Good riddance to vintage things that have disappeared in your lifetime

[richie1958]

Here in the UK, little school kids used to get a third pint bottle of milk every day. That has stopped now (By Margaret Thatcher) which I don't think is a good thing; but our teacher insisted on lining all the little third pint bottles up on the mantle shelf above the pot bellied stove, which would glow red hot in the winter... By break time the milk tasted like cheese! That was a bad thing!
Richie

 

[LizzieMaine]

My grandmother hated garter belts too -- she made her own ring garters out of elastic strapping and used those instead. (Those were also good for snapping at my little brother.) And I never, ever knew her to wear a girdle -- but then she only weighed 97 pounds soaking wet and a girdle would have fallen right off her.

I am glad to be rid of pickles sold loose in a brine barrel -- it always nauseated me to think of whose hands had been in there.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

HAHA! There's a market in South Jersey that is stuck in a 1950s time warp and they still sell pickles like that!

 

[Big Bertie]

TB?

Slum dwellings? Like these, all places in which people still live?

Most of these look as if they are just empty, for whatever reason. There are some places in the UK like that (the bottom right picture looks a bit like a street in Liverpool I visited when I was looking for student accommodation), but the true slums of the 30s-60s were different. Not all fundamentally bad, but chronically overcrowded, without heating, without proper sanitation, often damp and infested with all manner of pests.

 

[Big Bertie]

Here in the UK, little school kids used to get a third pint bottle of milk every day. That has stopped now (By Margaret Thatcher) which I don't think is a good thing; but our teacher insisted on lining all the little third pint bottles up on the mantle shelf above the pot bellied stove, which would glow red hot in the winter... By break time the milk tasted like cheese! That was a bad thing!
Richie

You had warm heating??

 

[sheeplady]

Not to be contrary, but I wouldn't consider the first picture a slum dwelling. The porches are still standing, the siding is intact, and the windows are in decent shape. The only thing seemingly wrong is some peeling paint (which is what paint does). The third picture has a very nice home next to an abandoned one (an abandoned house doesn't make a neighborhood a slum). I can't even figure out why the fourth picture is in there- it looks like very decent public housing from the outside- I've seen public housing with bad roofs and boarded up windows, but just because it is public housing doesn't make it the slums. I've known people who lived in true slums (where rats ran over them as children while they slept) and moved into public housing in the 50s (when it was built). Public housing as a concept certainly is not the "slums" to them- it was and is wonderful. I've spent a lot of time in public and section 8 qualifying apartments and I would not call them slums. They might not be the best places to live, but many of them are quite comfortable (although far from luxurious).

I am not arguing that slums don't exist, by far, but if these are what people consider slummy houses, then I grew up in worse, have purchased worse, and lived in worse. I've lived in houses with boarded up windows and falling off siding, peeling paint, leaking roofs, and shoddy porches, and I by far have never lived in the slums.

 

[Shangas]

I've seen plenty of schoolyard incidents where the application of five feet of bamboo would've been an excellent remedy.

When I was a lad, when they said the mercury was high, they meant it literally. We don't have that anymore, thank goodness...at least, I hope not!...Do we still have thermometers with mercury in them??

 

[LizzieMaine]

We used to play with mercury in science class -- we'd each get a blob of it and we'd push it around on our desktops with pencils while the teacher talked about it. We also used to make wet-cell storage batteries with sheet lead and jars of sodium sulphate -- nobody, as far as I can remember, ever tried to actually eat the lead, but I doubt that sort of thing would be allowed today.

As for slums, I define them as more than just the buildings -- they're a state of mind, one dominated by poverty, unemployment, and lack of opportunity, with a heavy seasoning of drugs, alcohol abuse, and broken families. And there's no shortage of any of that in the modern era -- calling them "the ghetto" or "the hood" or "the inner city" doesn't make them any less slums.

