Tell me about the '60s (vanity)

[HungarianGypsy]

I am wanting to write a story based on a young adult in the 1960s. Since I was born in 1973 all I really know is what I studied in books. But, I want to get beyond love beads and LSD. I want to be able to write this as it really was. I know it's said if you remember the '60s you weren't really there. But, if anyone does remember I would appreciate reading your stories and facts. Thank you.

[Gay State Conservative]

We had the Freihofer man (a bakery in Upstate NY) who delivered our cakes, cookies, bread, etc. on a truck. Only I thought he was the Riddler (he looked like him) and would hide whenever he came.

The big milk brand in my area was Hood and during the summer we'd sneak onto their home delivery truck and snatch a piece of ice.Finally,the guy on the route invited us into the truck and gave us ice.

(And he never molested us,either!)

[Hotdog]

I was a 4F...hard of hearing...

[Al Gator]

WIBBAGE!!

I still use the phrase: Laughin and Scratchin.

Forget which dj used it, but I could never get away from using it.

Wasn't Cousin Brucie, he was at ABC out of New York.

[4yearlurker]

I remember sitting at our desk in school and the fire alarm sounded, the teacher told us all to get under our desks. I was stuffed under my desk thinking "what good is this if the school is in fire?"

I had no concept of Nuclear bombs!

[mandingo republican]

Everything that went wrong can be linked to communist infiltration - that is why we are here today at FR that is why we are conservatives - to fight for what is left in our lives which we deem sacred - The negatives were the drugs, the Clintons, the sexual revolution, earth day, drug influenced music, feminists, kids talking back to parents, abortion...communists - they love to screw things up.

[go-dubya-04]

Oh man, I remember playing "Bug" with my 2 brothers (we were born in 57, 59 & 62) on every trip our family made! God bless my parents and their patience with the incessant yelling of "Blue Bug", "Red Bug" etc. That was so fun!

[surrey]

We had "Murray the K and The Swinging Soiree".
Cousin Brucie was in NY.

[Ol' Sox]

We had a '59 Chrysler Windsor that was as big as an aircraft carrier and had tailfins that would stab you if you backed into them. 46 people could ride in this car and it had a 3-note horn that sounded like the brass section of a band. You could put your other car in the trunk.

My Dad was a proto-geek. We had a rotating antennae on the roof that allowed us to get 10 channels from NY and CT. Granted, it was always snowing on Channels 3 and 8 but we were very cool and greatly admired.

My high school football games were attended by everyone in town. Everyone. Businesses would close for home games.

Stores were closed on Sundays.

I recall a BB gun war that went on in the woods most of the summer. Football helmets and sunglasses were our uniforms.

Lunch at Horn and Hardart on the annual Christmas-time trip into New York City.

All the Dads were WWII vets. Damn glad to be alive, iconic, towering, strong men - finally at peace. Still marching in the Memorial Day parade with the American Legion. Many were conflicted about Vietnam.

1968 - Tet offensive. USS Pueblo. My Lai. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated. MLK riots. Bobby Kennedy assassinated. Russians invade Czechoslovakia. Democratic Convention riots. I turned 16 and got my driver's license. It was a good year for most people to stay inside the house.

[Al Gator]

Yea, those sneaky Ruskies were lurking everywhere! Behind every tree! They could send gas through the cracks of your vent shaft, so you had to put a special charcoal filter on it!

"Now Class, get under your desks and look away fromt the windows"

"Now Class, bend over and kiss your asses goodby!"

[svcw]

I remember that.
I was in the eighth grade and we decided to rob a liquor store get drunk and have sex.

[4yearlurker]

And don't forget the Geeter with the Heater. The Boss With the Sauce,and The Host With the Most.....Jerry Blavat!

And no I didn't buy my clothes at Krass Brothers.

[linda_22003]

I still inform my husband how many "W-A-B-C-D-grees" it is outside. I don't think he has any idea what I'm talking about.

[HIDEK6]

You could smoke anywhere you wanted to, you didn't have to wear a seatbelt, underage drinking was no big deal, and if you wanted a beer, you just told a woman to get you one.

[Alouette]

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.!

[Al Gator]

You know, I remember reading those anti commie cartoons back then, and thinking: How Corny!

Little did I know.

I wish I had some of those cartoon books now. Everything in them came to pass.

..........

[go-dubya-04]

Too funny! I graduated in '77 and we had designated outdoor smoking areas for students. My, how times have changed.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

What are the sixties? bwahahahahaha. I don't want to comment, some of the statutes of limitations may not have elapsed!

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"I graduated from high school in June 1966."

I spent the end of the '50s and the beginning of the '60s running the streets in San Francisco. It was a great place to be a kid in then. I moved to Santa Maria to start high school and graduated in June of '66 also.

I enlisted in the Army on July 1st of 1966 and the rest of the '60s were spent either getting ready for Vietnam, or in Vietnam, with 30 days back in the world every nine months on extension leave. When I left people were sneaking into the school bathrooms to smoke cigarettes and dope was mostly a rumor. When I visited a year later they were sneaking in to smoke pot.

I always came home prepared to desert but after the first leave, I felt more at home in Nam than in California. I had little in common with most of my contemporaries and I didn't come back to stay until the Army told me bye in 1970.

For me, the '60s is Vietnam and music. I can't hear Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan or Janis Joplin without drifting back to the war. The '70s and '80s were fun but they were just weak shadows of the '60s.

Michael Frazier

[poobear]

It's now called "Punch Buggy". "Blue punch buggy (punch in the arm) can't punch back!

How they put up with the three of you in first place not counting the "bug" game is a miracle ;D! Your poor mother was dealing with toddlers and diapers for over 5 years.

[7thson]

I was born in 57 and grew up around the DC Metro area until 67. Moved to Staunton, Virginia than. What was the 60's like?

Some of the flip answers are true. We ate dinner together. Even troubled homes were more secure than today. Drug use was not that big a problem at least not with children. In 63, my first year of the public school system, we did a few duck and cover drills. Scary! During the late 60's is when we saw more and more anti-Vietnam news. Comic books were 12 cents. The stories were pro-American. Captain America loved America and the Flag and usually when kicking the Red Skull's arse, would lecture the Skull concerning America and American ideals. Sitcoms involved a stable home - man and wife, respectful kids, a sometimes befuddled dad who loved his family and usually did the right thing by the end of the half hour. Cop shows involved good guys and bad guys and you knew the difference. The only real anti-hero I can remember was The Fugitive but you knew who the real villian was - the one armed man! A real SOB! We had variety shows - Ed Sullivan, Hollywood Palace, Carol Burnett, Shingding, Hallabulu! Music was cool! No one sang about killing cops, your girlfriend -ho, or their mom. Motown ruled the airwaves and most of the groups - white and black - all dressed alike when on stage.

The late 60's it began to get scary. Race riots. Protests. Murders. Burning buildings.

Anyway, those are some of my memories.