Happy Days
Sometimes, reminiscing about past decades feels like thinking about a completely different world. This is not only true of centuries ago, but even remembering just a few decades ago. In our modern world, life changes very quickly, making common aspects of life outdated before you can even look back. Luckily, many people living today still have a strong memory of their childhoods, allowing the younger generation to share in their nostalgia.
Many differences between the 1960s and today seem absolutely absurd to kids today, from social norms, to the price of common household items. Though it was only a few decades ago, the life we live today is worlds away from the time of hippies, rock & roll, and war protests. However, there are also some aspects that todays youth can still relate to. Here are some of the best accounts of what it was like to grow up in the 1960s.
Before Helicopter Parenting
I was born in ’61. The music was fantastic, as were clothes and movies. The TV was very popular, and there were a lot of good shows. Everyone watched the six pm news every day. Businesses were not open on Sundays, as it was considered a day of rest. Both my brothers were drafted, as neither of them wanted to go to college.
You could still get very good jobs back then without a college education (my brothers were born in ’45 and ’46). Cars were very big; compacts didn’t become popular until the 70s. Kids would go outside and run around anywhere they wanted to play, and no one worried. Most of the time, my mother didn’t even lock the back door at night. And yes, everyone smoked cigarettes. Reddit User: Giraffekickball
Music Before Spotify
Kids had a lot more freedom to roam on their own back then. I really came of age in the 1970s, but my experience wasn’t all that different from my older brothers. We hung out with our friends, played games amongst ourselves with friends after school, and generally could spend time on our own without our parents watching over us.
It seems to me that sports participation was largely limited to Little League for boys, and a town softball league for girls. Maybe there was CYO basketball too, but there weren’t the ridiculous amount of choices for sports and travel teams that you see today. We had a much less scheduled life, and so long as we were home for dinner, our parents didn’t give too much worry as to where we were. Reddit user: bicyclemom
Sneaking Around The Movie Theater
The other big thing was that there was no internet, no computers, no cellphones, and no cable TV. You got your TV over the air; the radio was mostly AM. If you were lucky enough to have an FM radio, it felt like you had joined the secret club of excellent music and beautiful reception. FM radios back then still drifted a bit, so you had to retune into the station a few times a day.
When you wanted to buy the music, you went out to an actual record store, and flipped through album after album. They all had awesome art on the outside and a vinyl record on the inside. And after you bought it, you hoped that when you got it home and put it on the record player, the record wasn’t warped. Reddit user: Getoffmylawn
Litter Bugs
Yes, you could go in during the middle of the movie. But it wasn’t actually done very often, simply because the movie was more interesting when you actually start from the beginning. There was also a fairly long gap between the end of the movie and the start of the next showing, which would be filled with some pretty sweet cartoons and newsreels.
As far as watching multiple movies in a row, theaters didn’t play multiple movies at the same time, but you could stay and watch the same movie again. Theaters, in general, featured one screen and one movie at a time. Multiplex movie houses with a lot of different movies playing on multiple screens didn’t really exist at the time. Reddit user: Hanginon
Corporal Punishment
There was a ton of careless litter when I was a kid (there’s still an embarrassing amount now). It bugged the heck out of my dad, a quiet man who would be considered corny today for his stoic, Boy Scout values. He wasn’t a dork, but he would stop his truck and get out to stand respectfully with his hat in hand when a funeral procession went by. He was just that kind of guy.
We were always policing campsites, parks, and picnic tables. Back then, there were tons of cigarette butts in public places, along with pull tabs, bottle caps, and broken glass. I don’t think people were malicious litterers back then, they just didn’t know better and were entrenched in the entitlement of open spaces. Reddit user: lgodsey
Social Life
You might think that this account of 1966 is a joke, but it’s true. We had corporal punishment (the strap) in school. I was playing in the playground in grade 4, and the principal walked up to me and said, put out your hand. So I did, then he strapped it and said, “Don’t do that again!” To this day, I don’t know why I got the strap.
