Thread Number: 35237  /  Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
Lost In Time: A Population Of People Happily Stuck In The 1950s
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Post# 379344   10/6/2017 at 15:19 (2,364 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles)        

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Post# 379349 , Reply# 1   10/6/2017 at 18:01 (2,364 days old) by FCS3 (Hawaii)        
Not so strange...

I've always wanted to live in the '40's

Had my old apartment decked out entirely
with period antique furniture, appliances.
Even the kitchen cupboards were stocked with
old product packaging. Put milk in milk bottles...


Post# 379488 , Reply# 2   10/9/2017 at 15:30 (2,361 days old) by Real1shep (Walla Walla, WA)        

I guess I'm somewhat thankful to have grown up in the 50's/60's but as an adult I realize it was a time of intense bigotry, racism/Jim Crow laws & homophobia. Kids born on 'the other side of the tracks' got a huge heaping plateful of bad from everyone else.  I can't even believe now, that there was segregation then in my lifetime. So a large part of me says good riddance.

 

Sweet & sour decade for sure....but it was also a time of space exploration and what boy didn't dream about traveling the stars back then? Look at all the vacuum designs that were influenced by the 'atomic age' and 'space age'....lol.

 

Kevin


Post# 379522 , Reply# 3   10/10/2017 at 02:21 (2,361 days old) by kenkart ()        
Get a time machine!

And IM GONE!! I would LOVE to go back in time, I would gladly go back in the closet to get to live when America was IT!

Post# 379535 , Reply# 4   10/10/2017 at 12:01 (2,360 days old) by Real1shep (Walla Walla, WA)        
Yeah.....

if there was some way to cherry pick the good stuff. Be hard for me to ignore the bad....living in the closet just erodes your soul. I'd wanna fix every injustice I saw and that's impossible....even dangerously life-threatening back then.

 

Kevin


Post# 379562 , Reply# 5   10/11/2017 at 08:07 (2,360 days old) by vacerator (Macomb Michigan)        
There are British

people also like this on youtube.

Post# 379570 , Reply# 6   10/11/2017 at 10:58 (2,359 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)        

human's profile picture
My dad has a friend who chooses to use vintage cars for his daily drivers. For a number of years, he drove a '57 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight, which he eventually retired in favor of his mother's '66 Cadillac Fleetwood. In most other respects, he lives in the present day.

Post# 379573 , Reply# 7   10/11/2017 at 12:31 (2,359 days old) by TheSpiritOf76 ()        
Why do you think my user name is....

The Spirit Of 76. Enough said!


Post# 379577 , Reply# 8   10/11/2017 at 14:53 (2,359 days old) by gottahaveahoove (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640)        
Looking back, it ALL can seem great

gottahaveahoove's profile picture
The innocence, the extravagance, opulence, etc. But, don't forget oppression, segregation, was, etc.
It's like now. True, if you could only cherry pick. But, we can't. Imagine, (for instance), how different things would be is Dallas, November 22, 1963 hadn't happened? As I mentioned before, I LOVE cars from the 50s and 60s, swing music from the 40s, etc. But, it wasn't ALL great.


Post# 379597 , Reply# 9   10/11/2017 at 23:28 (2,359 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.)        

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Those were the days! You didn't have to worry about busting someone in the head and have to worry about them being a biological weapon. Oh well, I guess we all must live in hell's new creation.

Post# 379603 , Reply# 10   10/12/2017 at 08:48 (2,359 days old) by Real1shep (Walla Walla, WA)        

Actually, the crime statistics show that the level of violence like murder, rape, assaults etc 'nationwide' has gone down per capita since my generation has aged out. It would seem we weren't all about peace, love and pot, but more about hypocrisy.

 

Kevin


Post# 379623 , Reply# 11   10/12/2017 at 16:58 (2,358 days old) by kenkart ()        
I would

Still go back!

Post# 379649 , Reply# 12   10/13/2017 at 00:18 (2,358 days old) by Real1shep (Walla Walla, WA)        

LOL!! Man, you must hate this time.

