How Old Are The Members of The Fedora Lounge?

[The Good]

Taking a gander around the lounge, I'm feeling kinda like a baby, being twenty-one and seeing so many fellas and dames easily twice that. So looking at this I have to ask: how many of you are interested in the Golden Era because you grew up then? And for those of you who didn't grow up then, at what point in your life did you start taking a fascination to vintage culture and style? What was the catalyst, exactly?

Personally I've been dressing in vintage style suits and hats since my adolescence because my parents listened to 40's-50's music a lot, and I just found it rather cool. But I didn't become as interested as I am now until a couple of years back when I saw Double Indemnity and became obsessed with film noir and the Golden Era concept of cool.

Hey, I'm twenty-one myself, too. There's a few younger adult and adolescent members around, but we're probably a minority. As far as the catalyst of my interests in the Golden Era, well, I'm mostly interested in the following; World War II, the clothing styles, the music, and films made in this period. Hats, in particular, is a large reason as to why I'm here, as well as outerwear and suit styles (although I don't wear suits myself, yet). My interest in hats was of the western persuasion at first though; that is, more John Wayne and Clint Eastwood than Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney (or maybe even Harrison Ford for that matter, although I probably thought at one time that his hat was a cowboy hat). This interest sprung up at the age of maybe eight, and lasted until I was eleven, but in recent years, I have began to like the idea of myself wearing hats, it was a matter of searching for my style preferences, as baseball caps never really did it for me. I just can't recall of ever really thinking of them as being "cool looking," for lack of a better term. I listen to lots of music ranging between (in the context of modern music that is) the 1920s, to the 1980s. Little past that interests me except for jazz, film scores, country, or rarely, a pop song.

 

[Femme Fatale]

I'm twenty five and I've pretty much always had a fascination with historical costume. I remember taking a class on historical costume a few years back and the most exciting part of the class for me were from the 40s and 50s and early 60s. From then on I began researching more about these decades and found that I loved the movies and music as well.

 

[Yeps]

I am 21, and I have always been into historical things in one way or another. Only in the past year or so did I really get into the 30s-40s stuff. For me it is mostly about the style.

 

[ScionPI2005]

I'm 25 here. My parents are in their late fifties, and weren't around during the Golden Era. They don't have the interest in it that I do, and I'm not sure how I gained as much of an interest as I have. When I first started posting here, I was surprised I wasn't the absolute youngest on the Lounge. It's true that the younger generation is sort of a minority on here, but we still seem to have a considerable presence.

 

[Packin' Heat]

I see you're packin' heat but it appears you ain't packin' any math.

I didn't mean members twice my age grew up then, but there are definitely people here who did, if we look at the Golden Era extending to the 1950's. Hell, my dad was born in '45, so he'd qualify if he posted here, at least in the sense I'm referring to.

 

[Widebrim]

I didn't mean members twice my age grew up then, but there are definitely people here who did, if we look at the Golden Era extending to the 1950's. Hell, my dad was born in '45, so he'd qualify if he posted here, at least in the sense I'm referring to.

There are a few, such as MillerFan, but most of us didn't live through any part of the "Golden Age" (even if the cut-off year is about 1955).

 

[dhermann1]

I'll be 64 next month (Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?), so I grew up in the last stage of the Golden Era, if we define the Golden Era (as I do) as being from Nov. 12, 1918, to Nov. 21, 1963. I remember when radio was still bigger than TV (but I don't remember when there was no TV). I remember when men still wore hats, when cars had "3 on the tree" gear shifts. I remember cartoons in the movies. Etc., etc. One of the things I love about the Lounge is that it gives some of us who were actually around for some of that time, or who remember parents and grandparents who told us about it directly, to share our recollections and experience with younger people who are genuinely interested.

 

[Widebrim]

I'll be 64 next month (Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?), so I grew up in the last stage of the Golden Era, if we define the Golden Era (as I do) as being from Nov. 12, 1918, to Nov. 21, 1963.

Yeah, I was tempted to make it Nov. 21, 1963, Dan, but then held back. Interesting that you would make the beginning be the end of The Great War; I would likely make it 1930, but that's up for grabs.

Sixty-four? Hey, Paul and Ringo are still older than you, so don't worry about it.

 

[dhermann1]

As long as somebody needs me and feeds me.

 

[Missy Hellfire]

I know that a lady should never reveal their age, but then I'll admit to not being that ladylike in some respects! I am 32 and I have always felt like the 20s, 30s and 40s sounded in many ways a better place to be. Don't get me wrong, I love things like medical advances, voting and the internet but I do feel that standards now have slipped so much in that nobody seems to give a hoot about anyone else any more and nobody seems to take any pride in anything. I think that the chief thing that initially attracted me to the vintage lifestyle was trying to salvage some of that sense of pride and community that seems lost from modern society. Is it just me that thinks this, or are there other people similarly despairing?!

