Born before 1959? Want to chat about your memories of the 1960s and 1970s?

[SequentialAnalyst]

This is a thread to do just that And to compare, contrast, and discuss our memories of living through those times with MNers around the world, and share good stuff from those days we might have overlooked back in the day

I'm sorry to have to write this: but please No BabyBoomer Blaming or Bashing.

Wherever you come from, whatever your experience, whether you saw the Stones in the Park, or whether you could only listen longingly to Radio Luxembourg on your transistor radio in your bedroom, this is the place for you.

@AcrossthePond55 Could you do a similar para re the range of US experiences?

[Roussette]

Funnily enough I was talking to my DCs about an Afghan coat I wore in the 70s. A furry embroidered massive thing. It stunk
I smelt like a yak 😂

[Coastalcreeksider]

I remember wearing hot pants and crop tops, loon trousers, cheesecloth smock tops, platform shoes and midi coats.

All my friends wore the same type of clothes and we often swopped to go to the discos so you felt you had a bigger wardrobe of stuff to wear than you actually did.

Saved us a lot of money doing this as we didn't earn much especially from Saturday jobs that we all had.

Fun times 😀

[Roussette]

And loved the shops....Chelsea Girl, Snob, Bus stop.
I bought lots in those shops when I could afford it!

[ShippingNews]

I grew up in the 60's in Australia. It was the best of times ! The Beatles came onto the scene when I was 14, and we were all dazzled by them and all the Mersey Sound bands. The first record I ever bought was Gerry and the Pacemakers, "How Do You Do It ?". We cut our own hair into the "Beatle Cut" , ha ha. Wore mini skirts and white Go Go boots. Went out with boys who had longer hair than we did !

Some 60's memories - going to see the Beatles performing in Sydney in '64 never to be forgotten. The Vietnam War - boys over 21 being conscripted to go and fight . Decimal currency started on 14th February 1966 - I can still sing the songs about it which we heard for months before it started ! Colour television started in 1967, the first thing I saw was a cricket match , I couldn't get over seeing green grass. I got my first job in 1966, and fully accepted the fact that I got paid about half of what the men got. That's just the way it was.

[Isheabastard]

I went to the big Biba shop in London when I was an about 15. It was painted mostly black inside with huge feathers as decoration.

I bought a short plum cardigan with big sequins on. I stupidly cut of all the sequins as I didn’t have the nerve to wear it with them.

I remember Chelsea Girl and buying a paisley grandad T shirt when I was about 13.

I remember when we got a fridge and landline and colour Tv started. Oh and decimilation .

[Wallaw]

@Roussette

Funnily enough I was talking to my DCs about an Afghan coat I wore in the 70s. A furry embroidered massive thing. It stunk
I smelt like a yak 😂

I'm a bit younger, but old enough to remember some of this, so hope it's ok if I stick my nose in.

@Roussette

My mother had a coat that looked like embroidered suede outside and thick sheepskin inside with sheepskin collar and cuffs - is that the sort of thing? Because if so, my DD was very excited to have it passed down to her recently (didn't smell though)!

[ShippingNews]

Oh yes, Isheabastard I remember getting our first telephone in about 1963. We moved house and there was one there - amazing ! My mother said she wanted it disconnected - we didn't need a phone for heavens sake . Thankfully Dad thought it was a good idea so we kept it. Such a luxury to talk to my friends on the phone !

[jollygoose]

I won £50 in 1967 which was enough to buy New bell bottom flares and 2 or 3 skinny rib jumpers as well as treat my mum. I had a gorgeous figure but didnt know it until 30 years later. Loved my over knee white platform boots and red hot pants. I cant imagine why I was desperate to settle down and get married and wish I could go back and give myself a dose of common sense.

[SequentialAnalyst]

I originate from SE London. My (younger) DB had a brief, v brief, phase of being a bit hippy-like, and bought an Afghan coat. He went to Trafalgar Square in about 1970 to see in the New Year, so of course it got wet from the fountains. It stank to high heaven! I think my DM put up with it for a bit, then chucked it!

It wasn't long after that he joined the Young Conservatives

Meanwhile, I was in my first year at University, desperately hoping to find out how to be cool. And I did find out And I loved the City where my university was, and have remained in the area ever since

[Roussette]

@Wallaw

I'm a bit younger, but old enough to remember some of this, so hope it's ok if I stick my nose in.

@Roussette

My mother had a coat that looked like embroidered suede outside and thick sheepskin inside with sheepskin collar and cuffs - is that the sort of thing? Because if so, my DD was very excited to have it passed down to her recently (didn't smell though)!