The attitude was very much “spare the rod and spoil the child.” My mother slapped me until I was bigger than her, as could I grab her hand to stop her. My sister said I looked like I was going to kill her. I was 15 at the time. She never touched me again. I’ve never hit my wife or daughter. Reddit user: blanchae
Planning In The Time Of Rotary Phones
I grew up in the early 60s. There was no internet, no mobile phones (limited phones at all, really), limited TV, and primarily valve radios. The only way to really meet people and have a social life was to get out there and socialize. There may have been clubs in the big cities, but not in the provincial towns where I lived.
The main meeting place for teenagers was coffee bars. Money was not as plentiful as it is today, but there were fewer expectations, and less to spend it on. When I was young, school finished at the age of 15. If you were bright enough (a smaller percentage than today), you went on to college. Otherwise, you found a job. Reddit user: lawnswood
Rebellion Through Frisbees
My kids ask me all the time what it was like to be a teenager in the 70s, and I tell them it was a lot like today, minus all the electronics and technological advances, and things were much cheaper. If you wanted to do something with your friends, it sometimes took multiple rounds of phone calls to get the logistics worked out.
You always took a dime with you to make a call from a payphone in an emergency. If you wanted to know what time the movie was playing, you looked in the paper. You could fill your gas tank for five dollars. A pack of smokes was 50 cents. In college, 25 cent draft nights at the bars were routine. Reddit user: freyaschariot
A Smaller World
The 60s were quite different than how things are today, and the attitude towards authority was unquestionable. What fueled the 60s and counter-revolution was education. Most parents had a high school education or less, and did what they were told unquestioningly. Their children were going to college and university. I was the first in my family to graduate from college.
I learned a lot about the world, and one of the side effects of post-secondary education was to question why things were the way they were. In parks, you were not allowed to play or walk on the grass. We asked, “Why do we have parks if we can’t use them?” The frisbee was a form of protesting because we played frisbee on the grass. Reddit user: blanchae
Fear Of The Apocalypse
Back then, the world felt very tight and local. I would walk two blocks to see a friend. It would be just the two of us contemplating love and life, without checking our phones. Together, we would walk four blocks and grab another friend. On the way, we would meet other friends and foes alike.
We’d savor the smells coming from the kitchen when we met our buddies, who were Armenian, Polish, German, Irish, Italian, or Puerto Rican, and the food smelled amazing. And yeah, we’d just knock on the doors (or just walk in) without texting first, and try to sneak a taste of the food. Their moms would scream and hit us with a spoon. Reddit user: srone
How Arguments Were Won
I remember how a teacher showed a docu-drama called The War Game. The whole class was terrified. In West Germany, the interval between warning and the first rockets hitting was only a couple of minutes. My plan for this event was to climb to the top of the roof and get killed instantly by the heat wave, and avoid the horrible fate of the survivors.
Apart from the cold war tensions, we were aware that an accidental nuclear war was possible. We didn’t know how close we were to such a disaster. When we had to write something in the lines of “what will life look like in the year 2000,” we started like: “if mankind doesn’t annihilate itself…” Now just look at us. Reddit user: piper11
Being A Kid In The Big Apple
There was a lot more ignorance back then. No one could just look it up on their phone on the spot. Lots of general talks included two people arguing about something that could be looked up and decided, but since the library was too far away, they just kept arguing away at it. It led to people “winning” arguments through persistence and stubbornness, rather than knowledge.
The number of people who thought their racist, misogynist, and nationalist attitude was right because they always “win” the argument was much higher than today. It’s hard to argue that black people have black blood when someone can look it up on the spot and prove you immediately. Yes, I heard someone argue that in grade school. Reddit user: [Redacted]
The Beginnings Of Fast Food
It was a completely different way of life for kids, especially kids who grew up in the inner city. On my block in New York City, it was definitely like a little village where everyone knew each other, and neighbors actually scolded you or ratted you out to your parents if they saw you doing something you weren’t supposed to.
