Posted on 01/09/2007 9:18:52 AM PST by 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.
I grew up in the Corpus Christi, TX area so we had What-A-Burger. I'll never forget the first time I saw one of their "large" drinks. My eyes almost bugged out of my head. It was much bigger than any paper cup drink I'd ever seen.
We believed the media was unbiased.
Oh yeah, Nightly News with Walter Krondyke (sp)
I hated the news, but we watched it everynight. I could not wait until GUNSMOKE came on..... that was real treat.
I do remember when Laugh In started.. it was like we started all going to hell when those girls danced in those short dresses... and all that makeup.
My older sister had a friend who lived across the street. We'll call her Kristin. Kristin's parents fought and were thinking about divorce. At the age of 15, Kristin ran away from home. She ended up in California living with some older guy. I read one of her letters to my sister. She said they did drugs and made love several times a day. Her poor parents had no idea where she was, and she didn't communicate with them as far as I know. This happened sometime in the late '60s.
I was born in '65, and as a kid we listened to records by the Beatles and the Monkeys and the Osmond Brothers. My mom let me lay on her lap when she was driving, or I would sit on her lap if she was a passenger. We didn't wear helmets for any sports. I took horseback riding lessons, skiing lessons, rode my bike, ice skated, and rollerskated all without a helmet! LOL!
You are absolutely right! Everyone should read 'None Dare Call It Treason'. That book describes HOW the commies were doing it.
Being hairy and smelly came into style.
Oh yeah, we dressed up in Sunday best to go on an airplane! Or even to go to the airport, because it was mainly well-to-do people who traveled very frequently by air and we needed to fit in.
If you were high tech you had an antenna rotator, an electric motor that turned your TV antenna on top of your house to get better reception. Also:
Madras print shirts
Nehru jackets
wide wale cord pants
Aquanet hairspray
transistor radios
Jade East & Hai Karate
thin ties then really wide ties
garter belts
no "perma press"
45 rpm records
fender skirts
Honda 50's
draft cards
Ed Sullivan
3.2% beer
Bobbie Brooks
A bombs
Robert Vaughn's nephew was a minister at our church. Never got to meet his uncle, though...
Honey West!
Get Smart!
Remember also the arm vaccination that we all carry the scar of today? They put a clear plastic cup over mine until it started to scab.
"In the late sixties and early seventies it became socially unacceptable to speak openly about a conservative political or religious belief."
Why was Nixon re-elected by a landslide, then?
Sand bags. Always filling sandbags. Finally distinguishing 'incoming' from 'outgoing'. Drinking to get drunk. That awful smell of mo-gas and s**t burning. The smell of cordite and damp canvas. A set of empty boots sitting in front of a company formation, the unrelenting sun burning down, the 'what ifs'. Time crawling by ever so slowly. Feeling the shock wave but not hearing the sound. The night. The night was the worse time of all.
Not in a good place today.
"It was a rare treat to eat at McDonalds, or out for that matter...99% of my childhood meals were homecooked."
Families got dressed up and went for a Sunday ride and yes, Howard Johnson's was a much looked forward to destination.
I think we had off for teacher conferences, I don't recall that it was a Holy Day of Obligation. The school was St. Patrick's, SPS was on our green plaid uniforms. We always had off on St. Paddy's Day though.
Read 'None Dare Call It Treason'. You will be shocked!
OMG! Jade East!
English Leather!
*thud* remembering some 8th grade heartthrobs by smell only
Smallpox vaccine. They stopped giving those out in 1973. My son (born in 1972) was vaccinated, but my daughter born a year later was not.
Johnny Rivers
Welcome home, FRiend. Damn glad you made it back.
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