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 seem to remember a piece of transparent multi-colored plastic that we put over a black & white TV screen to make us think we had color TV.
Girls wanting to look like "Twiggy" the first supermodel to have no boobs and break the (below)90-lb limit.
Must refocus on good things.
My '63 Chevy Impala rag top. Cheap gas, very cheap gas. A good cigar in a tube. Listening to "Soldier Boy" on the am radio, the top down, singing at the top of our lungs. Deciding to take a weekend pass to Washington, DC, since "Who the hell ever heard of Woodstock?" (true story) Staying at the Hotel Ralston in Columbus, GA....at breakfast telling the waitress to bring one of everything..ate it all too. Getting thrown out of a t**ty bar down the street because I was only 17. Yee, hah!
According to the Selective Services draft classification chart, there is no such designation of 2S or 1Y.
http://www.answers.com/topic/selective-service-system
We didn't get our first color tv until 1970.
I was always so busy talking and fooling around that I was usually one of the last ones in the lunch line and the only ice cream left was "banana nut" which I hated.
I still took a little carton, anyway. Bleeccch. Then it sat on my tray and melted into a puddle. Bet the lunch lady loved kids like me at tray-cleaning time.
What cracks me up is that everyone seemed to play this game but everyone called out their own unique names. We never did the punch thing but did do "Tied, you owe me a Coke!" if we called it out at the same time and whoever won the Coke quick-draw got that Bug scored to them. But think about how we kept ourselves occupied for hours without the need for DVDs or all the other nonsense they have these days.
BTW, the worst thing for my Mom was never having a little girl. You know how some girls are never good enough for Mommy's son? Not in our house! Man, any girl who walked in the door was such a relief from all the testosterone that my mother welcomed them with open arms.
The election of JFK in 1960 marked the beginning of the end of the upside era in American History. The slide down began for the public with the end of any semblance of real information, as opposed to the incandescent but smelly "Camelot" Bullshiite, centered around The Perpetual Adoration of St. John of Massachusetts, Virgin and Martyr, which perversion of fact continues unabated to this very day.
The 1960's? It was the era when the power structure began handing over the asylum to the inmates. BTW, it was the era when they closed the asylum; releasing crazies to the streets. Perhaps a good way to learn about the 60's might be to interview one of the many 60-year-old homeless guys who lived them. They had a great time then, to pay for it now with drug-dead brains.
The 60's? A lot of fun for some folks. Sure Woodstock and the '67 Summer of Love had their moments, but then so did sailing on the Titanic.
I don't remember him, but I do remember Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room.
We were in West Dennis. Ended up bartending at The Irish Pub on Rte 28 in West Harwich during my college summers.
LOL, my grandmother had one, too. Then later, a bigger thing that attached to it and also magnified the screen so it looked bigger - and colored!
LOL! How many brothers did you have?
Ours was every Friday at noon.
Johnny Crawford!
I do remember Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room.
omg, MR. Greenjeans!!!! I am laughing my butt off.
Jonny Quest and PF Flyers!
:)
...and secret decoder rings!
I grew up in a small town and graduated high school in 1969. I remember:
45 rpm records
33 1/3 rpm records
Sock hops (no shoes on the gym floor)
The Beatles
Ed Sullivan
Art Linkletter
Arthur Godfrey
Sputnik
Alan Sheppard - first man in space
Nikita Khrushchev
Cuban Missile Crisis
Bomb Shelters
Assassination of JFK
Had to wear dresses or a skirt to school -- no pants
One piece PE uniforms (FUG-LY!)
PE twice/three times a week with communal showers (UGH!)
Teased hair (we're talking BIG hair)
Sleeping in curlers/rollers
Milk at lunch was 2 cents -- hot lunch was 30 cents
Cigarettes were 15 cents/pack (worked in a grocery store)
Coke was 58 cents/8 pack (plus 2 cents per bottle deposit)
Milk was 89 cents for 2 half gallons
Gasoline was 19 cents/gallon
Phone was on a party line -- couldn't talk when someone else in your party was talking
Manual typewriters/carbon paper
Black & white television - 3 channels
Transistor radios
UNIVAC (one of the first computers - took up a whole room)
I know there is more I will think of later!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.