When does the "Golden Era" start and end for you?

[V.C. Brunswick]

But I'm sorry, younger folks, the 70's totally and utterly do NOT belong in the Golden Era.

I most heartily agree. There's absolutely nothing golden about this

 

[FedoraFan112390]

I most heartily agree. There's absolutely nothing golden about this

The youth culture of the '70s may be far afield from the 1930s. But then look at the wild youth styles of the 1920s! Not that much wilder, really.
Also, the older people (people in their 40s and upwards) of the 1970s generally held to a very golden era style of clothes and hair etc. They held on to it and not every young person in the 70s was a Hippie--Some were very conservative and old fashioned. In my own family, my mother's first husband (born in 1951) wore button down shirts and slacks; My aunt's first husband wore slacks, polo shirts and button down shirts, and had his hair greased back--Both of them in the 1970s. Also, consider on the national stage LBJ when he was President and his administration, Nixon and Ford--The way those people dressed, those administrations. That generation still had power in the '70s and the era of the New Deal (which coincides and perhaps is a big part of the "Golden Era") lasted until Nixon's resignation in 1974. So I do think an argument could be made for the Golden Era lasting--albeit in it's dying gasps--until the mid 1970s. Afterwards I would completely that it was over--Once you get into the Carter, Disco, and Reagan eras.

The Boomers, I think, as they got older, rewrote history in a way to make it seem like everyone under 30 from 1965 onward was a Hippie. The LBJ era can be looked upon as a direct heir of the FDR/New Deal era.

Consider the number of hats here, December 1969, at a football game:

Or Opening Day at baseball here in 1961:

Then you have characters like Popeye Doyle and Archie Bunker--both lead characters, both habitual hat wearers, well into the 1970s.

 

[jamespowers]

But I'm sorry, younger folks, the 70's totally and utterly do NOT belong in the Golden Era.

I would go further by saying that the 60s and 70s do not belong in the golden era.

 

[vitanola]

I would call the "Long Armistice" the Golden Era. 11:12 PM, November 11th, 1918 to 5:30 AM September 1st, 1930, or just perhaps 12:45 PM EST on December 7th, 1941.

 

[scottyrocks]

I believe I had written previously that the day JFK was killed ended the golden era. After reading some more here, I will have to amend my argument. Instead of a day, per se, it is now more of a period of time. I will call the 'end of the Golden Era era' as April 12, 1954 to November 22, 1963, the beginning being the recording of Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets, and the latter being the assassination of JFK. It was in between these dates that the youth movement awakened and swelled into what would become the societal catastrophe of the 1960s. As noted here, the JFK shooting crystalized the change that was building through the preceding 9 years, and then contributed greatly to mindset that launched the civil unrest that followed, which would not have been as pronounced if the 'awakening' if youth hadn't taken the path it did previously.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I have to agree with this. While I was not there, I've asked plenty of questions about the era, since I've been interested for many years.

My dad always says that things didn't start changing in Milwaukee until 1968, and then it was drastic. He says that before that, there was little difference between the sixties, and the fifties. He said once you got out of the city and into the smaller towns, he spent his summers in Portage, that it wasn't until the mid 70's that things really were changing out that way.

Where I grew up, in the 90's, out on a farm miles outside of a town with 4,000 people, you could barely tell it wasn't the fifties anymore. The ideals, mentality, and fashions had really held on.

Also on Reagan, he himself was a Golden Era, product, for want of a better word. The era he was leader in, certainly was not.

They held on to it and not every young person in the 70s was a Hippie--Some were very conservative and old fashioned. In my own family, my mother's first husband (born in 1951) wore button down shirts and slacks; My aunt's first husband wore slacks, polo shirts and button down shirts, and had his hair greased back--Both of them in the 1970s. Also, consider on the national stage LBJ when he was President and his administration, Nixon and Ford--The way those people dressed, those administrations. That generation still had power in the '70s and the era of the New Deal (which coincides and perhaps is a big part of the "Golden Era") lasted until Nixon's resignation in 1974. So I do think an argument could be made for the Golden Era lasting--albeit in it's dying gasps--until the mid 1970s. Afterwards I would completely that it was over--Once you get into the Carter, Disco, and Reagan eras.

