# No blue jeans allowed -- in 1972? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 6, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194 "2026-08-06T22:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Timz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Timz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timz)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/1 "2026-08-06T22:39:10Z")
How many [roller rinks](http://digitalarchives.queenslibrary.org/browse/roller-rink-rules) are out there now? Didn’t occur to the sign painter that girls could wear jeans too ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/2 "2026-08-06T22:45:34Z")
It’s clear to me that those rules were written to make sure that the skaters were “clean cut,” and not “hippies” – note that they also banned shorts for girls, and long hair for boys. Jeans, of course, were _extremely_ popular among young people of both genders in 1972, but there was still a big cultural divide by age in the U.S. at that time; among older Americans, blue jeans were still strongly associated with lower-class people (farm workers, blue-collar workers, and criminals, as well as hippies), and long hair on boys was still not accepted by a lot of people over 40. I would hazard a guess that the owners of the roller rink didn’t want “that element” (hippies, druggies, hoodlums, etc.) in their establishment. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/3 "2026-08-06T22:48:57Z")
It says no blue jeans or dungarees in handwriting under “Girls” . My guess is that the photo was taken in 1972 but the sign was painted at least a few years before that. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/4 "2026-08-06T22:51:10Z")
That was the era that “No, Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” signs also started appearing. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/5 "2026-08-06T23:25:21Z")
I was in high school in the 70’s. There was a brief Overall fashion trend. Even as a cool teen that one baffled me. Overalls are for farmers not fashion. Imho Girls were wearing short skirts with opaque tights when I was in junior high. Slacks were also popular. It’s hard to remember when girls switched to jeans. Probably during my high school years. All my friends wore bell bottoms and side zippered boots in high school. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/6 "2026-08-06T23:33:23Z")
> [@Timz](#): > > How many [roller rinks](http://digitalarchives.queenslibrary.org/browse/roller-rink-rules) are out there now? Before I started school, my dad owned a travelling skating rink. I could skate at 3. I loved that lifestyle. At the end of the night my dad would get on the PA and ask. “did everyone have a good time? is everybody black and blue?” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/7 "2026-08-06T23:33:57Z")
I graduated from college in 1970. There were still dress codes in effect in lots of places. I don’t think jeans were considered “low class” or “blue collar” so much as they were just too casual to be worn except in really informal settings (at a sports event, a picnic, etc.) You would certainly never see jeans in church, for example. I remember going to a restaurant with two friends in 1971 (not a fancy-schmancy restaurant, but not a diner/fast food place either) and we were turned away at the door because one of the guys was wearing jeans. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/8 "2026-08-07T00:04:04Z")
There were certainly roller rinks in my childhood, but they were about the most informal setting imaginable. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/9 "2026-08-07T00:10:15Z")
I just had my 50th class reunion last weekend (go class of 1976!), and one of the reminiscences was when we were in high school, girls were finally allowed to wear pants to school. Pants, not jeans. They allowed boys to wear jeans, but they had to be clean, not the ones smelling of manure from doing chores before getting on the school bus. It took a few years before jeans were allowed for all. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/10 "2026-08-07T00:14:28Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It’s clear to me that those rules were written to make sure that the skaters were “clean cut,” and not “hippies” I looked up the rink’s history (1955-1986) and the Edgar Winter Group and Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels opened for Canned Heat there earlier in the year. The sartorial elegance of Canned Heat was obviously lost on the venue management. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/11 "2026-08-07T01:42:56Z")
One would certainly think so. 🤷🏽 ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/12 "2026-08-07T02:11:22Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Overalls are for farmers not fashion. Imho My girl friends and I wore them sometimes. We bought them at [A. Schwab](https://www.a-schwab.com/) on Beale Street. We loved them because they had so many pockets and you didn’t need to carry a bag, They were great for concerts. The guys never wore them, though. We weren’t allowed to wear jeans to school until my senior year in 72. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan\_myers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@aruvqan\_myers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan_myers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/13 "2026-08-07T02:26:10Z")
I can remember wearing blue jeans with matching short jacket [in a pale blue, not faded just original dye was powder blue] in 1974 and it was not uncommon at the time [a beverly brand jacket if that makes sense] ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/14 "2026-08-07T02:54:01Z")
We weren’t allowed jeans in high school, either. 1960’s clear through’69. Then I got to college and everybody was wearing them. And tshirts, which up till then had been men’s underwear. I remember buying them in the men’s underwear department, package of three, white or blue, for $5. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/15 "2026-08-07T06:13:55Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > It says no blue jeans or dungarees in handwriting under “Girls” . My guess is that the photo was taken in 1972 but the sign was painted at least a few years before that. Does it also mention that long-haired freaky people need not apply? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/16 "2026-08-07T06:17:14Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Does it also mention that long-haired freaky people need not apply? The image in the OP’s link does pretty much say exactly that, as it also says, under what is prohibited for boys, “no long hair.” ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/17 "2026-08-07T07:56:24Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Jeans, of course, were _extremely_ popular among young people of both genders in 1972, but there was still a big cultural divide by age in the U.S. at that time; among older Americans, blue jeans were still strongly associated with lower-class people Dungarees vs the Suits: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pFE31-GzjaY/hqdefault.jpg "WKRP - The Dungarees vs. The Suits") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFE31-GzjaY) ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/18 "2026-08-07T09:27:56Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > it also says, under what is prohibited for boys, “no long hair.” They should tuck their hair up under their hats And go in to ask them why! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/19 "2026-08-07T10:50:41Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I was in high school in the 70’s. There was a brief Overall fashion trend. There was another overall trend when I was in high school, circa 1990. Only girls, though, and they would often leave a strap open, revealing one t-shirt covered breast. I remember it being pretty hot. ---
**Author:** ![Keith1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Keith1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194/20 "2026-08-07T11:23:58Z")
Mid/late 60’s, girls gradually being permitted to wear slacks rather than dresses. Long hair for boys gradually being accepted. Not even long hair but barely over the top of ears. Some boys being forcibly taken to a barber! And it should be pointed out that the establishment acceptance wasn’t by choice but rather flat out defiance & revolt by teens/young people. A bit like the Catholic church coming to terms that people were going to have a burger on Friday or separate from their spouse whether they approved or not. A time when The Beatles were starting to gain tolerance but The Rolling Stones were going to send the world spiraling into damnation. And just when they’d gotten over Elvis doing a few dance moves. But it was still OK to send kids barely out of school to die in Vietnam for no good reason. Sadly, not a lot has changed. Small minded bigots are still small minded bigots and there’s still a lot of them about to carry on the hate for anything that might be considered different than what goes on in their myopic version of the world. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-blue-jeans-allowed-in-1972/1032194.md?page=2)