During the summer, you were out of the house from 11 in the morning till 11 at night, spending the entire time playing–riding your bike, roller skating, jump roping, playing tag, or almost anything else. There were no drive-bys, no stray bullets, or any of that. It was completely safe. Kids standing on the corner drinking 40s? That was unheard of. And kids staying inside during the Summer was also unheard of. Reddit user: [Redacted]
State-Of-The-Art Tech
Fast food restaurants were just starting to appear. In the 60s, in Montreal, there was one A&W restaurant that was a drive-in. We would go there for a special occasion. You parked your car, and when you were ready to order, you would turn on your headlights. The waitress would come to your car and take your order.
I remember when McDonald’s came. It was a big deal. They had a section for children with a big boat and train seats to sit in. We were in college, and we would sit there. I didn’t hear about tacos until the 80s. Kiwi fruit was brand new, and pistachios were dyed red because the natural color green was considered to be rotten food. Reddit user: blanchae
Life Without Distraction
In the 60s, the big technology was electronics. Every magazine had ads for correspondence schools to learn electronics. You would receive course material by mail, then study, do the homework, and mail your assignments back. You’d then wait a couple of weeks to find out how you did. Things were a lot slower back then.
All the radios, stereos, and televisions were driven by tubes that had to warm up before you could operate them. Transistors worked instantly, and were about a tenth the size, if not smaller. I remember sneaking in a small AM transistor radio about the size of half a cigarette pack into high school. I’d sit in the back of the class and fold my leg. Reddit user: blanache
Fortunate Son Intensifies
I was born all the way back in 1960. I much preferred growing up in the 1960s to growing up in the modern day. There were fewer distractions. Things were much more carefree. We didn’t care about how the economy was doing, or who the president was at the moment. The war in Vietnam was what took up the most attention for us.
After school, we went outside. We’d ride our bikes everywhere. We’d also play outside until dinner was ready. If you were thirsty, you drank water straight out of the water hose. There weren’t all that many fast food places. It was a big deal when McDonalds came to town. We didn’t own a microwave oven until I was a junior in high school. Reddit user: BikeRidinMan
Stereos
The Vietnam War changed America for better and for worse. The older generation was so set on fighting communism, and they thought it was about that, though it wasn’t. My generation knew this war was not worth fighting and dying for. When I turned 18, my high school counselor called me to his office, and signed me up with the draft board.
From then on, I could be drafted into the Army and forced to fight in Vietnam, or put in prison if I refused. I had two friends who fled to Canada to avoid being drafted. That was a bad change in America. The good part was that we learned to question the government about everything, whereas past generations thought the government always knew best. Reddit user: newwoldwave
Gaming Before Computers
To add one thing to what people have said, one of your most important possessions, in that era, if you could afford it, was a good stereo system. Records were everything, and you needed a quality rig to play them. On the low end, you had all-in-one units with detachable stereo speakers. The KLH portable stereo was the class act at this level.
On top of what you’d buy initially, you could buy various components: a turn-table, an amplifier, and speakers, and you’d spend a lot of time researching and planning what exactly to buy to add to your speaker set. Your parents would most likely have a big furniture-sized stereo at home with everything built-in, including a radio, which was awesome. Reddit user: wandertheearth
How Parents Saw Things
I was 11 in 1967. My parents, six aunts, and uncles were very close and they were all gamers. Me and my cousins–one, a year older and the other, a year younger–were pretty much on our own on Friday and Saturday nights while the adults played and drank. They played cards of all kinds: crazy eights, hearts, some poker, etc.