The Boomers, I think, as they got older, rewrote history in a way to make it seem like everyone under 30 from 1965 onward was a Hippie. The LBJ era can be looked upon as a direct heir of the FDR/New Deal era.


Then you have characters like Popeye Doyle and Archie Bunker--both lead characters, both habitual hat wearers, well into the 1970s.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Well you see that's the thing...a lot of the 50s held over here too. This is Brooklyn, NY I'm talking about. A lot of the 50s things held over into the 70s...Brooklyn for some reason wasn't touched by the 70s like the other parts of NYC were. And it's always been a fairly conservative area both politically and culturally. Like I said my mother's husband wore his hair short, button down shirt and slacks...In other areas in 1972/1973 that would've made him uncool. But he'd have fit in with the Golden Era. Or my aunt's husband with his greased back hair, aviator style eyeglasses, button down shirts, polo shirts, slacks and dress shoes--very 50s, but he was in his 20s in the 70s. Not anywhere near a Hippie. My grandpa and stepgrandpa gave into the 70s in only minor ways--both grew long sideburns but long sideburns were a 50s thing too. They still kept wearing their slacks and button down shirts as casual attire.

 

[Edward]

Certainly true. Where I grew up, even by the late nineties when I escaped there were still people trapped in a Fifties mindset. Eighteen-fifties, that is. Pity they left all the good bits behind (like the clothes).

 

[Mrs Chaddsley_Corbett]

The golden era? when we are aged between 25-40 years old generally, but some push the envelope, i.e Miss Joan Collins

[video=youtube;KlrgAGiv9ZY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlrgAGiv9ZY[/video]

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

76-83 because I like PUNKROCK







Ok.. in terms of style the 30s are the über-golden era (for both men and women)
But I like many things in music, movies and fashion from 1925-53
I don't go for the "everything was better back then" stuff because I just don't believe it.

 

[Gene]

As noted here, the JFK shooting crystalized the change that was building through the preceding 9 years, and then contributed greatly to mindset that launched the civil unrest that followed, which would not have been as pronounced if the 'awakening' if youth hadn't taken the path it did previously.

I agree fully. I think of the period of the late 50's as Golden Era-ish. You can still look at magazines and photos from that time and although there are subtle differences to the trained eye it still looks pretty much the same. Kennedy's going hatless in public and the growing youth culture sounded the death knell for the way of life that had been dominant for 30 years prior.

I think because of movies and TV we all think of the 1950's as one rock n' roll big leather jacket and poodle skirt greaser party, but that was a very very small portion of the youth. Kids still wore suits to school, listened to Johnny Mathis and Perry Como, and were clean cut for the most part. We as a society like to pick and choose what we like out of history, and I guess the whole rockabilly greaser image appeals a lot more than the reality of crew cuts and "boring" clothing.

 

[Hey_Laaaaaady!]

As far as "Golden Era" specifically, I think of it as referring to 1930-1945. The word "Vintage", to me, captures the entire era of 1920-1965. I think after 1965 things started to become a lot more "modern"; it's like after the shooting of JFK in 1963 the world sort of lost its innocence--or at least the innocence that had been projected since the end of WWII. Anything prior to 1920 I consider to be in the "antique" or "historic clothing" arena. And when people say "retro" I think bright psychedelic colors and funky stuff, more "stereotypical" vintage, sort of late 50s to early 70s. Anything after that is recent history XD Just my two cents.

 

[FountainPenGirl]

I think eveyones " Golden Era" will vary with what their interests are. Mine would span from around 1880 up to about 1972.