# Stuff that was different in the 60s and 70s **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 11, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688 "2017-06-11T14:38:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/81 "2017-06-12T13:36:19Z")
There were a number of states that allowed 18, 19, and 20 year olds to drink legally. It was quite a bit easier to drink before the age of 21 in states with that as the minimum age because there was light enforcement of laws for private individuals or businesses supplying them with alcohol. With the exception of a tie in either MLB league when the season was over the World Series began. In 1969 a single 5 game playoff series was added. Football, hockey, and basketball also extended their playoff system over time. The NFL was competing with the AFL and they eventually merged resulting in the Super Bowl, the ABA formed in 1967 offering enough competition for the NBA to result in a merger in the 70s. All of these leagues expanded greatly in this time. The rules You could watch hockey on TV if you were in a market that cared but you could barely see the puck moving, not at all if you had fuzzy B&W TV as I did. And the most important one, American League pitchers had to bat so they were still playing the real game of basketball. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/82 "2017-06-12T13:39:58Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Employers could ask women about their plans for marriage and children. It was assumed they would eventually get married, leave, and raise a family. Men were paid more than women because they had to support a family, even if they didn’t have one. Men were more stable reliable employees if they got married while marriage made women less so. Women were expected to get coffee for men no matter what their position. This whole area of discrimination could go on and on. And we’re just talking about ‘white’ men and women. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/83 "2017-06-12T13:48:06Z")
Halloween was for kids. Parents did not escort their precious snowflakes around the neighborhood as they went trick-or-treating. People did not decorate their houses like it was Christmas in October. You would not see any Christmas ads during Oct. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/84 "2017-06-12T13:50:44Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > …8-track tapes. FTFY. 🙂 Oh yeah… 8 tracks. Especially this: Song is playing… Song fades out in the middle… Ka-CHUNK! Song fades back in… Also, sticking a matchbook under the 8 track cartridge in the car tape player to keep it aligned properly. Also… matchbooks? I had quite a collection when I was a kid, picked up from various businesses, restaurants, motels when we were on vacation. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/85 "2017-06-12T13:55:21Z")
Officer friendly came to our grade school in the 60s-early 70s, and told us about Stranger Danger. Yeah, our Chicago public school not only had religious Christmas pageants, but also let the catholic kids out of school on Wednesday afternoons for catechism classes. (In our part of Chicago, nearly EVERYONE was Catholic, and EVERYONE was white.) No one jogged. Nike’s waffle trainer came out when I was on high school track - and was revolutionary. Martial arts consisted of the occasional neighborhood karate school - until Bruce Lee. Computers were these big things with tape reels in clean rooms. There was one computer room in our HS, which I never stepped foot in. Golf woods were made out of wood - preferably persimmon. Womens’ skirt lengths changed year by year. Mini skirts (not to mention PAPER dresses) were a BIG DEAL for this school boy! You had a passbook for your savings account, which recorded every deposit/withdrawal, and interest accrued. You could get a toaster or other gift for opening a new bank account. I can’t recall a single “drive-thru” window in the 60s. The earliest I can remember was the clown at Jack in the box in the mid-70s. Nearly every phone was rotary dial in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/86 "2017-06-12T13:57:01Z")
Children would allowed to go outside alone, even after dark. And play unsupervised. And go to the neighborhood store alone to buy their parent’s cigarettes. Single men were “swinging bachelors.” Single women were “old maids” or “spinsters.” OTOH, the reasons for two women living together were assumed to be economic or for security, while two men living together did raise eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/87 "2017-06-12T14:09:33Z")
In 1970 my girlfriend and I had to go to New York to get her an abortion. That was the only place it was legal. The trip and procedure wiped out my entire savings. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/88 "2017-06-12T14:19:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > … > And the most important one, American League pitchers had to bat so they were still playing the real game of basketball. The Evil Autocorrect strikes again? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/89 "2017-06-12T14:19:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The nuns in elementary school used to encourage us to smell them, hot off the press. That probably wasn’t a good idea. Nor was it a good to ride our bikes behind the bug spray guy in the summer time, weaving in and out of the spray. I think they used DDT, spraying out the back of trucks driving thru the neighborhoods in the warmer months. I remember that, and it probably wasn’t in our best interest to be sniffing those papers, but I don’t think anything else has quite that smell 😊. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/90 "2017-06-12T14:29:54Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The Evil Autocorrect strikes again? 😃 Heh. The thought of the corruption of the national pastime causes my brain to malfunction more than the usual amount. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/91 "2017-06-12T15:00:15Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > I thought of an odd difference yesterday as I was walking across a parking lot. When I read this sentence, I thought you were going to be talking about those concrete blocks that used to be at the head of every parking space. Why did those used to be seen as a good idea? > [@BobLibDem](#): > > It was a big deal the night each year that the Wizard of Oz was shown. Or one of the holiday specials that was only on once a year (like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” or “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”). Or a variety special, like one of Bob Hope’s occasional shows. Grandpa used to call us when one of those specials came on that he thought we’d want to watch, so we wouldn’t miss it. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/92 "2017-06-12T15:20:48Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Oh yeah… 8 tracks. Especially this: > > Song is playing… > Song fades out in the middle… > Ka-CHUNK! > Song fades back in… \ Another botheration: quite often, the songs were out of order (compared to the LP, or, later, the CD) for timing purposes, so you had to “learn” the album all over again. Or, in the case of the “Jaws” soundtrack, the songs were in order (with the fade out/fade in annoyance), but the tune where the shark go BOOM was _longer_ because they edited the track to repeat the “B” section of the music–does that make it a collector’s item? :rolleyes: ---
