[treeswarper]

Not 50s, but 1960s in the Puritan settlement of East Wenatchee. We dared to go trick or treating on a Sunday night, because that was Halloween. There was much debate about whether that was acceptable in the Wenatchee area. One neighbor was angry, told us we were going to hell, and then, gave us full size Hershey bars which made the threat of going to hell worthwhile.

[CC]

I was born in 1941 and grew up in rural PA. It was quite idyllic. In my grade school (enrollment about 50) two kids got polio and one ended up in an iron lung. One kid died of a brain tumor which probably would be treatable today. One kid got a severe concussion from falling off his bike (no wussie helmets then) and had some permanent damage. One kid had eye problems from complications from measles. One kid's older brother died in a fire (no smoke alarms then). My uncle died at age 29 from an illness which is curable nowadays. In high school (enrollment about 150) two kids, one of them a grade school classmate, were killed in traffic accidents which nowadays, with seatbelts and airbags, would have only resulted in minor injuries. Two kids, including one of my best friends, were injured in similar accidents so severely that they missed a year of school (no home tutoring back then). Child abuse and spousal abuse were common and basically tolerated (“not our business”). We all worked in the summer (I started at age 10), including most of the girls. Not a lot of lazy summer days for us. About half the boys dropped out of school before graduating. Police response was hours, there were no ambulances, and the volunteer fire company always saved the foundation. Oh yeah, and them evil Ruuskies were fixing to nuke us. I sure do miss those idyllic 50s.

[Stefan]

So....were there gates on logging roads in the 50's ? I know there was not Highway 20!...but a gravel road...for part of the way....

[Schroder]

[Token Civilian]

Things were different in the 50's..... Yep....we were blowing up whole islands in the Pacific and showering the world in fallout. Oh how I wish we could go back to the 50's....just like Happy Days.

[Ski]

[Bedivere]

Heck, as recently as the '70s I remember my dad dumping the used oil on the ground out next to the garage. It just soaked in and disappeared...

[HitTheTrail]

You also got drafted.

[Backpacker Joe]

My parents were in their 40's when I was born. They told me stories of the 50's and early 60's and their lifestyles. I WOULD GIVE ANYTHING TO LIVE THAT LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant begin to tell you how much better it sounded! Did they make a lot of money? No they did not, but things weren't expensive. They had grade school educations and they owned a home, two cars, a boat an airplane and they raised two kids just fine! I would give anything to go back there. No damn cell phone! No damn internet. No damn 1000 television channels! NO DAMN COMPUTER GAMES! Im not the smartest man, but Im not stupid. That life sounds INFINITELY better than ours today!

[Riverside Laker]

There was no NWhikers. Turbo bummer.

[trestle]

[treeswarper]

In the 60s, if you were a girl, you had to wear a dress to school. That meant during the winter, when there was snow on the ground and temps did not get above freezing, you had to wear a dress. Long dresses were unheard of. The most we could do was to wear leotards, which were made of thinnish sock material. The girls who came from really poor families still had bare legs. We still went outdoors everyday for recess...and people think I'm crazy now when I wear shorts if the temps are 50 or above. Later, in Junior High, we girls HAD to take home ec. Boys HAD to take shop classes. We were told to act like ladies, and one PE teacher made us walk around the gym for at least one whole session to practice walking "like ladies". Luckily for me, I was young enough so the switch from playing basketball with girl's rules to boy's rules was made after 7th grade. I can't remember much about the girl's game except you were not supposed to run very much. If you were a girl, and you aspired to be something other than a good wife and mother--good luck. You would be steered towards being a secretary, a nurse, or a teacher. Thank goodness for that much feared Women's Lib movement. And finally, when I was in the 9th grade, we could wear pants to school or long dresses. I love seeing my little friends aspiring to be engineers, or doctors, or scientists, while still pretending to be princesses. It is much better for girls now.

[Ski]

[Ski]

[mike]

In the '50's boys aspired to be president while girls could be Miss America. Whereas now....er...ah...check with me next week about that.