What were the 1960s like?

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by ameliorate

The late 60s (into early 70s) is when the real change started to take place - flower power/hippies, make love not war - we thought love could change the world! - the powerful influential effect of students galvanised in protesting about helping to halt the Vietnam war, when street/recreational drugs really took off. Psychedelia, music got freer/less mainstream, progressive rock, Woodstock!!

I was a fully fledged hippy (i.e. not just at weekends as some were), really into LSD (but taken for insights not the 'pretty colours'/hallucinations as was then fashionable). It was a time of free love (women being freed with the contraceptive pill) but I was deeply in love so not part of that promiscuity. Men had long hair and wore velvet bell bottom trousers - very gentle looking!

Oh my gosh, I could have written this!!
The car I was supposed to be in for Woodstock got filled up ---so they took off, the brats, ,
before my friend and I got there... perfect, of course!
I showed them, ha, we drove to the Newport Jazz Festival later.

Oh right! Twiggy, Petula, Four Seasons, The Supremes, the Tops, Mamas and the Papas, ♫
Donovan, James Brown! Simon and Garf....Muscle cars: Camaros, GTOs, Firebirds, boys.
Dreamy, optimistic, love and beach songs. Good ex: 1965, 'What The World Needs Now is Love"♫

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEx_XsS1vQ

Originally Posted by hallow

. OMG! That made me think of my dad. Whenever anything was in the microwave he would stand and watch it like an intense movie. Never understood why. I just laughed to myself about it.

Maybe he was making plasma.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by hallow

Both good and bad. What were the 60s like? Have any interesting stories?

The 60's were a time of 'innocence''.

The President got assassinated and even today, there is no agreement as to who did it. The District Attorney where that President got killed went on and became famous for his role in a famous Supreme Court case. Odd, his last name is a household name but most people can not 'really' identify him.

During that time period, children were forced to crawl under their desk for fear of the A-bomb. Later, authorities realized standing out in the hallway with their head between their legs was a better way 'of going'.

Relief came when Captain Kirk made the scene.
People became indoctrinated in computers as they watched the LEDS flash on and off the computer on the USS Enterprise 1701.

The walking on the Moon was a major highlight of the 60's.
But the Vietnam War raged onward. One child, after getting out of 11th grade, was ordered to go and take a pre-induction military physical. Boys did not know what to do as regards to the war. There was nobody 'there' to give them advice.

At my school, my class got to go to Washington DC only to see one peaceful group protesting around the Lincoln Memorial. I did not take too much note of those people because I wanted to run to the top of the tower non-stop which I did. The next day, I got to see those 'people' on the news. Being they were not allowed a protest march permit, they decided to march any ways. On the TV, they showed, in color, what happened to them as they were tear gassed and beaten 'to a pulp'.

While at Washington D.C., I was amazed of all of the underground newspapers.

As for work..... there was plenty of work. The unemployment number was low. But if it looked like a person was going to get drafted, the chances of getting a good job was dim if not impossible.

Drugs were prevalent but compared to today's standards, they were not very strong.

In my school, more women would go to Vietnam then men. I always thought that was an oddity.

[hallow]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

The 60's were a time of 'innocence''.

The President got assassinated and even today, there is no agreement as to who did it. The District Attorney where that President got killed went on and became famous for his role in a famous Supreme Court case. Odd, his last name is a household name but most people can not 'really' identify him.

During that time period, children were forced to crawl under their desk for fear of the A-bomb. Later, authorities realized standing out in the hallway with their head between their legs was a better way 'of going'.

Relief came when Captain Kirk made the scene.
People became indoctrinated in computers as they watched the LEDS flash on and off the computer on the USS Enterprise 1701.

The walking on the Moon was a major highlight of the 60's.
But the Vietnam War raged onward. One child, after getting out of 11th grade, was ordered to go and take a pre-induction military physical. Boys did not know what to do as regards to the war. There was nobody 'there' to give them advice.

