Posted on 04/06/2016 9:00:44 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
floor dimmer switches were MUCH better.
Our parks were well used and clean most of the time. They have been appropriated by thugs and miscreants now. No good family goes to them anymore.
As well as GI Loans, which fueled the housing boom and large scale developments such as Levittown.
The houses were small by today's standards. In Washington DC, a newly constructed 2 story brick and block attached house with a full basement could be had for just under $5000. Plastered interior walls, steel casement windows, 1 bath for 3 bedrooms. Narrow kitchen with refrigerator, gas oven/range and sink. The full unfinished basement had the oil fired forced air furnace, oil tank, double laundry sink, water heater and a WC. The ground foot print was about 400 sf.
That particular dbl house was repeated over a six block cluster. Average family had two to three kids with some having five. Durable starter homes for WWII and Korean War vets.
Oh... to pick nits, never ever saw a bicycle helmet offered at Sears or Western Auto, the primary purveyors of bikes in 1956. The only bike helmet I ever saw was a painted GI helmet liner worn by a neighbor called Mousie. Hell, motorcycle riders hardly wore the and the Snell Foundation hadn't started their studies.
There might not be enough good families that care. Pretty grim.
Freegards
I’m just thankful to be alive in the time allotted to me here on earth. I can’t go back and live in the 1950s. None of us can. I had no choice when or where I was born.You play with the cards dealt to you.
Ahh the rose colored glasses of the past. Never mind that in 1956 they were thinking the same thing about their era compared to 50 years before. I especially like how think Monroe (drug overdose, very sexualized), Presley (drug overdose, very sexualized) and Wayne (multiple marriages, philandery) were such better role models than the stars of today. And from there the list just keeps being silly.
Wow! We didn’t have school buses in my town.
That’s a good point.
But man what about stuff like parks and campsites, or rest stops along the highways being plagued by weirdos? Why does that happen now, and didn’t happen then, at least on as big a scale? Or is that wrong? I mean they have huge volunteer ‘condom cleanups’ in some urban parks.
Freegards
“We used to ride the street car in town and used either red or green plastic tokens - believe they called them mills but it was too long ago to remember. “
What city was that? As a boy I got to ride the streetcar in Washington DC before they pulled up the tracks. Whittaker Chambers had helped build them as a laborer in the early 1900s.
“No credit cards, counter checks at all the stores and people used layaway and paid $1.00 or so a week until their items were paid for. Life was good.”
I remember my folks using layaway to make purchases. And I think they could open a store credit account for larger purchases like appliances. The earliest ‘credit card’ was Diner’s Club and it probably had to be paid off each month. The world of personal finance was designed to encourage thrift and prudence, it didn’t encourage you to get yourself into trouble. Maybe that habit was a result of the Great Depression just 20 years earlier
It wasn’t until I was in high school in the 60s that I remember Bank of America rolling out their BankAmericard which evolved into Visa and Mastercard and the rest of the enticements to personal debt.
Sorry, I doubt it. I really do.
What do you doubt, that there are or aren’t enough good people and families that now care?
Freegards
In 1956, John Wayne, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe were some of the biggest stars in the entertainment world.
But really, who cares and what difference does it make? Not all paragons of virtue in all ways nor role models without exception. Who is though? I’d rather point to the likes of Jimmy Stewart.
Wayne had a lot of good attributes to recommend him but he really drank too much.
Elvis started out well enough but seems to have gotten more than a little warped.
Monroe was beautiful and attractive but her merits just about ended there.
YES, I doubt that there are enough good people and / or good families that care and can or will make a difference in molding a nation of children that can make America great with common goals again.
Eww! My eyes! My eyes!
The streetcar we used was right down the middle of Minnesota Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. My adoptive dad was born in 1898 and my adoptive mom was born in 1915. They never had a credit card or bought anything on credit, except for the last car my mom purchased when I was a teenager. All I remember about it was that it was a Nash, ugly yellow color and looked like a bathtub. But they thought it was wonderful because the driver’s seat reclined!
My mom died in 2003 and I brought her Frigidare refrigerator which was very, very, very old to my home. It’s in the garage now and still runs. They do not make them like that any more.
What state would that have been?
my mother used to say the word “rotter” a lot especially when we would beat her at her favorite card game, Rook....
I remember teachers who LOVED teaching...
I remember when nursing and teaching were VOCATIONS, not just jobs....
Probably right, at least in my opinion. Like I said, pretty grim stuff.
Freegards
Private construction firms did the actual building of the Interstate System so I don’t quite get your objection. How is this any different than how other highways have been built?
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