 

[Captain Lex]

My life hasn't really been long enough yet for me to observe something truly vintage disappearing in front of me - but I am so glad I was never forced to write right-handed in school. I have never understood why an entire society would be so subtly and fundamentally against something so totally benign. It's almost difficult to believe that it was happening when my parents were in school, because the entirety of the stigma has vanished almost overnight. Only linguistic artifacts like gauche and sinister remain to betray to the once-prevalent cultural force.

 

[vitanola]

Not to be contrary, but I wouldn't consider the first picture a slum dwelling. The porches are still standing, the siding is intact, and the windows are in decent shape. The only thing seemingly wrong is some peeling paint (which is what paint does). The third picture has a very nice home next to an abandoned one (an abandoned house doesn't make a neighborhood a slum). I can't even figure out why the fourth picture is in there- it looks like very decent public housing from the outside- I've seen public housing with bad roofs and boarded up windows, but just because it is public housing doesn't make it the slums. I've known people who lived in true slums (where rats ran over them as children while they slept) and moved into public housing in the 50s (when it was built). Public housing as a concept certainly is not the "slums" to them- it was and is wonderful. I've spent a lot of time in public and section 8 qualifying apartments and I would not call them slums. They might not be the best places to live, but many of them are quite comfortable (although far from luxurious).

I am not arguing that slums don't exist, by far, but if these are what people consider slummy houses, then I grew up in worse, have purchased worse, and lived in worse. I've lived in houses with boarded up windows and falling off siding, peeling paint, leaking roofs, and shoddy porches, and I by far have never lived in the slums.

The houses in the first photo stand across the street form the family home of a friend of mine. Believe me, that neighborhood is a slum. Forty years of disinvestment and the crack cocaine epidemic have taken their toll. One morning a few weeks ago he awoke to the sound of a crew of "good ol' boys sstripping the aluminum siding from his house.

The next two photos come from a neighborhood in Detroit, which was a slum, but is now practically nonexistent.

The final photo is of a public housing project which currently ahs a reputation for violence which rivals that of the old Gas House District.
Public housing is a fine idea, and can be a marvelous resource, if the managing authority wants it to succeed.

The final phto is of a neighborhood in Baltimore which has finally fallen victim to the cycle of disinvestment, drugs, and crime, and is now awaiting the bulldozer.

 

[kamikat]

The final phto is of a neighborhood in Baltimore which has finally fallen victim to the cycle of disinvestment, drugs, and crime, and is now awaiting the bulldozer.

Hey, I thought that looked familar! During my misspent youth, I hung out with people who lived in the Highlandtown area of Baltimore. It looked like that back in the 80s but now they call it "an up and coming" neighborhood.

 

[Yeps]

Hey, I thought that looked familar! During my misspent youth, I hung out with people who lived in the Highlandtown area of Baltimore. It looked like that back in the 80s but now they call it "an up and coming" neighborhood.

That's where my grandma grew up. Also, it is virtually identical to my neighborhood now in Philly, only ours is still nice and in good repair.

 

[sheeplady]

The houses in the first photo stand across the street form the family home of a friend of mine. Believe me, that neighborhood is a slum. Forty years of disinvestment and the crack cocaine epidemic have taken their toll. One morning a few weeks ago he awoke to the sound of a crew of "good ol' boys sstripping the aluminum siding from his house.

The next two photos come from a neighborhood in Detroit, which was a slum, but is now practically nonexistent.

The final photo is of a public housing project which currently ahs a reputation for violence which rivals that of the old Gas House District.
Public housing is a fine idea, and can be a marvelous resource, if the managing authority wants it to succeed.

The final phto is of a neighborhood in Baltimore which has finally fallen victim to the cycle of disinvestment, drugs, and crime, and is now awaiting the bulldozer.

