The 1950s, 60s and 70s

[V.C. Brunswick]

I never saw a live hippie until the mid-70s. There were a bunch of them lying on the ground in this summer town we were driving thru, and Ma said she'd heard that they like to stare at the sun until they go blind. "Not much sense to that," I thought.

I remember the Hare Krishnas outside of Woolworth's in Downtown L.A. in the early '70s.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

My grade school days ran from the 50's era to the 70's in a whole 6 years. In Kindergarten 66?), the boys had to wear dress shirts and dress pants, no jeans. The girls had to wear dresses, but they could wear pants under them for recess during the Winter. We didn't have indoor recess EVER. By 6th grade (71?) the girls were wearing hip hugger skin tight jeans with bare bellies (forget when tube tops came in??). Ahhh, progress.

Later

 

[Mr. Hallack]

I won't comment on my mother's parents (born 1907 and 1915) since they didn't live in the US, except my grandmother for the last 8 years of her life, and only had met them a few times in my life. Plus the language barrier.

My dad's parents, born 1913 and 1915, rolled along with the times. What was fashionable for the decade for their age group, they went with it. Well except the 70's, they didn't wear any of the hideous plaid bell bottom wide lapel crap that was prevelant in the decade. When cable came out, they got cable, and when the first satellite dishes came (the huge ones) they bought one. Music wise, didn't care for any rock n roll, it was either country or the big band stuff from the 30's and 40's. If I think of anything else, about half the time they rolled with the times, other things they stuck to the old ways.

If they were still alive today, they would not have cell phones, but grandpa would likely have a computer, and have current software.

 

[Big Man]

... I think the 1920's held the greatest, boldest changes of the 20th century - especially for women.
At the start of the decade, styles, customs and manners that were unthinkable had settled into the norm by its close. By 1930, women (in general - not all embraced the changes) were showing a lot of leg, wearing short hair for the first time ever, smoking cigarettes, attending college and taking outside employment in greater numbers. In 1915, they couldn't even vote. ...

Excellent points about the 1920's vs the 1960's.

My grandfather and grandmother Brown were in their mid 40's during the 1920's. They bought their first car in 1922, and continued to drive relatively new cars until 1961 (1922 Dodge, 1927 Olds, 1936 Plymouth, 1942 Plymouth, 1951 Chevy and 1961 Chevy). They added indoor plumbing sometime between 1920 and 1924. They added electricity in 1930 (the first year it was available in their area). My two aunts were teen-agers during the early 1920's. My aunt Hazel (born 1908) graduated from high school in 1925 and college in 1928, and my aunt Sara (born 1911) graduated from high school in 1928 and college in 1932. Both became school teachers.

So, looking at it this way, I guess my grandparents embraced the "changes" of the 1920's. However, besides the new cars along the way, they kind of stuck there. To this day the house still has the same furniture, the same wiring, and the same plumbing fixtures.

One story that sticks out in my mind was how my grandfather thought about women and smoking. I recall hearing many times how, as my aunt Sara was getting ready to leave for college, my grandfather told her, "you put make up on your face or let a cigarette touch your lips, don't bother coming back home."

I grew up hearing all kinds of stories about their life growing up, but it never dawned on me to ask specific questions about the effects of the "culture change" of the 1920's. The older I get, the more questions I have that I wish I could ask them.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A lot of the culture change of the twenties depended on where you lived -- if you lived in a city you'd be much more likely to adopt the hotcha values of the moment than if you lived on a farm. Many of the 1920s Americans living on farms lived lives little changed from those of the 1870s.

My grandmother was a small-town girl, and graduated from high school in 1929. That, in itself, was something progressive -- the vast majority of Americans of her time had not gone much further than the eighth grade. While she wasn't any kind of a flapper, neither was she the type to sit around doing needlepoint -- rather, she was a star player on her school's girls' basketball team.

She was also a strict Methodist who absolutely despised alcohol her entire life -- she wouldn't tolerate a drop of it in her house, and if my grandfather ever wanted a nip, he was forced to skulk in the back room of his gas station to do it. But she took up smoking after she got married, and smoked like a fiend until her third heart attack convinced her she ought to give it up. That was about the extent of her rebelliousness.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

My Irish great grandfather (born 1888) was a tough old guy, but apparently he had a heart of gold. He was a rough man, a fighter but at the same time, he was a VERY religious man. According to my grandmother, if he hadn't married my great grandmother, he probably would've become a priest. He made sure he went to Church every Sunday. In fact, if my grandmother wanted to go to a movie, she had to go Church first. If she wasn't able to bring herself to Church, she wasn't able to go to a movie. Also, every time she got pregnant, he would insist she had to go the Church (they were Catholics) and get "Churched" (I don't know what that means, nor did my grandma elaborate). He always wore a hat, whether a fedora or flat cap, and he smoked cigars and wore sweaters. My grandmother claims her father feared nothing. And he was very generous--He gave coal (which he had) during the winter in the Depression to his neighbors and friends.

On the downside, he was a drinker, and a bit of a racist. He completely disliked the idea of my grandmother dating and marrying my grandfather because he was Italian--He viewed Italians as being "blacks inside." And he was most likely very racist with regard to blacks in general.

 

[Cobden]

On the downside, he was a drinker, and a bit of a racist. He completely disliked the idea of my grandmother dating and marrying my grandfather because he was Italian--He viewed Italians as being "blacks inside." And he was most likely very racist with regard to blacks in general.

I wouldn't think too bad of him for that - such views were the norm at the time. As time marches on, societal values move on just as much as technology

 

[rue]

My grandfather was born in Missouri in 1908 and was the child of Texas born parents. He wore a Brooks Brothers suit every single day of his life until he died in 1986, even when he moved his business to Puerto Rico in the 60s. He never owned a pair of jeans or shorts. My grandmother was born in Michigan in 1914 and she was a sergeant in the Marines during WWII, before they met. I have pictures of her wearing pants during the 40s and up until she died, but nothing that would be unfeminine. I don't know what she thought about any of the changes, because she died when I was 4. Their daughter, my mother, was born in California in 1951, and was a flower child, not a hippie. She was from a conservative family and shared her parents political views, so I think she was just part of the generation surrounding her. The only thing I really know about my grandfather's feelings on the hippie movement, was that he wouldn't shake the hand of anyone that looked like a hippie (men wearing long hair, t-shirts and jeans). I know he hated rock and roll, but loved country music and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. I guess you could say that he kept up with the times until 1960 and stayed there. He died too early to worry about modern technology, but he had the second color TV on his block. I do know he would have hated cell phones and the like as he wouldn't answer any calls after business hours, especially during dinner.

The weird part about growing up with a mom like mine, born to a father like hers, was that although she was a housewife and shared her fathers beliefs, she has also always been very independent. I think I got the best of both worlds.


Edited to add that.... I would guess that my grandmother would have hated the anti-war movement during Vietnam. She was the one in charge of going door to door during WWII, to tell the families that their soldier had died and was a huge supporter of anyone willing to die for their country.