 

Kevin


Post# 379652 , Reply# 13   10/13/2017 at 02:05 (2,358 days old) by kenkart ()        
I LOATHE it!

People cant do anything without some sort of electronic device to help them, no one can even make change!!! You cant buy a shirt or anything else made here out of good materials,all new appliances and cars and about anything else are BORING look alike stuff...We are trillions in debt and really have no prestige in the world like we once did,in 1955 the US made 2/3 of ALL GOODS PRODUCED, EVERYONE had a job and prices for quality goods were reasonable...Hell yes I would go back...Buy me a modern house with pink tile bathrooms, a steel kitchen, and put a new Desoto in the garage and mow my yard with a Lawn Boy 2 cycle mower, and heat with 15 cent a gallon oil!!and watch good programs on my Sylvania Halo Lite TV, have leaders in Washington who were honest and knew how to balance a budget...Ike!...Oh yes I would drop everything and GO!

Post# 379661 , Reply# 14   10/13/2017 at 09:08 (2,358 days old) by gottahaveahoove (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640)        
But, Hans!!

gottahaveahoove's profile picture
Don't hold back........ really, how do you REALLY feel? lol Sorry.... HAD to do it.
Agreed, so much was different, and some of it was so much better.
I remember our '58 Oldsmobile (88), our Westinghouse "Laundromat", and our new Hoover Convertible, model 67.But, than, my father's Cancer could not be treated like it could now. My cousin had Tuberculosis...spent time in a sanatorium. She did recover, though.
To quote Sonny and Cher, "History has turned a page, uhuh".


Post# 379677 , Reply# 15   10/13/2017 at 11:50 (2,357 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)        

human's profile picture
15-cent-a-gallon heating oil: When you adjust for inflation, the price really isn't all that much less than it is today.

The U.S. made 2/3 of all goods produced: The simple reason for that is our manufacturing infrastructure remained 100 percent intact after WWII while most of the rest of the world was still rebuilding and recovering decades after the atomic bombs were dropped. We supplied 2/3 of the world's manufactured goods because we could and we capitalized on it while we could. The sad truth is U.S. manufacturers had pretty much fallen into a false sense of complacency by 1970 and by the early '90s had pretty much let the rest of the world pass us by. Now, we're the ones playing catch-up and the tired refrain of 'well, we won WWII for ya, what more do you want?' has worn thin with the rest of the world. Face it. We're an empire in decline and we did it to ourselves.


Post# 379679 , Reply# 16   10/13/2017 at 11:58 (2,357 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.)        

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Thanks, Jimmy Hoffa!

Post# 379685 , Reply# 17   10/13/2017 at 13:55 (2,357 days old) by Real1shep (Walla Walla, WA)        

I think what happened is the mindset of the masses and how they buy products. They expect a deal, a sale, a discount....even from people in the trades. What that has forced industry to do is contract work done abroad and set up factories abroad. The US companies said we can build you anything you want, but our employees are trying to make living wages, raise families and you'll pay more than Asian/Middle East made product. And so here we are buying and using China made products for the most part.

 

So yeah, we did it to ourselves but it was the 'let's step over dollars to save pennies' mentality. And you can't just blame the mass consumer either because salaries haven't increased over the last decade or so as they did previously. Much of our incomes are being absorbed now with rent/mortagages, health insurance and food costs which have gone up & up. 

 

Kevin


Post# 379690 , Reply# 18   10/13/2017 at 15:21 (2,357 days old) by vacerator (Macomb Michigan)        
Jimmy Hoffa had nothing to do with it.

Some folks wish they ever made that kind of money. Middle class incomes created trickle up for the economy. The more they made, the more they spent back in.
My Grandfather came from Italy with 2 dollars to his name. He worked his way up to foreman in the steel mill. He told me it was near poverty level wages before the union. Those higher union wages found their way to to other trades.
So times have changed. Now you need an education to make that kind of money.
Coal miners do not gross $80,000.oo per year, just like unskilled auto workers don't anymore.

