What sparked your fascination with the "Golden Era"?

[p71towny]

I'm not sure if I can pin it down. Cars probably. I've always loved old cars. I've got a 1970 chevelle, I've restored a 1971. My first car was my grandparents old 1973 Delta 88 (my baby) and I have a couple more. Of course I don't thing American car companies made any bad cars until 73. I actually like to think I can grab something from each decade, as I love classic rock but also oldies. I'll go from Motley Crue one song, then Frank Sinatra the next. To me the golden age would be 1900-1965. I know that's a big span but to me it represents the growth of our country which I love dear. I know the potential is out there to be great like that again but most people are caught up in instant gratification. I just rather enjoy owning and using things built to last. In general, the golden era represents a time where life was full of just that, life.

 

[ScionPI2005]

I think my interest was just sparked by my interest in Film Noir detectives. I'd seen quite a few movies like The Maltese Falcon and Murder My Sweet by the time I started high school, and about that time acquired an interest in owning my first fedora. I've had a strange fascination for antiques all my life; even as a little kid. I think my interest just developed more broadly and strongly throughout the years in that it spread to Golden Era radio shows back in the later part of high school, and then to Golden Era music by the end of high school.

 

[Hey_Laaaaaady!]

My parents are both history buffs and I got hooked on history at a young age, mostly due to my mother's incessant reading to me of the Little House series and my love of the American Girls collection. My dad kept me faithfully supplied with old movies from his childhood and was always playing old music as well. I can vaguely remember sitting in the car at age four singing "Moon River" and watching John Wayne movies with my dad.

During my early teen years I became obsessed with historic fashion and started learning to sew. My grandma subscribed to 'Reminisce' magazine and every time we would visit, I would read it and sigh over the gorgeous clothes and cars. Eventually I did more research and learned to distinguish the styles of the 20s-60s. I am obsessed with Old Hollywood and watch more old movies than new. I can't help but think that I was born in the wrong era--everything I value seems to be back in the 40s and 50s.

I guess looking back, it was all the old movies that did it. Everyone back then just seemed so glamorous, polite, classy, you name it. That was a huge attraction for me. Also, I just fell in love with the culture. Clothes, movies, music, cars--it all fits my personality waaaay better than modernity.

 

[Anthony K]

Quite a few things sparked my interest. The first would definitely be, my Great Grandparents. As a youngster, my brother and I spent a lot of time with them. So I grew up with stories, pictures, and they still owned a lot of stuff that they had purchased over the years. Along with being with them, we used to also watch a lot of old movies. I fell in love with the Golden Era of Hollywood. The Shadow movie and old radio programs were a big contributor as well. When I got older and appreciated fashion, the clothing from that era spoke to me tremendously.

 

[senoreme]

Definitely my Grandfather. A spanish man born in the early 1900's. I always admired the way he always wore a hat, shined his shoes. shaved with a straight razor and listened to golden era music. He particularly remember his dresser filled with Clubman products. He had a tremendous influence over me.

 

[Wire9Vintage]

Like some others here, I'm not that old, but have/had old parents (mom born in 1928, dad in 1922). So, the "golden era" was much closer to me. In teaching me about clothes and make-up, my mom came from a much older aesthetic. I used to be so jealous of my friends who had hot rollers (where my mom did pin curls) and who had microwaves (we had an old gas stove), and whose parents were into much newer tastes (Benny Goodman, anyone?). But, of course, now I realize how lucky I was growing up. And my daughters are glad to have this knowledge (they use powder and vanishing cream, cold cream, bobby pins, and wear stockings and slips!). Of course, there are things that I love, that my mom doesn't see the reason for still doing it that way when there is "modern" stuff available! Sometimes it's me reminding her of things that she's forgetten about or how to do!