At my school, my class got to go to Washington DC only to see one peaceful group protesting around the Lincoln Memorial. I did not take too much note of those people because I wanted to run to the top of the tower non-stop which I did. The next day, I got to see those 'people' on the news. Being they were not allowed a protest march permit, they decided to march any ways. On the TV, they showed, in color, what happened to them as they were tear gassed and beaten 'to a pulp'.

While at Washington D.C., I was amazed of all of the underground newspapers.

As for work..... there was plenty of work. The unemployment number was low. But if it looked like a person was going to get drafted, the chances of getting a good job was dim if not impossible.

Drugs were prevalent but compared to today's standards, they were not very strong.

In my school, more women would go to Vietnam then men. I always thought that was an oddity.

the sentence "children forced under desk" hit a strange nerve. I know it was for a bomb drills. But the way it sounds I must have had a horrible childhood, I was forced to go in the bathrooms at school for tornado drills. They should have let kids run around outside during a tornado because they want to. Sorry all I been hearing is people getting "forced" to do things to be safe. Like it's horrible punishment. I can't even ask my wife to talk to her 21 year old daughter about parking normal in the driveway because she doesn't want to "force" her not to park like a moron. We have to share a driveway with our downstairs neighbor. In the winter is a real pain for parking because we can't park on the street. Winter parking ban forces us all to park in the driveway. My step daughter doesn't grasp the idea that our neighbors have to get out of the driveway early in the morning without moving around other vehicles to get out. She parks in a dumb spot every other week. Neighbors talked to me about it, I mentioned it to my wife to talk to her daughter. She did but now it's worse. I explained how the car should be parked so everyone is happy. But my wife won't say anything more to her daughter because that would be forcing her to park a certain way. So now we're in 2 generations deep in the U.S. with people not being "forced" to do anything. When something important needs to be done people freak out because there being "forced"

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by hallow

the sentence "children forced under desk" hit a strange nerve. I know it was for a bomb drills. But the way it sounds I must have had a horrible childhood, I was forced to go in the bathrooms at school for tornado drills. They should have let kids run around outside during a tornado because they want to. Sorry all I been hearing is people getting "forced" to do things to be safe. Like it's horrible punishment. I can't even ask my wife to talk to her 21 year old daughter about parking normal in the driveway because she doesn't want to "force" her not to park like a moron.
Bet in the 60s pushing the idea to do something intelligent wasn't considerd being forced.

In the 60's, telling a child to get under the desk, had almost no meaning to a child. The children, had no real comprehension of what an Atomic Bomb was.

During that time period, communities had Civil Defense Centers. In my area, the only person who knew where it was, was the Principal. It was located in the basement of our school. The Principal was the one with the key. Sure it had supplies and food, but nobody was trained in how to use it. What good was a Geiger counter if you did not know what you do with it. The place had crackers, but they had to be all thrown out because they became rancid.

..Hallow... I know how much you love your cars. So a little bit about cars in the 60's UK . For me, the most "iconic" car of the UK , full stop, has GOT to be the Mini Cooper. Even now, to see images of them at their best, speaks volumes...... A few to look up that were popular are the : vauxhall viva... Hillman hunter... ford Corsair... Hillman imp..... To name a few. But the 2 best selling cars of the Whole Decade , were the Ford Cortina and the BMC 1100/1300..... Both of which were introduced in 1962, and obviously very popular for the whole of the 60's.

[hallow]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

The 60's were a time of 'innocence''.

The President got assassinated and even today, there is no agreement as to who did it. The District Attorney where that President got killed went on and became famous for his role in a famous Supreme Court case. Odd, his last name is a household name but most people can not 'really' identify him.

During that time period, children were forced to crawl under their desk for fear of the A-bomb. Later, authorities realized standing out in the hallway with their head between their legs was a better way 'of going'.

Relief came when Captain Kirk made the scene.
People became indoctrinated in computers as they watched the LEDS flash on and off the computer on the USS Enterprise 1701.

The walking on the Moon was a major highlight of the 60's.
But the Vietnam War raged onward. One child, after getting out of 11th grade, was ordered to go and take a pre-induction military physical. Boys did not know what to do as regards to the war. There was nobody 'there' to give them advice.