They also played board games like Monopoly, and the like. The room was always full of smoke and laughter. I used to love watching them play and get loose from alcohol, but my cousins and I had our own stuff going on too. The times were relaxed, and we could stay out late into the night, or camp out if we wanted. Reddit user: IAMAHORSSIZEDUCK
Live Music
First, you realized your parents weren’t infallible, and that they were part of the mainstream. They didn’t like a change of any kind and were critical of anything new, music especially. I think they had their settled kind of life, and the degree of change was scary in some respects.
Plus, the cold war was still going on, so there was also the fear of nuclear war and communism. Considering that they grew up during the Great Depression and WWII, they wanted some calm, boring times to live in. Stability was the name of the game for them. Leading a calm and comfortable life was important. Reddit user: Getoffmylawn_
The Range Of Artists
I was a college student but would have been considered a hippie by society. Yes, I knew many hippies. They would come through from New York and San Francisco. It was a much more idealistic time. I don’t know how hippies were viewed by society initially, but the movement was co-opted by a popular culture very quickly, and that’s what killed it.
I was incredibly lucky to see the Rolling Stones, Santana, Van Morrison, the Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and many others in concert. And I can’t forget the excitement of rushing home from the record store with a copy of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and playing it with my friends for the very first time. Reddit user: wanderthearth
Choir Music
Started out with the Beach Boys, then The Byrds, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Humble Pie, Grateful Dead, The Who, Lee Michaels, BB King, Otis Redding, CSNY, Percy Sledge, Yardbirds, John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jefferson Airplane, Clapton and his buddies, Hendrix, Janis Joplin (and Big Brother), and Dave Mason. I believe many were a lot more popular and more talented than some of the “artists” of today.
People were pretty cohesive back then, with the Vietnam War pulling people together on one side or the other. They weren’t solitary, like many are today with phone poking as the primary outlet. My parents tolerated my music. My father bought the house’s stereo to begin with, and blasted Ravel’s Bolero and West Side Story. That gave me a “license” to crank it up. Reddit user: catdude142
Music On The TV
We sang along. I recall a childhood of music. Not particularly well-done, mind you, but happy music. We sang in church, and we sang in school. The music teacher would come twice a week and we mostly just sang popular songs, like Bridge Over Troubled Water, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My head, Blowin’ in the Wind, Proud Mary, and so many more.
As an adult, I realized that I was in grade school during the Vietnam war, and, being in a working-class community, probably many of my teachers were anti-war, including my music teacher, Miss Lynn. She had the bouffant hairdo and spectator pumps. We sang so many different protest songs. I was in the choir from third grade on. Reddit user: lordperiwinkle
Summertime Living
There weren’t many other music sources in my area, unless you bought the record and played it at home. Television had the Ed Sullivan Show and American Bandstand, but that was weekly. I remember watching Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and The Rolling Stones on Ed Sullivan. I didn’t care for American Bandstand, because no one where I lived danced that way.
When the late 1960s came around, the music really changed from what it was at the start of the decade. I was living in another country and missed a lot of it. When I returned to America, the music had changed yet again. I never stopped liking The Beatles, and I still listen to their music a lot to this day. Reddit user: goliad67
Exploring On Vacation
We never stayed indoors on a good day in front of a TV set. In fact, my mom would say, “It’s a nice day outside. You should go out and play.” The rule was that we needed to be home by dinner time. If I was late, I’d hear my mother whistling for me and calling me to come home.
During the day, we had a pretty large perimeter, which was typically a couple of miles from home to play around in. I was required to tell my mom where I’d be in case she had to come looking for me for one reason or another. We’d have to make sure to come home around dinner time. Reddit user: catdude142
College Life In The 70s
By midsummer, the soles of our bare feet were calloused, impervious to sticker burrs and hot asphalt, stained with mustang grapes and the wild dewberries the we would collect and bring to our moms to make cobblers and tarts. We’d ride our bikes for miles and miles–our whereabouts unknown to any adults–doing stupid stuff that was important to us at the time.
