What Happened....

[Fading Fast]

And all that granite came from Vinalhaven Island, which is a few miles out from where I live. There's a lot of bitterness out there from old-timers at how barbarously their rock was treated by the New York philisitines.

The only good that came out of that blasphemy is that it inspired the entire NYC historic preservation movement which is, today, incredibly strong and has saved a tremendous number of buildings. So, unfortunately, Penn Station had to die so many, many more historic buildings could live.

What is fun is that there are many old movies that show great exterior and interior clips on the station. It is hard to appreciate the scale even from the films - the station was humongous.

 

[Fading Fast]

...To him, long hair was a sign of young rebels or hippies.

I think you had to live through the late '60s and '70s to appreciate how much angst was wasted on arguing over hair length for men.

 

[Paisley]

Interestingly, in the 1930s, certain types of clothing had a similar sense of being a political statement. Particularly during the latter half of the 1930s, the leather jacket was seen as a symbol of militant organized labor -- and more specifically, of the Communist Party USA. Communist organizers were so fond of their leather jackets that party secretary Earl Browder had to plead with them to dress in a more "sophisticated" manner when dealing with company executives or the press.

I worked at Raytheon in the late 90s and the CEO was photographed in a leather jacket in front of his Harley. It just seemed unmanagerial to me. Maybe it's because I had a sister in the Hell's Angels. A picture of him in his office wearing a suit would have inspired more confidence.

 

[Frunobulax]

I think you had to live through the late '60s and '70s to appreciate how much angst was wasted on arguing over hair length for men.

Shoot, I was fired from my job in the late 70s, in a record store, no less, for having long hair!

And that was after they hired me with the same length hair...

Go figure.


Sent directly from my mind to yours

 

[Fading Fast]

Shoot, I was fired from my job in the late 70s, in a record store, no less, for having long hair!

And that was after they hired me with the same length hair...

Go figure.


Sent directly from my mind to yours

From Bob Seger's "Turn the Page:"

Well, you walk into a restaurant all strung out from the road
And you feel the eyes upon you as you're shaking off the cold
You pretend it doesn't bother you, but you just want to explode

Most times you can't hear 'em talk, other times you can
All the same old clichés, is it woman, is it man?
And you always seem outnumbered, so you don't dare make a stand​

And that was all about his and his bandmates' hair length - it meant a lot for a moment.

 

[Paisley]

Even after my sister left, she kept wearing jeans, black t-shirts, sheathed hunting knife, a chain belt and either a denim vest (for spring) or a black leather jacket (for fall) *everywhere.* It didn't matter how wildly inappropriate it was for the time and place. You couldn't take her anyplace, and nobody could tell her anything.

 

[LizzieMaine]

She could come up here and be a sternman on a lobster boat and nobody would give her a second look.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Interestingly, in the 1930s, certain types of clothing had a similar sense of being a political statement. Particularly during the latter half of the 1930s, the leather jacket was seen as a symbol of militant organized labor -- and more specifically, of the Communist Party USA. Communist organizers were so fond of their leather jackets that party secretary Earl Browder had to plead with them to dress in a more "sophisticated" manner when dealing with company executives or the press.

Curiously, the two- tone leather jacket of the Era was an item that both sides of the eternal class war embraced. For the well heeled, it was a fashion statement, a wardrobe necessity for the dapper. And for the working guy, it was an affordable way to acquire a good durable jacket: tailors could use leftover material and present a bargain item.

This is a fine example currently offered by Aero Leatherworks of Scotland. The UK pound is down now: you can pick one up for less than $900. Pricy perhaps.. but it'll still be around when your nylon windbreaker is long gone, and they only look better as they age.

 

[Paisley]

She could come up here and be a sternman on a lobster boat and nobody would give her a second look.