None of those things are necessarily indicated by the photos, which was my point. Slums aren't just visual, as Lizzie pointed out. I've lived next door to drug dealers, lived in places where people got shot, and even where I live now it isn't uncommon to have your siding stolen, your pipes stolen, or your wiring stolen while you are awake and walking around in your house. Still, I wouldn't call any of these places the slums. What defines the slums is asking the people who live there and knowing the neighborhood, which wasn't given in the contexts of those photos. Heck, a third to half of my city looks like the first photo and there is only one section I'd call the slums- which is the area people are trying to move out of and into equally decrepit places but where crime is lower, the schools graduate more kids, and you're less likely to be afraid of being hurt as an innocent bystander.

 

[vitanola]

None of those things are necessarily indicated by the photos, which was my point. Slums aren't just visual, as Lizzie pointed out. I've lived next door to drug dealers, lived in places where people got shot, and even where I live now it isn't uncommon to have your siding stolen, your pipes stolen, or your wiring stolen while you are awake and walking around in your house. Still, I wouldn't call any of these places the slums. What defines the slums is asking the people who live there and knowing the neighborhood, which wasn't given in the contexts of those photos. Heck, a third to half of my city looks like the first photo and there is only one section I'd call the slums- which is the area people are trying to move out of and into equally decrepit places but where crime is lower, the schools graduate more kids, and you're less likely to be afraid of being hurt as an innocent bystander.

I suppose that my intimate personal knowledge of these neighborhoods colored my perception. I did not, for example, post photographs of the equally decrepit Clark Fulton neighborhood on the west side of Cleveland, or the border between Ecorse and Melvindale in the Detroit area, for whilst these neighborhoods can on first glance appear to be similarly blighted, they are by no means slums.
Slums don't necessarilly have to even look all that bad, witness Victorville, CA, a rathe risolated outpost in the Inland Empire which was hard -hit by the mortgage crisis, and which, I am told is rapidly developning a slum atmosphere, despite the newness of its built environment.

"Buy in Cocoanut Manor, the Palm Beach of yesterday, the slums of tomorrow..."

 

[AtomicEraTom]

They were here, too, but mostly mechanically. I had a '79 Buick that was in very good condition, it had a little surface rust, but Wisconsin is a salt state, so some rust is to be expected. The interior looked like it had just come off the showroom floor, but it ran like a piece of junk.

It constantly overheated, I flushed the radiator many times, changed water pumps 3 times, and changed the thermostat 3 times. Water pump number 3 finally fixed it. Sometimes, I would shut it off, and it would just run for about 30 more seconds, sort of chugging, then finally shut off. The radio didn't work, either.

I sold it to my neighbor for 1100 bucks and I see he still has it and he drives it now and then. Maybe he's working the bugs out. I still made money, I bought it for 500.

Perhaps it's different in the USA, but here 1970s motor cars were really poorly put together and are a byword for poor design and construction, and they are now very rarely seen. You may not have heard of these cars, but the Morris Marina, Austin Allegro, Vauxhall Viva, BL Princess and Ford Capri come to mind, all part and parcel of that awful decade along with flared trousers and polyester suits.

 

[kiwilrdg]

I am a bit late and many of these have been mentioned but here is my take on the original list

polio and TB: Aids, Ebola, etc
cars that rust and break down: Cars that have electronics that do not allow repairs to be done by the owner, I have had more shop time per mile driven from my new cars than from my old 1960s and 70s cars (backup daily drivers, but they are Volkswagens so they run forever).
bad food: Based on the way my grandmother tought me to make depression era poverty food, I thought that was new
slum dwellings: As a Sheriff's Deputy I can assure you they are not gone
killer smogs: Air is a bit better, not there yet but a good start
soup kitchens: Now they are called homeless shelters
corporal punishment at school: Replaced by bullying at school
outdoor privies: This one has decreased to being negligible
atomic bomb paranoia: Terrorism paranoia and gang paranoia
what else?

It doesn't get better, it just gets different.
I wish we could keep the good part of the old when we try to improve things.

