Do you like "old" things?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Hmmm … interesting.
Some numbers about London’s population:
1801 — 959,300 (at the time, Europe’s largest city)
1831 — 1,655,000 (most populous city in the world)
1851 — 2,363,000
1891 — 5,572,012
1901 — 6,506,954
1911 — 7,160,525
1921 — 7,386,848 (soon to be overtaken by New York City as most populous city in the world)
1931 — 8,110,480
1939 — 8,615,245 (population peak)
1951 — 8,196,978
1961 — 7,992,616
1971 — 7,452,520
1981 — 6,805,000
1991 — 6,829,300
2001 — 7,172,091
2003 — 7,387,900

With London’s population peaking in 1939 (and assuming that most homes built in the 19th century are still standing), it makes sense that many (most?) homes in London are more than 100 years old. (I’m assuming that “Underneath London” means that you live in London.)

But, I think it’s obvious that most of the world’s homes were built in the past 100 years, given the increase in the world’s population (and the fact that some homes have been torn down.)

Sorry for what appears to be a hijack of my own thread, but I’m trying to understand why someone would like old things, given that I do not. I get it that’s it’s a personal preference or taste, but it seems to be different from saying that I like cherries but you prefer strawberries. There seems to be some connection with a sense of history, but I’m still not clear what it is. Also, there’s a connection with old-time craftmanship, which I get, sort of.

FWIW, my father was born in a house that was built about 500 years ago, but the house is now empty. In fact, the entire old area of the town has been abandoned and new homes were built after WWII. (BTW, the old family home was one of the ugliest houses I’ve ever seen, even taking into account that it was abandoned. It’s still standing, though …)

Anyway, it’s obvious that many posters like old things. I’m surprised, though, that there haven’t been more (any?) comments from posters who don’t like old things.

22

My Truck was built in 1965.

I use a rotary dial phone at home.

The duplex that I live in was built in 1960. (1 1/2 inch plywood subfloor?!?)

The fixture over my kitchen sink has a UL label from 1940.

I installed my Grandparent’s old dining room fixture over my kitchen table. It’s name is the Jupiter II.

I’m currently reading Practical Bait Casting, published in 1933.

I have a tilt-top table that my Grandfather made when he was in high school.

Remember those pictures that showed a bunch of dogs doing stuff like watching a baseball game, or playing pool? Got two hanging up in my front room.

I use a Billy Baroo putter when I play golf (leather grip, hickory shaft, brass head).

So I’d have to say yes.

23

Hi! Being somewhat of a stereo buff, I was wondering if you could please describe your system. Do you have two mono preamps and two power amps? If you have time to read this Wiki article, it explains how the first stereo demonstration record was issued in November 1957, and the first multiplex stereo FM tuner was manufactured in 1961, when stereo broadcasts began in June of that year. In 1952, Emory Cook made binaural records playable on a phono with a forked tonearm, each playing one of two cuts on an LP side. Stereo open reel, pre-recorded tapes were introduced by RCA in 1954. So I would be very, very interested to learn what kind of equipment you use to listen to stereophonic sound that was built in 1951.

24

We’ve a few old things in our home, most of which are family related (hers, rather than mine).

Our Edison Diamond Disk Phonograph is one of our favorites. (That site is exactly what we have, but not our site).

It’s always a kick when folks visit and we show them the wind up record player! :smiley: (Our friends are old enough to remember record players, but this one is special)

25

Maybe he meant stereo system in the generic sense? :smiley:

I like old boats, old planes and old motorcycles. Especially the latter!

26

Yes, I live in London though I work underneath it.

Some very interesting data there, thanks for taking the time to dig that out.

I’m often curious about the way Americans seem to go crazy for ‘old’ things which in my culture are not considered old at all. My flat being about 100 years old is a case in point. According to some of the posts on this thread the age makes it desireable. Here, it’s just another flat. Somebody posted about living in 1930s housing - here, that’s considered modern in the sense of not being all that old. (I should also add that there’s a certain justifiable snobbery regarding new homes which dated from the 70s/80s when appalling matchboxes were thrown up in their thousands).

Now what puzzles me is that the Americas were hardly unpopulated 100+ years ago. So what has happened to all the origiinal housing that a relatively new building should be considered old? Is there a culture there of ripping down/abandoning housing estates once they get to a certain age and building anew? Actually I could see that happen given the large amounts of available space there but I find it hard to believe that there are few buildings considered to be genuinely old.

(FWIW I also don’t get the whole idea of wearing old clothes which once belonged to a family member. This also seems popular with an element of some cultures but to me it seems alien. Sure, hang on to stuff that is genuinely good quality or unique but what’s the point of wearing Grandpa’s icky old boots from fifty years ago?).

27

Houses – Having been raised in a 1980s American split-level, I like old houses. I think they have more character. This mystifies my parents who grew up in the type of mid-century bungalow I now so admire. I don’t live in one though, more’s the pity; my house was built in 1991.

Furniture – I like antique furniture not for its own sake but as part of a decorating scheme. I’ve never had much use for antiques in my home, which is too new for really old furniture. That said, I like the style of classic furnishings better than modern furnishings. Craftsman has pretty well been done to death, but I still prefer it to chrome and molded plastic. Also going into the equation: I don’t like having “heirloom” pieces, to be honest. I have good quality furnishings but I don’t like being emotionally invested in “stuff” that I feel some obligation to haul around or that I would be just sick over if it got lost or broken.

Clothes – Not just no, but hell no. The idea of wearing a stranger’s clothing icks me out. But the funky mix’n’match of second-hand isn’t my style anyway, so it’s not an issue.

