Lisa's Nostalgia Cafe--1950s Town & Country


Small Towns Santa Clara Valley In The Fabulous 50s People sat on the front porch and socialized with the neighbors, or simply watched the world go by. Everybody knew everybody else, and you didn't worry about locking your front door. You could always find your car keys, because they were in the car, in the ignition, and the car doors were unlocked.	-----	The town square had a gazebo, where you could listen to band concerts under the stars. The fire department siren was set off every day at noon. This was the noon whistle. In my town, the siren was located on top of the library, which used to be the village hall and fire department headquarters. Shhhh! Doctors made house calls and telephone operators said, "Number, please?"
Most stores were located downtown, within easy walking distance from your house. Out front, the streets had sidewalks and parking meters. Many kids walked home from school for lunch.		The summer was full of parades, picnics and baseball games.
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Places To Go drive-in theaters The first drive-ins opened in the 1930s. Our love for anything car-related in the 1950s made them immensely popular during this decade. Theaters charged admission per person, rather than per carload. That's when you found out just how many people you could squeeze into your trunk! "There's a better show in the cars than on the screen." In the 1950s, the ritual of going to the drive-in was more entertaining than many of the "B movies" being shown on the screen! The typical drive-in had a playground for the kids. Between movies, the screen showed advertisements for all the yummy things you could get at the concession stand. Drive-In Theater Drive-In Resource Page The Golden Age Of Roller Skating		personal services For most women, a regular trip to the beauty parlor was a must! Both beauty parlors and barbershops were great places to gather for the latest news or gossip. Shoe-shine stands were still common sights on street corners or in train stations. just for fun Bowling alleys were popular in the 1950s. Many teenage boys had jobs as pin setters before automatic pinsetter machines became common in the late 1950s. Roller rinks were also great places to meet with friends or take a date. Most rinks gave away decals that were fun to collect and trade. Roller rink organ music was the happiest music in the world.
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In The City Streetcars were powered by an overhead cable or electrified track. Some cities also had trackless trolleys, which were powered by an overhead cable but didn't require tracks. For decades, these trains were the best way to get around town. Interurban trains were also powered by electricity, and were used for travel between towns. In the 1950s, we were falling in love with the automobile, and streetcar ridership began to decline. In the late 1950s, many cities began to eliminate their streetcar lines and replace them with bus routes. By the mid 1960s, very few streetcars remained.		The city was bustling with crowded sidewalks, huge department stores and smaller shops. For lunch, there were small cafes, soda shops or store lunch counters. Streetcar Memories Downtown Greensboro Memories Trackless Trolleys & Trolleybuses Tom's Trolleybus Pix Chicago/Milwaukee North Shore Line Chicago Interurbans
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In The Country Every year, the population of the United States became more urban. By the 1950s, the distribution of our citizens was exactly the opposite of what it was in 1901....60 percent of us lived in cities or medium-sized towns, while 40 percent of us lived on farms and in rural areas. For that 40 percent, rural life in the 1950s wasn't anything like it was in 1901. Electricity made milking machines, water pumps and heaters for the barn possible. Modern machinery, improved breeding methods and hybrid crops helped farmers produce more with less labor.		The RFD (Rural Free Delivery) system brought mail right to the farm, and school buses took the kids to modern consolidated schools in town. Chances are, there was a brand-new shopping center not too far away. After school, thousands of farm kids participated in 4-H clubs. This organization first got its name in the 1910s. Whether they were raising calves or learning to cook, these clubs were a great place to "learn by doing." In the 1950s, 4-H clubs were admitting town kids and participating in international exchange programs. Although most farms were wired for electricity in the 1930s and 1940s, you could still find the occasional farm home that didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing. Taking a trip to the old "two-holer" out back was still a reality for these farm families. Rural phone service was a bit behind the times. While the rest of the country was being hooked up to the new long-distance direct dialing system, farmers still relied on the operator for their long-distance calls. Many farmers were also still hooked up to party lines.


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The 1950s Town & Country