 

[Repairman Joe]

Hey Folks! I guess this is as good a thread as any to make myself known. I,too,grew up spending a lot of time with my Grandparents...Mom was a fan of the golden age as well and while most of my friends were watching Jason and Freddy,I was at home with her watching the Universal Monsters. I can still remember as a kid going to Wendys to get my 3-D glasses for a special late-night screening of The Creature From The Black Lagoon on T.V. Once Raiders Of The Lost Ark came out,I started wearing a fedora to elementary school every day....a habit I continued into high school(although by then I had moved on from Indy and wanted to be Sam Spade). To this day I continue to live in the past....most of my music and DVD's are from long before I was even born. And I wouldnt have it any other way!!!! BTW,Reminisce magazine is awesome...its the only magazine I still subscribe to!

 

[Unlucky Berman]

Different things and I am sure others were influenced by similiar things too. The more personal "spark" was probably that I lived during my childhood in Weimar and later Plauen (both Eastern Germany) where there are many art nouveau buildings and in the case of Weimar influences and strong traditions of Bauhaus. I was always amazed by this architecture and wondered when they built it but also a bit sad how the GDR let those buildings run down. After 1990 much was done for them and many buildings are looking better than even back in the old days of 1900 and the 1920s.
Then there was as a kind of second spark my father from whom I also got a soft spot for art nouveau and art deco and well also bauhaus style. He was working for the university in Weimar and one of his bosses had those amazing pieces of art in his bureau and at home. Also my father has a soft spot for that era and different things (paintings of Mucha, Kandinsky, Klimt, ...) at home.
Nowadays I am a kind of fan of the old movies and the literature like many of you and through this I came to like the style and fashion even while I am normally not wearing too much vintage clothes at work. But that is more a question of getting the right things, so far I have not found a good vintage suit and other clothings. Well, not completly true, I own and wear some vintage hats and then there is the other hobby: Indiana Jones where I already own some gear and wear it sometimes. The latest thing is collecting vintage Hamiltons of the "Golden Era" and that is what sparks me most with the thematic lately (besides of collecting film noir and other good movies on dvds, ...).

 

[rue]

Very well stated, my friend. Please have heart. We are soon to head back to that time. Given the current political state and the words of an Imperial Japanese Naval commander once stated and I paraphrase: We have awaken a sleeping giant.

We are about to embark on a journey back to the 20s, 30s and 40s once again and our spirit for freedom, individual responsibility, self reliance, a dissapearance of the entitlement syndrome, kindness to our fellow man, spritual awakening, "Charity to Others", a reawakening of our faith and common sense will soon return.

With that will come some pain. The kind of pain that our parents and grand-parents endured. Those who have nurtured us into a sense of entitlement, greed, imorality and corruption will fade back into the shadows from whence they came and the sense of hope and will soon return and we'll all be the better for it.

Have faith Gilboa and know that Stability can't exist without Chaos and Chaos can't exist without Calm. We are headed back to those times and we will all be the better for.

It probably shouldn't make me feel better to have just read your words draws, but it did and it was beautifully said.

 

[rue]

I've always felt as though I was born at the wrong time or if you believe in such things, that I chose the wrong decade this time. From what I was told, almost since the moment I could walk and talk I only wanted to wear long dresses that would drag on the ground behind me and didn't like them any shorter. Later when I started going to preschool my teacher ended up calling my mom and told her that I couldn't wear those dresses to school anymore, because she was afraid I would trip and fall on the playground. I remember being devastated. As I grew older and tried to fit in with my friends the dresses almost disappeared from my wardrobe, but every Christmas I would ask for a long robe to wear with my long nightgowns and I would practice walking up and down the stairs in them. Around the age of 6 or 7 Gone With The Wind came on TV and I watched the entire thing just completely star struck and my mother would find me watching old movies whenever they came on. In fact, I never had a crush on any of the stars that my friends liked. It was always Clark Gable and the extremely male stars of that time.

I have never liked anything modern and even though I have modern styled clothing for everyday (which I'm trying to veer away from now), when I do get the chance to dress up I always look for something with a vintage feel. Even my 1908 house is decorated in antiques and vintage pieces (ranging from the late 1700s to the 1950s) that have been with me for years, either passed down to me or bought. Needless to say, my friends always thought it was odd that I wanted to live like an "old lady" and even stranger still to them was my love of big band music. I've always been told I have an old soul and I take that as a compliment even if it may not have been meant as one

I'm so glad I found this site!