It was like this but a bit more embroidery, it was quite oily if that makes sense?! (wish I'd kept it, this one is going for £250 on ebay!)

[Roussette]

@ShippingNews

Oh yes, Isheabastard I remember getting our first telephone in about 1963. We moved house and there was one there - amazing ! My mother said she wanted it disconnected - we didn't need a phone for heavens sake . Thankfully Dad thought it was a good idea so we kept it. Such a luxury to talk to my friends on the phone !

Oh yes! And who remembers party lines? You shared your telephone line with neighbours which meant you could listen in to their calls!

And if you needed the phone in a hurry and they were talking you just kept tapping the handset rest thing to alert them

I'm so old that I remember our number going from XXXXX (place) 3 digits to 4 digits

[SequentialAnalyst]

@ShippingNews
The Vietnam War - boys over 21 being conscripted to go and fight . 

Australians, you mean?

@AcrossthePond55 will be along eventually, but her time zone is 8 hours behind mine, and I don't know how long behind that of @ShippingNews The Vietnam War must have played a much greater part in her life than it did mine

[Mothew]

I shared an afghan coat with my sister, it really did stink! My friends and I lent each other outfits too, as we were all much the same size in clothes (skinny!) My mother didn't mind me going out in hot pants as long as I wore my maxi coat on top.

I remember seeing the Beatles live when I was still at school, my friend and I practised the screaming beforehand!

I loved Jackie magazine and when i was a little older, Just 17, but Petticoat was my favourite.

[SequentialAnalyst]

Good ol' Wikipedia! Includes an explanation of how it came to be popular in England in the 1960s, and associated with hippie culture.

Afghan coat - Wikipedia

[SequentialAnalyst]

And also, explains why ones bought in England stank!

[MissMarplesGoddaughter]

I remember the 3 day week and having to wear my coat in the office and typing with a candle on my desk. There were no women in the Board Room then. All the women were either cleaners or typists, secretaries or telephonists. Women were not put into the work pension scheme until they were 28 and then only if they were unmarried. There was an expectation that everyone got married and their husband would keep them.

[SequentialAnalyst]

@Roussette I'm so old that my parents' phone number was THO 5047 (I think).

[AcrossthePond55]

Life in the US in the '60s/'70s.....well, I'll preface by reminding all that the US is HUGE and my experiences growing up in So Cal will be very different from someone growing up in the Midwest, Deep South, or East Coast. And also, I was raised in a (US) middle class home, so also not reflective of people raised in poorer economic conditions.

Growing up as a child in the post-war 'boom' was unbelievably wonderful. We weren't rich but had everything we needed in abundance. Life was safe, secure, and for the most part affordable. 'All' mums were SAHM in my little world. Home ownership, 2 cars, all the mod cons were part of everyday life. Getting 'dressed up' to go shopping in LA or Pasadena was a 'thing'. You'd NEVER go to Bullocks, The Broadway, I Magnin, or the like in the City unless you looked your best!

As far as what we did for fun as a teen, in So Cal from April to October, we spent days at the beach or in the pool. Disneyland was our playground back those days, before it became so expensive! Fall and Winter were school dances, Friday night (American) HS football games & post game parties. And getting stoned. 'Nuff said on that! Most teen boys had cars so driving around ('cruising') was a big thing all year round. Malls started popping up when I was around 13 so those became 'hangouts' too. Contempo Casuals, Judy's, or Raj of India ring anyone's bells?

A 'big music choice' was British Invasion or Surf City. Luckily my crowd allowed you to love both, but the hardcore surfer crowd wanted you to decide your allegiance. By the late '60s FM radio was booming and our music choices were limitless. BTW, is there anyone (probably US based) who remembers Sunday nights and Dr Demento?

At least that was life if you were white. Growing up where I did there wasn't Jim Crow or 'codified' segregation. But the 'color line' was still pretty obvious once one was old enough to see it. We didn't have lynchings but we did have 'restrictive covenants'. I don't know which was worse for POC, knowing where you stand or prejudice hidden under a veneer of 'acceptance'. The Civil Rights law was passed in 1964 ending overt racism. But I don't think it did much to end the silent racism.