 

[Quixote]

I'm 18. It doesn't show though.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I'm an old man of 22. People think I'm a lot younger for some reason.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, I'm a few months short of 48, and was six months old when JFK was slain, so I guess I squeak under dhermann's wire. (Some demographers would even call me a tail-end boomer, but they wouldn't dare say it to my face.) But I also grew up in a place that was culturally about twenty-five years behind the rest of the country, so Golden Era attitudes, culture, and perspectives were far more powerful in shaping my worldview than modern ones. Sometimes when I look around at the world, I feel like I've been forcibly relocated to an alien planet. I haven't budged since I was a kid -- but the rest of the world, ooowee.

Bridging the eras, though, offers an interesting perspective -- it's possible to see that the view of the Era that's generally taught nowadays is often very much at odds with the way people actually lived and, more important, the way they actually thought, the things they believed in and the things that were important to them. The image kids get of the period today in school and pop culture emphasizes the high points and the low points (perhaps the latter more than the former) -- and completely ignores the vast and complex in-between.

 

[rue]

I'm forty-one, born 1969. I grew up with a mother born in 1951, her father (my grandfather) born in 1908 and his mother (my great grandmother) born in 1887. I've already described my fascination with the golden era here: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...scination-with-the-quot-Golden-Era-quot/page9 , but I will reiterate that it wasn't because of anything to do with a moment in time or the fact that I had an older than most grandfather or great grandmother, it was a feeling of not fitting in this era since the time I was a small child. I grew up in a private family that didn't really discuss the past, so everything I feel is all me.

 

[Widebrim]

I know that this is fftopic:, but...

What I find interesting is how much those of the Golden Era have taken of "modern" society until they have said "enough." My own father, for example: Born in 1918, he listened and danced to Big Band music all his adult life, yet he loved Elvis and even liked the early Beatles (heck, he took me to see "Help!"). But once psychedelic Rock appeared (along with hippies and just about everything they advocated), he put his foot down (one reason why I listened to '50s Rock and Big Band early on). "Fashion-wise," he went along with the return of wide lapels and ties, along with flared trousers in the late-'60s, but after that pretty much went back to thin ties and lapels for the rest of his life. (The last year of his life, he even went back to wearing a fedora.[huh]) Both he and my mother, although they "adapted" to the rest of society, never gave up certain core beliefs, such as the institution of marriage, or the responsibility of the husband to support the family. However, I have seen other people who lived through and past the Golden Era who have jettisoned much of what they practiced/believed in when younger...It leads me to think: If we were able to transport a group of 1945 Americans to the present, how many of them would, after a period of acculturation, accept and even practice certain beliefs/acts which would have generally been considered unacceptable back in their time (e.g., long hair on men, dressing slovenly in public, unmarrieds openly living together, etc.)? Hey, wasn't there already a movie kind of based on that premise?...

 

[Pompidou]

If we were able to transport a group of 1945 Americans to the present, how many of them would, after a period of acculturation, accept and even practice certain beliefs/acts which would have generally been considered unacceptable back in their time (e.g., long hair on men, dressing slovenly in public, unmarrieds openly living together, etc.)?

That depends mostly on how many people follow particular rules because they believe in them, vs just because they're rules, or out of fear of punishment. The folks who truly believed all those little practices really meant something would probably hold fast to their beliefs and condemn the rest of society. The people who don't really care, but do respect that rules are rules would probably accept a change of ways. They might still do what they've been used to all their lives, but they wouldn't have problems with others doing things differently within the new accepted social boundaries. The people most likely to actually take on the new ways of life as their own would be the ones only obeying out of fear of punishment.

I could sum up my take on rules with three different examples. Don't murder? I truly believe it's wrong. Drive in the right lane? Rules are rules. There needs to be road order for public safety, but I could hardly care less which lane society chooses. No cellphones at work? Job dress code, perhaps? Pure fear of punishment here. I tend to dislike having my personal freedoms infringed on, but I value money more, to an extent.

I imagine vintage time travelers would fall into the same three groups, depending on which rule was in question.

 

[Widebrim]

That depends mostly on how many people follow particular rules because they believe in them, vs just because they're rules, or out of fear of punishment.

I think you've pretty much hit it on the head. I might add those who simply go along with the crowd, but then they might fall under either or both of the last two categories...

 

[p71towny]

28 till April. Old enough to know better, yet young enough to not care.

 

[Shangas]

I was at an early Christmas party this evening. Someone told me I looked like I was in my thirties! But yes Packin' Heat, there's lots of teens and twenties folks here who are interested in the "Golden Era", so you needn't worry that you're alone.

To me, the "Golden Era" really runs from the 1890s-1960s. It was that age that really gave us all the things that we know today.

 

[Mario]

I'm 41 and have always loved that vintage look, fedoras, suits and all. I've never really bothered if people might disagree with my choice of style (read: if I look 'out of fashion') but it still took me a pretty long time to finally come around and actually start wearing the stuff. Of course the internet made it a lot easier to find vintage wardrobe in the first place. Living in such a hipster-heavy place as Berlin, wearing vintage is bound to make you stand out like a sore thumb in certain places...