Such doom and gloom. Some blame others for their own failures just like I won't even say who. Who happens to own part of the national Enquirer. No fake news there, not at all.


Post# 379692 , Reply# 19   10/13/2017 at 16:22 (2,357 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.)        

cb123's profile picture
Yes, there's much to be said about organized crime and their involvement in the unions. It's not 50/50 anymore. Either unions have too much power or companies. That is why they make crap, because the can't afford to do otherwise. So you see there is a trade off...simple Economics 101.

Post# 379699 , Reply# 20   10/13/2017 at 18:18 (2,357 days old) by vacerator (Macomb Michigan)        
Well, ours truly also said this early on in his campaign;

"The mobs not so dumb."

I guess he would know being in casino's and all.
Hoffa's own did not kill him.

Collective bargaining is a two way street.
Treat employees well, and they don't organize into a union.


Post# 379704 , Reply# 21   10/13/2017 at 20:13 (2,357 days old) by kenkart ()        
Reynolds Tobacco in Winston Salem is

A good example, They paid HIGH wages, the best in town, and had great benefits too, They never had a union, People didn't want a Union when they were making 18.00 an hour to sweep the floor....in the 80s!

Post# 379713 , Reply# 22   10/13/2017 at 22:50 (2,357 days old) by Real1shep (Walla Walla, WA)        

The original Electrolux plant in Greenwich, Connecticut was supposed to be a great place to work and make living wages. It has been said that people lined up outside the plant to get jobs there. I don't know if they had a union or not.

 

Kevin 


Post# 379717 , Reply# 23   10/14/2017 at 00:32 (2,357 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.)        

cb123's profile picture
At least back in the day when you bought something for 15 cents, you got your money's worth. Today, when you buy something for 15 dollars, they laugh all the way to the bank merrily singing,"Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah-I-got-you-sucker!"

Post# 379720 , Reply# 24   10/14/2017 at 01:45 (2,357 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles)        

electrolux137's profile picture

~
~

Electrolux hired many day workers who, if they proved themselves valuable to the company, were taken on full-time. It was a wonderful place to work in its heyday -- before being consumed by Consolidated Foods.

 

"The manufacturing and engineering staff of 116 persons ... was augmented daily by hiring people for one day's work. Many hopefuls would stand outside the front gate and wait to be called for a day's work. Many of the hopefuls that were hired for one day's work remained on the job for many years...."

Electrolux Factory News, June 1963

 


Post# 379785 , Reply# 25   10/15/2017 at 00:33 (2,356 days old) by cb123 (Mobile, Al.)        

cb123's profile picture
I would rather have this happen to me than buy trash, nowadays!




Post# 379838 , Reply# 26   10/16/2017 at 09:27 (2,354 days old) by vacerator (Macomb Michigan)        
Ewh! gross!

Solution; California charcoal peel.

Post# 379843 , Reply# 27   10/16/2017 at 11:43 (2,354 days old) by kloveland (Tulsa)        
Another decade might be nice to visit

kloveland's profile picture
and possibly bring back a few things. I personally would not want to live in another time. The positives outweigh the negatives for me of our current time period.

Post# 379976 , Reply# 28   10/19/2017 at 00:40 (2,352 days old) by kenkart ()        
Other things that were better

Just about every Church had a Hammond organ,You could buy Red Band , White Lilly and Martha White flour that was not the imitations they are now, same for Aunt Jemima pancake mix,You could tell what a car was at a hundred yards, none looked the same, Westinghouse, GE, Frigidaire and Norge were all totally different and interesting, Hoover was a fine product made in Ohio , Electrolux was a fine product made in Conn.etc,I could go on and on...No everything wasn't perfect, but it sure isn't now, We had a real President then, Ike, not that thing we have now!

Post# 380017 , Reply# 29   10/19/2017 at 21:04 (2,351 days old) by speedqueen (Harrison Twp MI)        
That poor TV...

