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People Living Like It's Still 1951...Any Of Us Out There? :)

oh yes... :yes: 90s kid from Seattle (living in Seattle also) at the time.. SOOO MUCH FLANNEL.... in fairness in Seattle historically people wore flannel cause it is f*cking grey and cold all winter so we wore layers and layers of stuff as to not freeze to death .. mostly...


I saw some great shows at the UW Ballroom and Green River CC and at the Offramp and crocodile cafe... and man all kinds a places ..use to like the OK Hotel... building it was in got red tagged or whatever in the earth quake in 99

being in my late teens / early twenties in Seattle during the late 80s / early 90s in Seattle was a pretty awesome time...

The grunge scene was huge here in the Detroit area until about '97 or so, then we got hammered by Numetal :(
 
Again, this post was never meant to be serious. But the words you highligted didn't say people rejoiced over anything - toasters or otherwise. It said that "even the toaster was joyous in its design." That statement was made by someone of today, commenting about designs of the past. Perhaps many people back then didn't think of what we think of as "classic", as being such. Maybe there were people who didn't think of the Fisher and Marantz audio gear as classic. Hell, they tore down Penn Station. Also, not everybody had the same experience that your family did. One other thing is that nobody said things were going to hell, although if you look at latest figures on income disparity, and the earth's climate, some might be persuaded to say they are.

I'm sure my mom and dad never rejoiced over their toaster.

Their b/w TV needed work about once a month. The repairman was out so often that he knew all 5 of us kids by name. The cost of acquiring, operating, and maintaining it was probably more, in real dollars, than a modern TV.

Their car needed regular tuneups because it had a carburetor and points, and the body started rusting after a few years. I have a 2002 Honda that has been tuned up twice and is only now showing a few brown spots on the rocker panels

All us kids had dozens of cavities, because the water wasn't flouridated. My sons are 33 and 29 and never had a single cavity.

We all got the measles. Now, only kids with ignorant parents who don't get them vaccinated are at risk.

Sure some things were better in the good old days, but at least as many more were worse. Many old things are beautiful and still very useful, which is why I am here on AK. But, overall, I have it better than my parents did. My kids have it better than me.

Things always get better as we complain that they're going to hell.

And by the way, more and more of that throw away stuff is being recycled at an ever increasing rate.
 
A lot of what we now call classic, was embraced because it was new. Still in the 50s, not everyone got the new thing until the old one died -- unrepairably died. Yes, in the 50s, people would get a broken toaster repaired, not just throw it out.

And as the one post noted, TVs got repaired before all the circuitry was miniaturized...if people could afford it. My dad tinkered with electronics, mostly radio, but people would sometimes give him TVs they were tired of fooling with. At one point in the early 60s, our TV was really two. The one on the bottom had no picture whatsoever, but the sound was good. The other one had crappy sound, but --thanks to two stacked "picture tube brightener" accessories sandwiched on between the CRT and the cable to it--had an okay picture. All you had to do to watch TV was turn both of them on and tune both to the same channel! Of course that was the early 1960s, but the TVs might have been from the 50s.
 
This is about a combination of a general style of possessions and some somewhat wishful thinking about their durability. Sure, things were repaired rather than thrown out, but there were some things that needed repair or at least regular maintenance more often too. Cars in particular. Can't blame these hobbyists for not getting it exactly as in the day. Even movies that spend millions on recreating an era correctly (according to the director) get a lot of things wrong. So, they aren't living a textbook, but if they like what they're doing, why not?
 
neat pictures

my life is a mutt

things from different decades

I am a mutt too:D

same here.

Not sure how abnormal it is but at one point every piece of my stereo was from a different decade.

tt - 80s
CDP - 90s
Speakers - 60s
Cassette - 70s

It was only like that for about a year but I thought it was fun.
 
I find myself looking to my youth, mainly through my electronics, and do look back fondly at what I perceive were simpler times. I know things were less complex historically, but much of this was likely from the lack of real-time awareness that we now have of global events via the Internet. Were things really less complex, or were we just less aware? Probably both...

I wasn't part of the 50s but do see the appeal. Couldn't do what this group is doing, but understand why they may take on this ritual. Life is complex and stressful with minute to minute updates on the multiple global war fronts etc., but it is what it is. My escape is my music, family, home and dogs. I guess that dropping out might make me calmer, but I know that won't happen for me (for better or worse, I'm too much of a news junkie). I just try to mix it up to keep myself at parity between the past and the present. They obviously have a different approach that works for them...

I can definitely appreciate the 50's stuff they have collected though, very cool! I love mid-century design.
 
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All I remember mostly about the Fifties & most of the Sixties is how damn HOT it was during the summer & how EVERYBODY & EVERYTHING STUNK to high heaven.. My granddad had a Caddy, IT was airconditioned, but all the "Lesser" cars made do w/4/60 A/C-4 windows down at 60 MPH... Of course, being a kid, I didn't care about all that rot, but my mom would get us all fixed up for Church or something, & we'd look like bums by the time we got to where we were going...
 
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