We’d have dirt fights across the creek, we’d fish for perch with raw bacon as bait for our cane poles, we’d check out the abandoned house in the woods that had a stash of things we wouldn’t dare tell our parents about, and we’d try to build ramps for our bikes that never really did work. Reddit user: lgodsey
The Benefit Of Older Brothers
For me, it was a happy time. I had just started college. I hung out with my friends a lot, went to the beach, backpacked, went boating and water skiing, had several really good part-time jobs in my field (electronics), and met my first girlfriend. Some of my friends finally moved out and got houses on their own, and we hung out with them.
The infamous Cheech and Chong movies were big back then, so you can guess what else was pretty hip too. Drive-in movies were big in Southern California. We’d load up my friend’s van full of our friends, park in the back, and open the double doors. Sometimes, we’d even bring folding chairs to sit outside and enjoy the film. Reddit user: catdude142
Living In San Francisco
I was very glad I had older brothers when I was growing up in the 60s. One of them came to my high school during my first week, and told all the guys to keep their hands off of me, or they’d answer to him. He never told me, and I wouldn’t have known, but one guy clued me in.
Boys would come to talk with me until they found out my name, and then they would make an excuse and walk away. There was one guy who was obviously about to leave when he heard my name, so I asked him why he was leaving. He told me my big brother had told the boys to leave me alone. Reddit user: craftasauraus
70s Fashion
I paid $75 per month for rent in a vintage studio on the second floor, just outside the Tenderloin District. It had the most wonderful claw foot tub that I could float in, big arched windows, and a steam radiator that banged and hissed when they turned the boiler on at six am. From ten at night until six in the morning, there was no heat provided.
We had an outside fire escape, and we’d sit out there and watch all the limos pull up to a very popular Polynesian restaurant for the real hoity-toity types that had their entrance in our alley. We’d drink sangria, eat peanuts and pistachios, and throw the shells out at all the snobby folks coming and going. Reddit user: [Redacted]
That 70s Show
In the early 70s, I wore blue jeans with the seams cut open on purpose, so I could insert different material and make the bottoms bigger. We also embroidered jeans. I had an old army jacket and a stained fedora, along with shoes that were called waffle stompers. Also, we got dresses so short they were called Sizzlers, and they had matching undies.
I did have one dress I wore to work that I loved. It was scarlet, and it had a turtleneck, long sleeves and a very full swinging skirt. I had a black leather belt, and black high heels that I wore with it, and that dress got me a lot of hoots and whistles. It didn’t show an inch of skin. Reddit user: [Redacted]
Rock Legends
My mom made me get a perm in 1976 (I’m a guy). I wore my brother’s hand-me-downs: bell bottoms, corduroy pants, a lot of browns and tans. Everyone had huge collars. I always wore Chucks–there was no Nike or Adidas back then. Chucks were like eight dollars a pair, and only came in black. If I didn’t wear chucks, I wore wing-tips.
There were three channels on TV, and no electronics of any sort. Disco came and went. It was like That 70’s Show. That show did a good job capturing the essence of the 70s. Punk was also fun. Now it’s a corporate thing. You used to be able to afford to go see concerts. I saw Deep Purple for $4.50. It was my first concert. Reddit user: peewinkle
Communication Back In The Day
My sister didn’t spend a lot of time at home–she was into the heartthrobs of the time. My oldest brother listened to Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, Moody Blues, Leonard Cohen, and the like. I’d say Simin and Garfunkel was my favorite. My husband was a Leonard Cohen fan so we went to a number of his concerts.
Personally, I absolutely loved Motown music. For some reason or another, we were able to get a Motown station up at our cottage in Canada during the summertime. At the time, rock was only available on AM radio stations. FM was all classical music. I was really pretty upset when I couldn’t find that Motown station anymore. Reddit user: Implodemode
How Girls Used The Phone
The radio and newspapers were the primary news outlets for the 1960s. Television grew in importance all through the 1960s. If someone really had to send a message but did not have telephone access, the way to do it was still via telegram. My family found out about relatives killed in Korea and Africa via telegram.