They ruined it putting that SPC(TV collector term meaning SilverPlasticCrap) set inside it. The original Zenith equipment would have handily outperformed whatever they put in it.

I think that set was more from the mid 1960s than the 1950s and while I know I'm taking a stab in the dark, It might even be a very early color rectangular screen set. If it wasn't color they really wanted 1950s they should have bought a restored RCA CTC-4 or something like it. Cannot beat round tube color anyway.

Even though I wasn't born in the 20th century let alone the 1950s, I wish I were alive in it. It seems like such an idealistic world.

Speaking of TV being likely from 1960s, here is a video from Doug Harland(DRH4683) showing off his house around Christmas time. Talk about going back in time. I'd pay to tour his house.






Post# 380021 , Reply# 30   10/19/2017 at 23:30 (2,351 days old) by Real1shep (Walla Walla, WA)        

I built a couple of Heathkit TV's back then; one B&W and one color. The color set was no joy, let me tell ya. It had to go back to a Heathkit store and of course they found something very simple I had not done as per the instructions....or so they said. The B&W set went together well. The only thing of any significance preassembled on these sets was the tuner.....you did everything else.  Pictures were incredible, I'll give 'em that.

 

I dunno...having a whole house retro like from the 50's/60's is kinda creepy to me. I liked when styles changed and you updated your decor. Those hanging lamps now just seem like an abortion and the room doesn't really have a warm glow to it that plants and updated plush furniture would have. My parents kept moving along with the times until they died. Their spaces were always plush, warm and livable, but NEVER definable as 'old people interiors'.  Now I totally agree on the major appliances part...today's stuff is junk. But there's a big move to remanufactured appliances from back in the day, back into homes.....often costing more than the current modern stuff.

 

There's no reason why you can't combine some vintage stuff with modern decor....I mean look at the whole steampunk movement.

 

Kevin


Post# 380022 , Reply# 31   10/19/2017 at 23:41 (2,351 days old) by kenkart ()        
Round tube color

Yes a old tube sat is tempermental, but when set up right that is the softest most natural color that ever was!

Post# 380034 , Reply# 32   10/20/2017 at 11:07 (2,350 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)        

human's profile picture
Yeah, I like having a few vintage pieces to provide a little kitsch, but I don't think I could go full retro. That said, I do have a Danish modern bedroom suite from the 1950s that looks like it could have come right out of today's Ikea catalog. The only thing that looks a little dated is the knobs on the dresser and night stand drawers and the sliding covers on the bookcase headboard. They're brass, sort of mushroom shaped and dimpled like a golf ball. Put on some smooth, brushed nickel knobs and the pieces would look thoroughly modern.

Post# 380046 , Reply# 33   10/20/2017 at 16:35 (2,350 days old) by kenkart ()        
Im working my way

To FULL 50s early 60s, all I need is a refrigerator and I have a KD 12 Kitchenaid from 59 I need to get checked out, I need a older washer and dryer, mine are early 80s,The main thing now is to get a manual defrost fridge and get rid of this POS 8 year old Hotpoint!

Post# 380048 , Reply# 34   10/20/2017 at 17:26 (2,350 days old) by speedqueen (Harrison Twp MI)        
Washer/Dryer

Maybe you could ask all those collectors that have 50 washers who hate Norges if they want to unload a machine they cannot stand. Remind them they'd be selling it to someone who would really appreciate them.

Post# 380083 , Reply# 35   10/21/2017 at 18:47 (2,349 days old) by Real1shep (Walla Walla, WA)        

I had a GE washer from the 60's that came with a house I bought in the 70's. That was the best TL washer I ever had....I never had to put a transmission in that one and it had that little min tub thing with a lid for rags, underwear etc. I had to pull the agitator because there was a pot metal flange that had a broker ear. That agitator was rust welded on...about a week off & on struggling with that. Got it all back together and onward it went. Sold it at the farm auction still going strong in '95. At that point in had it about 17yrs with me and was used before that.....lol!

Oh and BTW, it was wonderful with clothes....which was the best part.

Kevin



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