Viet Nam. Oh yes. I was in my early teens when I really became 'aware' of it in a political sense. I knew it was happening before that, I lost a 'shirttail cousin' to it when I was probably 12. Once I became politically aware (thanks to a wonderful history teacher) I was extremely anti-war. Marched in protests, signed petitions, sang songs. I still have my POW bracelet. The draft here was age 19. l remember sweating it out with my DB and DPs on 'draft day' until we knew that my brother's number wasn't going to be called. Many of the boys I knew in high school ended up going to VN and came home physically damaged and/or mentally scarred, either through drug use (which was rife in the service) or PTSD. I had a cousin who was a chopper pilot and served 2 tours. He won both a Bronze and Silver Star and never told the family. We found out years later when his wife told us. Although he always held down a job and lived 'well' he was an alcoholic. The VN War ruined an entire generation of American men (and women) mostly due to the lack of MH care.

I could go on but I think that's a good snapshot.

I've read (mostly on MN) about the post war shortages, rationing, and 'austerity' in Britain that seem to have lasted until the '70s and I wonder why the US didn't do more to help the UK during the postwar period. We say we have a 'special relationship' but it doesn't seem like we were very generous. So, possibly a naive question...was it really as bad as it's portrayed? No heating, rationing, outdoor plumbing, sharing bathwater, food shortages are some of the things I've heard mentioned. Were these things 'reality' in post war Britain or just lifestyle 'holdovers' in families from the wartime shortages?

[AskingQuestionsAllTheTime]

Roussette
Oh yes! And who remembers party lines? You shared your telephone line with neighbours which meant you could listen in to their calls!

And if you needed the phone in a hurry and they were talking you just kept tapping the handset rest thing to alert them

I'm so old that I remember our number going from XXXXX (place) 3 digits to 4 digits

I remember the heady day we got a line all of our own, but I don't remember what having the party line was like, only that we'd had one before that. We children were not allowed to use the telephone anyway; that was for my father's work calls and things like ringing the doctor if one of us (usually me, I was a sickly brat) was ill.

I don't think I ever heard the phone being answered using three digits; it was "81913" from my earliest memory of it.

The phone came before the fridge but well after the gramophone. My mother had very set priorities: we could do without a fridge but she wasn't prepared to do without music.



I also remember that either Jackie or Romeo sometimes published (ghastly, mawkish) poems, and I discovered when I was fourteen that I could turn out the sort of poem they wanted with absolutely no trouble at all. Since I was away at boarding school with £2/10- a term pocket money, held by the school bursar and only handed over if you could give a good reason (and sweets were not a good reason, only things like birthday presents for others or needing new tights), being paid £2 for ten lines of Very Emotional doggerel was good biz, with the only trouble being to cash the cheque; but I was able to explain that I needed postal orders because of not having a bank account, and my popularity at that horrible school rose dramatically when I was able to "treat" people sometimes on "town leave".

At the same school you were not allowed to use Tampax until you were fifteen and only with permission from your mother, which was horrible for thirteen and fourteen year olds who had started "the curse". All sanitary provision was issued from Matron's Office, so there was no way round it at the supply end of things. We used to barter with members of the sixth form who were sympathetic, doing things like mending their tights for Tampax. And if anyone else has ever darned a pair of tights she will have some idea how desperate we felt.

[OnAFrolicOfMyOwn]

Rogue Gen Xer here, placemarking to read your stories, hope you don't mind.

[SequentialAnalyst]

@OnAFrolicOfMyOwn welcome!
Gen X? Which decade? First band you were into? Did your DP or DPIL experience the 60s?

Also, who is your favourite Beatle? (You do have a favourite Beatle, don't you?)

Meantime, I think it's time I put a record YouTube link on.

[AcrossthePond55]

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

OMG party lines!! I remember those! To call someone on your line you dialed 9911 and the last 2 digits of their phone number then you hung up. It caused the phone in both houses to ring and when they picked up you picked your phone back up too! I think we got our 'private line' when I was pretty young.

What was COOL for me is that when I turned 14 I got my own phone & phone number. Dad worked for the phone company and a 'perk' of his job was that the Company started paying our phone bill at that point because of his length of employment. So since I was constantly tying up the line they got me my own! My rules were NO long distance calls (since the Company paid for those on the family phone) and NO phone calls after bedtime on school nights. Oh, and keep the volume down when playing new records for my friends to hear over the phone!

[Coastalcreeksider]

One thing I do remember is how many shops there were in High Streets for buying clothes.

I used to go to Portsmouth's Commercial Road quite a lot and it was a massive treat to go to Southampton as they had three huge department stores, Edwin Jones, Tyrrell and Green and Plummers.

I'd go with my three friends and we would shop all day and come home with the clothes we'd be wearing next time we went dancing. A real fun day out back then especially as we would have lunch out too.

[AcrossthePond55]

Ooooh, who remembers Peter Max. And blacklight posters???

[SequentialAnalyst]

I always knew you were cool, @AcrossthePond55 And wow, you are COOL 😎