 

[WineGuy]

JUXTAPOSITION! I'm a high tech gadget freak, I love modern art and modern furniture and designs BUT sometimes I need to put the brakes on how fast my world is evolving around me. The golden era refreshes me, refreshes my morals and sensibilities. The juxtaposition of golden era styles and behavior in to my daily routine helps remind me that life is short and that not everything new is good and not everything old is bad. I embrace them both like Yin and Yang.

Oh, and what sparked my fascination with the "Golden Era"? The discovery of The Fedora Lounge of course!

 

[MikeBravo]

mmmmm Same for me. Was only really fanned above a spark upon meeting like-minded individuals on FL.

I thought I was alone before that. People always tell me I was born in the wrong era

 

[CharlieB]

My parents lived through the depression, and my father was a WWII Army veteran, so I grew up listening to a lot of Big Band music (which led me to take up the trumpet).

So, first it was the music, then the style, especially architecture, and finally, as my interest in history grew, WWII.

Like some others have said, it's hard to put a specific point on it - I guess I have always felt drawn to the era.

 

[Mark D]

My story is much like Rue's. There's no initiating event. I've always been draw to the period...nothing that I can do about it. I wonder if such things can be innate. A friend of mine once said the very same thing to me as was said to Rue "...you have a very old soul." Maybe that's just the answer.

 

[rue]

My story is much like Rue's. There's no initiating event. I've always been draw to the period...nothing that I can do about it. I wonder if such things can be innate. A friend of mine once said the very same thing to me as was said to Rue "...you have a very old soul." Maybe that's just the answer.

I know... even though I moved away from it time and again on the outside, I was still drawn back in. There's no getting away from this love

 

[amatras]

I think for me it was the animation from golden age (e.g. Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, etc.) that I've gotten into as an adult. It wasn't so much the ones replayed on Saturday mornings I saw as a kid, but the DVD collections they release now that have the celebrity parodies, wartime era cartoons and other gems from the 30s and 40s that really make that era come alive. As a kid, I thought the 30s and 40s were boring. After years of watching these old cartoons, I now think the modern times are boring and people back then on average were way more stylish than the average joe is today.

 

[gegarrenton]

It would be hard for me to put a finger on it. It's something that came about naturally. I have always been a history fan, and once I stumbled upon this era, I was hooked. Everything from the style and the attitude hooked me. Plus, this was the last gasp of high quality goods IMO. Post WWII, the boom produced the mass produced mentality, and hand made goods went the way of the dodo. The basic quality of everything was so much better then.

I guess in so many words, the people of the Golden Age are my kindred spirits.

 

[Kahuna]

I would have to say it was mostly the music of an earlier time that lured me in. Being born pretty much smack dab in the middle (1953) of the baby boom generation to older parents, I was pretty much always exposed to music and movies from before my time. My mother was a cheerful sort and walked around the house singing songs that I later learned were from the 1920s and 30s. When I was about twelve I saw Mickey Mouse play the steel guitar in "Hawaiian Holiday" and, even though most of my friends were listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, that sparked a lifelong interest in the steel guitar players of the 30's - Sol Hoopii, Sam Ku West, et al. As I grew older I took more and more of an interest in the music of the 20s and 30s and when I finally moved into an older 1940s house that pretty much sealed the deal for me. Now, like most of the people on this forum, I surround myself with furniture, music, & clothing that wouldn't have looked out of place when this house was built. I'm not a young guy anymore but I still feel more at home with the music, clothing, manners & morals from a generation before mine.

 

[Darren van Ek]

To be honest it wasn't until I got interested in steam not that long ago that my vintage/golden era interest was sparked. I just long for those days of sharp dressing, quality products, trips on steam trains, the little villages, the old pubs, in fact everything from that era.

I can see why people like to re-enact that era. Makes you feel good.

 

[Marlin Fan]

Old movies, World War II and American made products.