She went into truck driving.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Curiously, the two- tone leather jacket of the Era was an item that both sides of the eternal class war embraced. For the well heeled, it was a fashion statement, a wardrobe necessity for the dapper. And for the working guy, it was an affordable way to acquire a good durable jacket: tailors could use leftover material and present a bargain item.

The model most favored in the CPUSA was more like this one --

And it wasn't just the CP faithful who favored this or similar models -- here's Leon Trotsky, whose followers in the US clustered around the Socialist Workers Party, modeling his favorite jacket:

 

[2jakes]

Pre-war catalog;

Union member wearing hat with badge and leather jacket
standing by his delivery truck.

Boardwalk series. (HBO)

 

[Frunobulax]

From Bob Seger's "Turn the Page:"

Well, you walk into a restaurant all strung out from the road
And you feel the eyes upon you as you're shaking off the cold
You pretend it doesn't bother you, but you just want to explode

Most times you can't hear 'em talk, other times you can
All the same old clichés, is it woman, is it man?
And you always seem outnumbered, so you don't dare make a stand​

And that was all about his and his bandmates' hair length - it meant a lot for a moment.

Yeah, but by the time this happened, nobody else gave a rat's. It's not like I was a martyr. The owner was just a jerk.

 

[Harp]

To him, long hair was a sign of young rebels or hippies.

I was called a hippie last week-long hair (my own fault), light summer fraternity sweatshirt, jeans, sneakers-stopped at a Hilton hotel dining room
for a buffet breakfast and overheard another table's evident sartorial disapproval.
Got a chuckle over it.

 

[2jakes]

Someone I wouldn’t want to call names,
even from a distance.

“Wild Bill"

 

[Fading Fast]

Yeah, but by the time this happened, nobody else gave a rat's. It's not like I was a martyr. The owner was just a jerk.

It had a narrow window, my impression: late '60s to mid-to-late '70s when it was important. By the early '80s, no one really cared anymore or at least it had lost its real power as a cultural combat point.

 

[Fading Fast]

Someone I wouldn’t want to call names,
even from a distance.

And that's the funny thing - throughout history, the cultural norm / the establishment's view has swung back and forth between long and short hair being "correct" for men.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^
Don’t recall where I read that Rudolgh Valentino was among
the first to wear a wristwatch in a time when it was not common.
1920s I believe.
And only certain “ladies" wore a lot of make-up back then.
Which later was the norm for most women.

Not sure about all this though.

I see deep red lipstick on some women today.
Reminds me of my mother when she was a
young girl in the 1940s.

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^^^
Don’t recall where I read that Rudolgh Valentino was among
the first to wear a wristwatch in a time when it was not common.
1920s I believe.
And only certain “ladies" wore a lot of make-up back then.
Which later was the norm for most women.

Not sure about all this though.

I see deep red lipstick on some women today.
Reminds me of my mother when she was a
young girl in the 1940s.

Make-up, even just blush, earrings, skirts above the ankles, then above the knees, no corsets, women in pants - all were "radical" in their day / the girls who did it were "fast," "loose," "not our kind," etc.

Today there is still a bit of the "not acceptable" attitude with tattoos - but that is all but faded - but it will be something else for two reasons: (1) some people seem to have a need to denounce others and (2) some people seem to have a need to thumb their noses at convention.

 

[2jakes]

Make-up, even just blush, earrings, skirts above the ankles, then above the knees, no corsets, women in pants - all were "radical" in their day / the girls who did it were "fast," "loose," "not our kind," etc.

Today there is still a bit of the "not acceptable" attitude with tattoos - but that is all but faded - but it will be something else for two reasons: (1) some people seem to have a need to denounce others and (2) some people seem to have a need to thumb their noses at convention.

"Fading fast" wouldn’t you say ?

 

[Paisley]

They didn't hire people with prominent tattoos or odd piercings at the CPA firm where I worked in Denver.

There was a girl who came in to interview to be a receptionist, and they told her she couldn't wear her nose ring. She came in for a second interview wearing it, and they told her to go home.