28

I collect Gibeon meteorite fragments. The fall is prehistoric and the meteorite itself is about 4 billion years old.

Old house? Check. Our place was made in the early 1960’s (if you can believe that!) :slight_smile:
I’m not sure I’d want a 100+ year old house, but I’d take a 50 year old car.

I guess I like to collect old things, but I’d rather use new things.

29

I like older homes and furniture. Older stuff seems more sturdy, ornate, unique, and has more character. Newer stuff seems cheap, plain, and boring.

I told my father I preferred older homes. My current home was built in 1947, but I would love an old Victorian. My father, who was a teenager at the time my house was built, seemed shocked that someone would prefer something older to something modern.

Some people must prefer newer because so many people are buying McMansions. I assume they prefer the larger garages, kitchens, and baths that modern homes offer.

Cars, on the other hand, I prefer modern for better reliability and fuel efficiency.

Computers: I’m posting this on a Vic20. j/k

30

Makes sense to me. That’s why, in the OP, I specified that my friend *drives * his '56 Pontiac as his *only * car. I find that strange, but he likes it.

I wonder, though, on the “collecting old things”, is the appeal that they are *old * or that they are rare? (It seems that old (man-made) things are almost always “rare”, although rare things are not necessarily old.) Or is it that they are “better”?

31

1900 - 76,000,000
2000 - 300,000,000 (or so)

Colorado
1900 - 539700
1990 - 3294394

Even if all those dwellings from 1900 were of a quality to be livable today (which I seriously doubt), only a sixth of us would be in one. I suspect that a large number were torn down in the late 40’s and early 50’s with the abandon that we are now tearing down the crackerbox houses from that era.
Of course, Colorado as a state is only 131 years old, so outside of the Spanish and Mexican towns down south, we really don’t have much of a pre-goldrush history.
alwrong - depends, I guess. “Historic” trumps “rare” trumps “old”. I don’t give a hoot if a diamond was made in a lab last week or in the ground a million years ago but I’d have no interests in a replica ancient coin or fossil.

32

I collect old records, because they’re both old, and rare. Not the garage-sale kind of collecting, but the scouring the net for impossibly rare, original pressings that cost a lot of money. They’re a kind of investment.

33

Way more advanced than Shagnasty’s Eniac. :wink:

I, myself, am working on a smaller version of the UNIVAC. I’m thinking of calling it the Altair …

34

I like the stylings of old houses, old furniture, etc.b ut they don’t have to be genuine. If I could have a house built with today’s materials and standards that looked like the one next door that was 50 years old, that’d be fine with me. Reproduction furniture is fine, too.

However, I’d also have modern appliances in the kitchen and bathroom, and PCs as necessary.

35

Well, when I said “stereo” I was speaking in a colloquial sense. The unit is a single box with built-in speakers, and the words stereophonic sound in gold letters on the front.

I’ll double check the year and specs tonight and get back to you.

36

The actor Billy Bob Thorton has a very real phobia of old things, especially antique furniture. He can’t sleep or be around any for too long at all. Maybe he will drop by this thread. He seems to have the need to bring it up fairly often and there was even a reference to it in Sling Blade.

37

Many, yes, but not most. Slum clearances, air raids, and sweeping trends for modernisation all have had their impact. And importantly, social trends away from large families, and more recently towards many people living alone.

38

I’m reminded – unpleasantly – of someone I knew like that. He said he hated old things, and apparently meant it: he was later discovered to be a molester of his teenage stepdaughters.

As to the OP, yes, I like old things, within reason. I don’t necessarily like old plumbing or wiring, but I do like old tools, old houses, old furniture. It’s a question of taste, not necessarily of practicality, though I will say that old stuff tends to hold its value, or even appreciate.

39

Oh, hell yeah when it comes to houses and buildings. I grew up in West L.A. in the 1960s and 70s, and lived on my (new) college campus, so I hardly ever entered or even saw anything that wasn’t as young or younger than myself. The public schools I went to were pretty old by L.A. standards, but otherwise not so much, and, in any case, nearly all the schools in L.A. had to be rebuilt after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.

A restored antique car will always turn my head, but antique clothes not so much. I don’t think Victorian/Edwardian clothes looked particularly good on either men or women, just horribly stuffy and uncomfortable. I cringe when I see old photographs of city street scenes from the era, on obviously hot days, and everyone is buttoned up to the chin.

40

I love “retro” clothing. I’m 29 and I own a single pair of jeans, which I reserve for activities like house-painting and helping people move. I own one baseball cap for similar occasions – I think most men look like dorks in baseball caps unless they’re actually playing sports. For work I wear a variety of dress shirts and ties, and I love vintage tie designs, Art Deco patterns, looks that might have been popular in the '30s and '40s. I’m fond of suspenders rather than belts, and I have the best pair of two-tone black and white spectator shoes (Doc Martens, but still super-awesome with my suits). I love busting out my double-breasted trench coat when it’s cool enough, my double-breasted pinstriped suit for fancier occasions, and I have a couple different “newsboy” caps to tide me over until I find the perfect fedora or pork pie hat. On my off days, I favor what I call “hipster doofus wear”: short-sleeved button-down shirts reminiscent of '50s bowling shirts, work shirts with wide collars, Cuban guayaberas (favored by old men in Miami), the occasional vintage-style Hawaiian shirt, almost always with a T-shirt and occasionally suspenders underneath. Some of these are thrift store finds, but most are simply “inspired” by older fashions.