**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:** [June 12, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/93 "2017-06-12T15:27:20Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > … > Parents weren’t your friends. They were your PARENTS. You were expected to be afraid of their wrath; ergo, you learned how to sneak around. > … I think this is one of the biggest changes. Parents and kids were alien species who were not meant to fraternize except in specific circumstances, like dinnertime, going to church, possibly vacations. Even if you weren’t afraid of your parents (and I was, but some of my friends weren’t) they had their world and you had yours. You aspired to grow up so you could join their world. The line between adults and children became seriously blurred, probably in the 70s, and it’s probably the fault of my generation, who didn’t want to be like their parents. I’ll cut short my rant there… > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > If you wanted a smoke, you lit up a cigarette. … I’ve seen some younger people ask (even on this board) when they see a movie set in the 50s, “Did people really smoke THAT much?” Yes, they did. I went to a physics lab on Saturdays when I was a senior in college (1970) and the teacher would light a ciggie and then set it on the chalk tray. Then he’d sometimes light another, having forgotten the first one, and set it there. Then pick up a piece of chalk and put it to his lips, before he realized what was going on. It was mesmerizing. I can remember this clearly, but \*nothing \*about physics stayed with me. 😛 > [@TriPolar](#): > > Men were paid more than women because they had to support a family, even if they didn’t have one. Men were more stable reliable employees if they got married while marriage made women less so. Women were expected to get coffee for men no matter what their position. This whole area of discrimination could go on and on. And we’re just talking about ‘white’ men and women. If you want to see how this looks, watch _Mad Men_, especially the first season. I loved that series, but I missed the first season when it was running. I went back and tried to watch those episodes and the cringeworthiness was off the charts. Even though I lived through it! I had forgotten. The series did evolve with the times, and women’s roles in that agency did change somewhat. I worked at a bakery on Colfax street in Denver in 1972 and the women were paid minimum wage (around $1.60, I think) and the men were paid over $3.50/hour for doing exactly the same work. The classified ads said “Help Wanted - Male” and “Help Wanted - Female.” Guess where the good jobs were listed? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/94 "2017-06-12T15:33:28Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I remember when my mother wanted to sell some of her own property, and still had to get my father’s permission. Unthinkable today. I enlisted in the Navy in 1973. I was 19, and I still needed written permission from my parents. Had I been a boy, they’d have taken me at 18 with no question. Even farther back, I can remember in the early 60s, age 7 or 8, going to the drug store about 3 blocks from home to buy a pack of cigarettes for my dad. It cost 25¢ and the clerk never questioned me. But then again, cute little blond girls didn’t smoke. And just about all photos my family took in those days were black and white, because color film and processing cost more. I’ve got pictures from class trips in elementary school, all in B&W. Even my first grade school picture was B&W, tho by 3rd grade ('62-'63 school year,) they switched to color. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/95 "2017-06-12T15:57:23Z")
> [@ioioio](#): > > Walmart and McDonald’s were not that common. Many mid-sized cities (population 30,000 or so) had neither. Walmarts were only in the Midwest and South until the 80s ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/96 "2017-06-12T16:11:03Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > If you want to see how this looks, watch _Mad Men_, especially the first season. I loved that series, but I missed the first season when it was running. I went back and tried to watch those episodes and the cringeworthiness was off the charts. Even though I lived through it! I had forgotten. The series did evolve with the times, and women’s roles in that agency did change somewhat. The Mad Men story is closer to home for me than I want to mention, although the show is a depiction of the era and not so much the details of the reality, none-the-less accurate for many real situations. I was able to boost my income in 1978 by first getting engaged and then married. It was entrenched in the system. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/97 "2017-06-12T17:42:46Z")
Another thing about TV: new shows and new seasons started in the fall and ran for 13 or 22 episodes. Then there were “summer reruns,” so called because, well, they were \*reruns \*and they happened in the _summer_. In the fall, a new season started, and so on. Now new shows/seasons premiere at random times, seasons may only be a few episodes, and the next season may be as long as a year away, by which time you’ve forgotten who the characters are and don’t care any more. Reruns can happen at any time, and now that there are so many cable stations, two or more channels at a time may be showing reruns of the same series (different episodes). (Some long-running shows still somewhat follow the old timetable, _NCIS, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: SVU_, possibly others.) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/98 "2017-06-12T20:33:09Z")
I worked part time at Sears in 1970 and the policy there was that women - all women, regardless of position - were required to clock out for their mandated 15-minute break. Men, regardless of position, were paid (stayed on the clock) for their time off. I found this hilarious since nearly all my fellow employees were high school kids like me, so Sears was paying my male colleagues to light farts in the basement stockroom several times a week. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/99 "2017-06-12T23:52:52Z")
Here’s one I was talking to a teacher about recently. Back in the 60s, every Chicago public classroom had a big old upright piano in it, and every teacher could pound out several old standbys - Red River Valley, Battle Hymn of the Republic, etc. Actually shocked me when my kids went to school in the burbs in the 90s, and there WASN’T a piano in every room. Was talking with a teacher, and she said back then the ability to play piano was a part of the teaching curriculum. ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688/100 "2017-06-13T00:00:09Z")
Gas wars. Cigarette machines. 15c burgers, 12c fries 10c Coke Latch key kids were possibly unfortunate, but not serious victims. Drive in movies Crusin’ aroung in cool cars going round and round the local drive-in restaurant. (Big Boy) Gettin’ A&W delivered to the serving tray attached to your window [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-was-different-in-the-60s-and-70s/788688.md?page=6)