As a kid, I always thought the arrival of a telegram was automatically bad news for some reason. I also remember that kids, teens, and adults all had various hobbies. Working on cars, ham radios, building model boats, or building model airplanes filled a lot of the free time that the internet and video games fill up now. Reddit user: HypergolicHyperbola
Mail Before Email
As a girl, I talked on the phone constantly. Whenever it rang, my sisters and I would all run for it, yelling “It’s for me!” I have no idea what my girlfriends and I talked about for all those hours when we were growing up. Long-distance phone calls weren’t allowed, except by adults, because they were too expensive back then.
Phone calls were a lot cheaper in the evening time, so mom would call all of her relatives after dinner was made. She didn’t call them all that often. My mom had the radio on all day any time she was at home. She listened to the local radio station. The TV wasn’t turned on until the evening news came on. Reddit user: prunepicker
After School Time
I was too young to speak much of life in the 50s, but in the 60s, we had party lines on our phone. Sometimes, the ring pattern of the phone let you know who’s house it was from. We were eager for mail to come. My siblings and I would raced to the mailbox when we expected letters.
In the growing season, we knew which yard had great cherries, raspberries, or apples, so we didn’t go home to snack. We had hobbies–girls made doll clothes, while boys built models. Plus, chemistry sets were a real thing. We also played board games and listened to comedy records if the weather was bad. The TV wasn’t turned on until evening. Reddit user: hipmommie
School Lunches
Well, life, in general, was quite different and much simpler. As kids, we played outside every chance we got. Days when there was no school could get a little boring. We played games and read books and comic books. For media, there were records and the radio. The TV was limited to a few shows, and there just wasn’t that much on.
As older kids, the issuing of a new record was a really big deal. You’d keep the radio on in hopes that the new hit song would come on. You read the newspaper for the comics. There was a sense of a neighborhood. Kids in a neighborhood all knew each other and played together, and the parents knew all the kids. Reddit user: wandertheearth
The Day Kennedy Died
I was born in 1960. My teachers were all born before 1910, and some were born even earlier. They were all female, and did not wear pants. As little girls, we were not allowed to wear pants to school either, no matter how cold the weather was. Lunchtime was absolutely wonderful.
The lunch ladies cooked everything from scratch. The ingredients were from USDA agricultural subsidies, unlike today when the cheapest corporate entity gets the contract for a school district. Lunch was filling and nutritious, despite lacking fresh fruits and veggies, and we always had dessert. Often, it would be jello with whipped cream, but we got cookies and cakes as well. Reddit user: CannyAnnie
Vietnam And The Future
There was a lot of Cold War anxiety and, of course, protesting the Vietnam War, which we watched on the news at night. There was still a lot of 50s influence of car culture, going to the hamburger joint, meeting your friends there, drive-in movies, and cramming kids into the trunk to sneak in. There was all the same angst of dating, although without social media drama.
There was so much freedom for kids–you could get on your bike and go anywhere in the woods, building forts, and stay out on warm summer nights in the neighborhood. President Kennedy’s death marked the beginning of the end of the era. In high school, it was announced by teachers in class. Everyone just walked out, wandered around campus, and went home. It was surreal. Reddit user: mtntrail
The Vietnam War was a whole other level of fighting within families. The draft itself affected so many families, but the anti-war protests were a subject of deep divisions. As a high school student then, we did many sit-ins and class walk-outs to protest the war. But we were also aware that many adults and government officials considered us traitors….
If social media had been around, half the country would have been unemployable due to these protests. Don’t forget, even with all the upheaval, it took ten years to get us out of that war. When people talk about the baby boomers being the “we got ours” generation, they don’t consider that there were some hard-fought benefits to current generations. Reddit user: DidjaNoit