 

[Big Bertie]

Kiwi, you're trying to shoot me down in flames but it won't work. Life expectancy in the USA was 59 in 1930, and 78 in 2010, which suggests some improvement in living standards. Ebola? Only one case anywhere in the world in 2011. You don't have to be an incurable optimist, but it helps.

 

[Flicka]

None of those things are necessarily indicated by the photos, which was my point. Slums aren't just visual, as Lizzie pointed out. I've lived next door to drug dealers, lived in places where people got shot, and even where I live now it isn't uncommon to have your siding stolen, your pipes stolen, or your wiring stolen while you are awake and walking around in your house. Still, I wouldn't call any of these places the slums. What defines the slums is asking the people who live there and knowing the neighborhood, which wasn't given in the contexts of those photos. Heck, a third to half of my city looks like the first photo and there is only one section I'd call the slums- which is the area people are trying to move out of and into equally decrepit places but where crime is lower, the schools graduate more kids, and you're less likely to be afraid of being hurt as an innocent bystander.

To me those pictures looked very strange - we have what is known as "the Million Program" here which indicates a lot of concrete houses built in the 60's and 70's as part of a national aim to build 1 million new flats. Certain "suburbs" here are completely dominated by those and in some areas they are all publically owned. However, they are all very neat and letting houses go to waste isn't allowed - private landlords can have their houses placed under management by someone else if they are mismanaged and it's unthinkable (legally and politically) that public housing would ever be allowed to crumble and there's no debris, no broken windows, no peeling paint and no crumbling pavements. So to me that looks shocking, even though I realise it doesn't to you. People still look down on those areas and there's absolutely not like no areas have any social problems - segregation exists here as well. But it's different and goes almost entirely along the lines of ethnicity since immigration and low income goes hand in hand here.

Here is what might be one of our most infamous "slum areas", Rinkeby:

As you can see it's very tidy. Not necessarily cosy or beautiful, but tidy.

 

[kiwilrdg]

Kiwi, you're trying to shoot me down in flames but it won't work. Life expectancy in the USA was 59 in 1930, and 78 in 2010, which suggests some improvement in living standards. Ebola? Only one case anywhere in the world in 2011. You don't have to be an incurable optimist, but it helps.

Sorry if I sounded like I was trying to shoot you down in flames. I only meant that we have never found any solution to anything that does not create other problems. Some of the things you mentioned have been almost solved but some are still problems that are as bad or worse.

I do think that life is better now. I know we have solved some individual problems (like polio and smallpox, TB is under much better control) but we will always have the more general problems.

Sorry if I sounded negative. I just felt that the examples are not all gone
I am a bit late and many of these have been mentioned but here is my take on the original list

polio-gone
TB-going
cars that rust and break down-worse today (from my experiences)
bad food-worse today, by choice but still worse
slum dwellings-still there, some are being demolished and some are being created by the same fellows who stay at the jail at regular intervals
killer smogs-better
soup kitchens-they are, and were a good thing, the homeless and destitute do not need to be hungry, they still help many people
corporal punishment at school-gone, which is good but parents need to help the schools be teaching the kids respect for authority.
outdoor privies-pretty much gone
atomic bomb paranoia-There is just as much fear today in many directions.

I guess I agree with more than I disagree with but I do not think they are all gone

 

[Big Bertie]

soup kitchens-they are, and were a good thing, the homeless and destitute do not need to be hungry, they still help many people
...
atomic bomb paranoia-There is just as much fear today in many directions.

I agree with you about the soup kitchens of course Kiwi and I had not realised they still existed in some form in the States. The point I was trying to make was really about unemployment and destitution - while these still haven't gone away in some places, conditions now are quite far removed from the 1930s.

As a child I was not particularly worried about atomic war, but I know my parents were. I recently learned that my father, who worked for the government, had been on a list of those who would have been given access to some sort of underground government bunker, had the balloon gone up. It seems my mother and I would have had to take our chances like everyone else in the nuclear fall-out.