At my school, my class got to go to Washington DC only to see one peaceful group protesting around the Lincoln Memorial. I did not take too much note of those people because I wanted to run to the top of the tower non-stop which I did. The next day, I got to see those 'people' on the news. Being they were not allowed a protest march permit, they decided to march any ways. On the TV, they showed, in color, what happened to them as they were tear gassed and beaten 'to a pulp'.

While at Washington D.C., I was amazed of all of the underground newspapers.

As for work..... there was plenty of work. The unemployment number was low. But if it looked like a person was going to get drafted, the chances of getting a good job was dim if not impossible.

Drugs were prevalent but compared to today's standards, they were not very strong.

In my school, more women would go to Vietnam then men. I always thought that was an oddity.

sorry for my rant earlier. It's is strange how more women went to Vietnam in your area. Do you know why? Wow, times really changed. You see protest all the time now. As for the draft that was being forced. That had to be scary to go. Luckily we have that choice now. That's another thing that gets me. People going on about being forced, and not having choices. We have a lot more choices then we ever had in this country. Just think back to when you were young.

[hallow]

Originally Posted by Elfin

..Hallow... I know how much you love your cars. So a little bit about cars in the 60's UK . For me, the most "iconic" car of the UK , full stop, has GOT to be the Mini Cooper. Even now, to see images of them at their best, speaks volumes...... A few to look up that were popular are the : vauxhall viva... Hillman hunter... ford Corsair... Hillman imp..... To name a few. But the 2 best selling cars of the Whole Decade , were the Ford Cortina and the BMC 1100/1300..... Both of which were introduced in 1962, and obviously very popular for the whole of the 60's.

an old mini cooper would be a great car to have driven! My father had a really cool I wish I could drive. He used to have a 1970 GTO "judge" I only saw in pictures. He said that was the fastest car he ever owned. And he had a lot of fast muscle cars of the day. He has a picture of the car with my brothers standing next to it. Before I was born. He would always talk highly of that car. I asked him why he sold it. He turned his head said "I don't know" and walked away. Today a 1970 GTO judge is one of the most valuable muscle cars from that time. He never said anything but maybe with an extra mouth to feed he had to sell it. This is what the car looked like.

Originally Posted by hallow

an old mini cooper would be a great car to have driven! My father had a really cool I wish I could drive. He used to have a 1970 GTO "judge" I only saw in pictures. He said that was the fastest car he ever owned. And he had a lot of fast muscle cars of the day. He has a picture of the car with my brothers standing next to it. Before I was born. He would always talk highly of that car. I asked him why he sold it. He turned his head said "I don't know" and walked away. Today a 1970 GTO judge is one of the most valuable muscle cars from that time. He never said anything but maybe with an extra mouth to feed he had to sell it.

Oh boy.... And don't I just know it..... My husband had a beautiful treasured racing green and chrome very valuable original mini cooper. Then he met me. It was not a practical "family" car, and so, unbeknown to me, he went out one day and traded it for a bog standard rover "landcrab" as he used to call it. He had photos taken by the "dealer"of him laid across the bonnet cuddling it in tears. There was one of him kissing it!!!!..... It was a Massive sacrifice.... I honestly DO believe men love their motors more than they love women... (Motors don't talk back !!)

Originally Posted by hallow

an old mini cooper would be a great car to have driven! My father had a really cool I wish I could drive. He used to have a 1970 GTO "judge" I only saw in pictures. He said that was the fastest car he ever owned. And he had a lot of fast muscle cars of the day. He has a picture of the car with my brothers standing next to it. Before I was born. He would always talk highly of that car. I asked him why he sold it. He turned his head said "I don't know" and walked away. Today a 1970 GTO judge is one of the most valuable muscle cars from that time. He never said anything but maybe with an extra mouth to feed he had to sell it. This is what the car looked like.

Wow.... ( Blew it up as you taught me !!)..... Reminds me of Ford Capri ....