This site is about all things Retro. I guess that’s one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot, but for the purposes of these pages, Retro means the period in the United States that started with the end of World War 2, and ended with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It’s a period when the Unites States was redefining itself as a major world power. It’s a period that’s actually “before my time,” but all the same, I find it fascinating. It’s my parents’ time. They both graduated from high school in the 1950’s and got married in their early 20’s – something that most people don’t do any more. But back then, you graduated from school, went on to college and got married and had a family. Life was a lot more structured back then.

Those were the days when you could join a company at the age of 25 and retire with that same company 40 years and a couple of promotions later, with the gold watch and pension. They were the days when the Moms in the neighbourhood weren’t holding down two full time jobs and could socialise with each other every day over a “kaffee klatsch.” You could live off one income, pay a mortgage and a car payment and still put money away for the kids’ educations. It was the rise of suburbia and the start of urban decay. It was the beginning of the era of telecommunication, and the start of the Cold War. We came out the Jazz Age and entered the Space Age. Unions were at their strongest. We became industrious and prosperous. We weren’t worried about putting food on the table – but we did worry about being nuked by Russians.

The 1950’s and early 60’s gave us television in nearly every home. We got into Elvis Presley and Danish Modern. Uncle Milty and Abbott and Costello made us laugh. Variety shows were big, and Ed Sullivan was King. Everybody loved Lucy and Lassie. Big Band music evolved into Space Age Pop and High Fidelity. Everyone owned a transistor radio and a turntable. Rock and Roll was here to stay. Nearly every family belonged to a house of worship. Men and women wore hats in public. Women wore foundation garments, as curves were desirable and women knew how to take advantage of them.

Large families drove station wagons, not SUVs or minivans. Cars in general were bigger and heavier then, and not as economical on fuel consumption. But back then, we didn’t think about gasoline being a finite resource and at about 25 cents a gallon, the Sunday drive was still economical. The highway system opened America up to the Road Trip, and Service Stations competed to see who had the cleanest, most sanitary restrooms. Route 66 and its endless miles of neon signs became an icon for those carefree days of summer.

Women wanted to dress like Audrey Hepburn or have Marilyn Monroe’s hair and figure. Young men wanted to be like James Dean or Marlon Brando. Grownups stayed up late to watch Jack Paar and the Tonight Show. Melamine dinnerware became hip, and there were sparkles in the Formica that graced the tops of our dinette sets and in our vinyl chair coverings. The boomerang shape was all-pervasive, in our furniture and wall coverings.

There were no PCs or Internet. If you wanted to research something, you went to the library and borrowed books. You could leave your house and car unlocked at night without worrying about someone breaking in. Your kids could go out and play all day outside without the need for a beeper or cell phone. They knew when to go home for dinner, and the whole family sat at the table to chat about their day and eat food that was prepared and cooked at home. Schools didn’t worry about kids bringing guns to class and kids obeyed their teachers (for the most part.) Teachers could sit a problem child in the corner with the “dunce cap,” and parents backed up the teachers. Girls were required to take Home Economics and wear skirts to school, and boys were required to take Shop class and keep their hair short.

Norman Rockwell illustrated for the Saturday Evening Post, and Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite gaveus the news on the television. There were ads on television for cigarettes and the Marlboro man came to life, as did the packets of cigarettes themselves. The Rat Pack performed in Vegas and made films that entertained us then – and now. We also loved our sports teams and sports heroes. Willy Mays, Gordie Howe, Sugar Ray Robinson and Roger Bannister became household names.

For fun, families went bowling together, put up a badminton net in the back yard, played croquet, horseshoes, or put in a swimming pool. They also took trips to the zoo, went on picnics to the lake, or went out to the movies at the local Drive-In. Their kids had neighbourhood fun fairs, joined the Scouts or the Indian Guides, and the family vacation often centred on KOA campgrounds and cheap roadside motels. Summers were long, so kids made up their own neighbourhood baseball teams. They used chalk to draw hopscotch on the street. They built tree forts and played in the woods, which weren’t cluttered with housing estates. They watched Westerns and family shows on TV. Father always knew best, and married couples slept in separate twin beds. Teens met up at the roller skating rink or at the drive-in diner. Birth control was practically non-existent, so people “waited” until marriage (or at least, engagement.) They became experts at “necking,” which makes me wonder if passionate kissing and foreplay is becoming a lost art. Teens got caught up in fads like the Hula Hoop.