Vintage Photos of What Life Was Like Back in the 50s.
11-30-2018, 12:51 PM
#2
Racial tensions, polio and many other sometimes fatal childhood diseases, cars that were far more likely to kill you, smoking everywhere, and the constant threat of nuclear annihilation...Ill take now.
And this one is just wrong: "Buying A House Wasn’t Incredibly Hard"
Average price of a new home adjusted for inflation has doubled. But average square footage has more than tripled. Houses and cars got a lot more expensive because people could afford, and demanded bigger homes and better, safer cars.
Interesting bit of nostalgia though.
And this one is just wrong: "Buying A House Wasn’t Incredibly Hard"
Average price of a new home adjusted for inflation has doubled. But average square footage has more than tripled. Houses and cars got a lot more expensive because people could afford, and demanded bigger homes and better, safer cars.
Interesting bit of nostalgia though.
11-30-2018, 02:11 PM
#3
Damn Mike, did you really live those years? I did as a teenager! I had a DA haircut, wore motorcycle boots although I had never even sat on one, and dreamed of jumping in bed with my neighbor - one year older and voted the best looking in her class. A kiss was as far as I ever got. And, like the country song says "thank god you don't get everything you pray for" because years later I would find my true love. I worked in a grocery store that was unionized and made fantastic wages for the time; with what I saved there and after joining the Air Force I was able to pay cash for a brand new Triumph Spitfire while in Paris. My mom and dad bought their first new home during the 50s, a 3-bedroom ranch style in the suburbs; heck, they had to wait a couple years for the roads throughout it to be paved. I could go on and add a positive spin on every single photo they showed. It truly was the Best of Times - those 50s and early 60s - for cars, music, dating, working, etc. for many of us who previously had damn little.
Last edited by dlq04; 11-30-2018 at 02:23 PM.
11-30-2018, 02:19 PM
#4
Former Moderator
Thanks, Dave. I agree with your memories of the fifties, too. But you, like me, seem to remember more than you and Grant allowed back when we were talking about HS memory. BUSTED! 
j/k
This piece doesn’t describe the fifties (that I lived in) very well.
j/k
This piece doesn’t describe the fifties (that I lived in) very well.
11-30-2018, 02:22 PM
#5
So Jim, describe a little of the 50s you lived in.
11-30-2018, 03:36 PM
#6
I came across the following on a forum remembering the old days growing up in Lynn, MA. You might find it a little neat.
Lost Words from our childhood:
Murgatroyd! Do you remember that word? Would you believe the spell-checker did not recognize the word Murgatroyd? Heavens to murgatroyd!
The other day a not so elderly (I say 75) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy; and he looked at her quizzically and said, "What the heck is a Jalopy?" He had never heard of the word jalopy! She knew she was old ... But not that old.
Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory after you read this and chuckle.
About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology.
These phrases included:
Don't touch that dial, Carbon copy, You sound like a broken record, and Hung out to dry. Back in the olden days we had a lot of moxie. We'd put on our best bib and tucker, to straighten up and fly right.
Heavens to Betsy!
Gee whillikers!
Jumping Jehoshaphat!
Holy Moley!
We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley; and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!
Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when's the last time anything was swell?
Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes, and pedal pushers.
Oh, my aching back! Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.
We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, “Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!” Or, “This is a fine kettle of fish!”
We discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent, as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards.
Poof, go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind. We blink, and they're gone. Where have all those great phrases gone?
Long gone: Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper. Well, Fiddlesticks! Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Wake up and smell the roses
It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff! (Carter's Little Liver Pills are gone too!)
We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeable times. For a child each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age. We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering there are words that once did not exist and there were words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory.
It's one of the greatest advantages of aging!
Leaves us to wonder where Superman will find a phone booth...
See ya later, alligator! Okidoki.
You'll notice they left out "Monkey Business"!!!
WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FABULOUS 50'S ... NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY AGAIN ... WE WERE GIVEN ONE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS: LIVING IN THE PEACEFUL AND COMFORTABLE TIMES, CREATED FOR US BY THE “GREATEST GENERATION!”
OK if crawling under school desks for nuclear attack drills, the Cold War is peaceful and comfortable.....but the cars and the music were KEEN
Lost Words from our childhood:
Murgatroyd! Do you remember that word? Would you believe the spell-checker did not recognize the word Murgatroyd? Heavens to murgatroyd!
The other day a not so elderly (I say 75) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy; and he looked at her quizzically and said, "What the heck is a Jalopy?" He had never heard of the word jalopy! She knew she was old ... But not that old.
Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory after you read this and chuckle.
About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology.
These phrases included:
Don't touch that dial, Carbon copy, You sound like a broken record, and Hung out to dry. Back in the olden days we had a lot of moxie. We'd put on our best bib and tucker, to straighten up and fly right.
Heavens to Betsy!
Gee whillikers!
Jumping Jehoshaphat!
Holy Moley!
We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley; and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!
Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when's the last time anything was swell?
Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes, and pedal pushers.
Oh, my aching back! Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.
We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, “Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!” Or, “This is a fine kettle of fish!”
We discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent, as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards.
Poof, go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind. We blink, and they're gone. Where have all those great phrases gone?
Long gone: Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper. Well, Fiddlesticks! Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Wake up and smell the roses
It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff! (Carter's Little Liver Pills are gone too!)
We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeable times. For a child each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age. We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering there are words that once did not exist and there were words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory.
It's one of the greatest advantages of aging!
Leaves us to wonder where Superman will find a phone booth...
See ya later, alligator! Okidoki.
You'll notice they left out "Monkey Business"!!!
WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FABULOUS 50'S ... NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY AGAIN ... WE WERE GIVEN ONE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS: LIVING IN THE PEACEFUL AND COMFORTABLE TIMES, CREATED FOR US BY THE “GREATEST GENERATION!”
OK if crawling under school desks for nuclear attack drills, the Cold War is peaceful and comfortable.....but the cars and the music were KEEN
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11-30-2018, 04:54 PM
#10
Racial tensions, polio and many other sometimes fatal childhood diseases, cars that were far more likely to kill you, smoking everywhere, and the constant threat of nuclear annihilation...Ill take now.
And this one is just wrong: "Buying A House Wasn’t Incredibly Hard"
Average price of a new home adjusted for inflation has doubled. But average square footage has more than tripled. Houses and cars got a lot more expensive because people could afford, and demanded bigger homes and better, safer cars.
Interesting bit of nostalgia though.
And this one is just wrong: "Buying A House Wasn’t Incredibly Hard"
Average price of a new home adjusted for inflation has doubled. But average square footage has more than tripled. Houses and cars got a lot more expensive because people could afford, and demanded bigger homes and better, safer cars.
Interesting bit of nostalgia though.
Back in the 1950s, unlike today, buying a home for your family wasn’t entirely out of the question for most people. While homes cost lifetime amounts of money these days, forcing many people to rent, in 1950, the average home only cost around $14,000.
$14,000 in 1950 equals $146,243.05 in 2018. How can you you say, "And this one is just wrong: "Buying A House Wasn’t Incredibly Hard"? No matter what the size of the house people bought in the 50's they could do it.