaning hobby shops.
This one is in my neighborhood.
http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/astoria-hobby-shop-stays-in-the-game-1.2518829

Before X-Box, Play Station and Nintendo, or even Transformers and Masters of the Universe, there was Rudy’s Hobby Shop on Astoria’s 30th Avenue, a place of low-tech thrills for kids: train sets, car tracks and model kits.

Nowadays, owner Marvin “Rudy” Cochran says most customers are men —those kids who never gave up modeling, and who spend hours sourcing the right train trestle or action figure.

“Kids today are all about technology,” said Cochran, 73. “When you tell them they have to glue and paint, they’re out of here.”

Cochran has been in his spot for some 50 years, first as proprietor of a fountain shop (you can still see the faint footprint of the counter stools on the floor), which he and his wife operated. After 25 years, he traded egg creams and sundaes for planes, trains and automobiles.

His wife retired from the business, but Cochran runs the shop four days a week to sell these toys of patience. It’s a set-up Luddites would love: cash-only, no website or digital displays. Model planes dangle from the ceiling, suspended in flight. Price tags are still clicked out with a hand-held sticker gun, and the shelves are stacked high with all sorts of model sets, related accessories, jigsaw puzzles, art supplies and, more recently, religious items.

Maspeth resident Fred Matthews, 64, picked up a set of military action figures for $15, which he said he’ll modify for his war diorama, housed in a six-shelf cabinet. He estimates he’s been coming to Rudy’s shop for 30 years, spending more than $5,000 on his pastime.

“It’s hard to find certain things. Hobby shops are not what they used to be,” Matthews said.

Modeling may be a dying art for some, but for others, it helps with the art of living.

Customer Brenda Bennett, 45, a therapist from Brooklyn, perused shelves for more than an hour with Cochran before deciding on items that she says illustrate “good citizenship and family values.” She paid $70 for a church, a school, a house and a police precinct (the latter representing a place not to end up).

“It all came together in the shop,” she said. “This will help teach them patience and rules for cooperation and orderly living—even in a city.”

By the numbers

Square feet: 1,200
Number of items: 4,000-5,000
Price of a balsa wood glider: $6.29
Price of a Santa Maria ship model: $215
Highest-priced item: $350

 

[kampkatz]

Most of those hobby shops are long gone. Most of the owners of the current ones are at least 60 years old(as am I). I love coming across such a shop in my travels. I have found some model planes(I have built over 200 )or HO trains while perusing that have been added to my collection.