The 1960s are poised to turn 50…and to mark the anniversary the LA Conservancy has created a website spotlighting architecture and history of the period in the city, and is also running educational programs through the year.
Their timeline of 1960s events (with a focus on Southern California) is terrific… and a great reminder of the milestone events we often talk about here. Like the release of the movie Gidget! One of the things that the website points out, is that the 50-year mark is generally when properties can be considered for the National Register of Historic Places. But as we’ve also discussed just recently — around the 50-year mark can be a dangerous point for old homes and structures. The mass of the public still may not “get it” when it comes to whether and why to appreciate certain features… homes are switching hands…and a lot of gutting is done that, later, leads to clear outpourings of regret. Time definitely provides perspective — and there is just barely the minimum amount of time behind us to be able to see mid-century homes “clearly.”
LA Conservency’s The Sixties Turn 5o site here.
Gropius House: Historic mid century homes to visit 
“Ranch homes” – their history and distinguishing characteristics 
Why do people stay in their time capsule houses? 
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Unbelievable! I was born in 71 and grew up hearing about the 60′s through my mom who enjoyed them thoroughly. The 60′s and I continued hand and hand and when I read this post I was seriously jolted. I literally did the math on my sticky note, wow…
I do hope the mass gutting of ranch homes and 40′s bungalows comes to an end. It was sad to see what went on in my hood these past few years. The bad economy has slowed it all down but I still see cute homes with for sale signs that say “Land”.
Don’t remind me! Luckily, I was born at the END of the ’60s. My parents, and brothers and sister lived in Alaska when it became a state. How cool is that? Here’s some more trivia: The current 50-state flag was designed by a guy who lived right here in central Ohio. He did the work as a school project in Lancaster, but I believe he went to elementary school just 4 streets over from where I currently live!
If you don’t LOVE history, there’s something wrong with you!!!
Yuck…the 1960′s…they started out so sweetly(sigh). The Peace Corp, Appollo, Pat Nixon in a “Republican” cloth coat. My least favorite decade…so free, yet so defining. Hendrix or the Seekers but rarely both.
If you want to know what the 1960′s were really like: Google an image of Jayne Mansfield or Donna Reed, 1966…both with the exact same false eyelashes and both a bit long in the tooth.
Not pretty.
Yipes! Am I the oldest one here? Born in 1961 – good times, good times.
I too was born in 1961. I grew up in a 1947 2 story colonial style house. The best part of the ’60s for me was the Space Race. When we landed on the Moon it was a big deal for me.
No Barbara you’re not. I entered the union between Gidget and Hawaii. But Good Times wasn’t til the 70′s. Dy-no-mite!
Hehe my Mom is still pissed at Ralph Nader for that!
I loved the beginning of the 60′s, when things were still similar to the 50′s and still nice, after the mid 60s things went downhill. Design wise I like the early 60s too but still love all through the 40s-70s.
Although I wasn’t born till 70, that’s just my opinion!
Well, guys, I guess I am REALLY old … I was born in 47, and graduated in 1965. The 60′s were great! Very different from one end of the decade to the other, but very exciting.
Oh, thank goodness for you, Janet. I was about to pack myself in dry ice. I’m a ’53-er. 100% mid century girl!
’59, same year as Barbie. The 60s influenced me a lot, but so did the 70s. Oh, and remember, I always say: Those aren’t ‘wrinkles’, that’s ‘patina’: and folks pay extra for that.
Gavin, the 1960s was an exciting decade! I’ve lived in Los Angeles all my life. Though I was just on a child during the 60s, I recall there was a lot of civic optimism in LA and as some pretty great architecture. Google pictures of Dodger Stadium, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA County Museum of Art, Theme Building at LAX, Downtown LA Federal Building and “Disneyland Tomorrow land 1967″–these buildings are beautiful. And in New York you had the Met at Lincoln Center. All of these building exemplify an elegant optimism of the decade. Though Vietnam casts a large shadow over the 1960s, the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1965, and I remember the excitement of July 20, 1969, when I was looking at the moon from our living room window in hopes that I would see Neil Armstrong on the moon. And then there were all kinds of exciting thing in the pop and art world–think Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, and Mame on Broadway. And don’t get me started on the beautiful cars coming out Detroit. Instead of googling Donna Reed or Jane Mansfield, Google Rowlan and Martin’s Laugh-In and you get this:
http://www.paleycenter.org/assets/perspectives/rowanmartin/laugh-in-ladder.jpg
Shagadelic Baby
lost of typos–sorry
1958, and a Berkeley Beat(nik) baby.
Born in 1960, getting ready to celebrate my own mid-century moment soon…
I live now in New Paltz, very near the Woodstock venue, etc. I am more a Donna Reed girl than a hippie chick–my favorite design things come from the 50s and earlier, because my family wasn’t hip–our stuff was not so fashionable, but certainly is now!
Frank…that decade CRAMMED alot of excitement into 9 years!
I still remember thinking that my new banana seat/hip handlebar bike was really tacky.
I had one, too, Gavin: Schwinn, deep grape purple, sparkly banana set also in deep purple. These bikes are worth a small fortune now. I also loved the Monkees; preferred them over the Beatles.
I had a red Stingray with a white banana seat. I looked so cool ( I thought) riding it in my Peter Max bell bottoms, purple shirt and metal peace sign medallion around my neck. I could have jumped right onto the Partridge Family bus. Oh, and my sister took me to my first rock concert. It was the Osmonds! ( Don’t forget the 60′s had the first episodes of a Charlie Brown Christmas, 1965 and How the Grinch Stole Christmas 1966)
BungalowBill, you gotta get us a pic from the family archives. OMG, Peter Max bellbottoms – I am sure I had those too! I actually have a Saved Search on Vintage Peter Max. The sneakers in great shape go for a couple hundred dollars.
Pam-were you one of those 4th graders sent off to school in a mini-skirt and lime green fishnets?…I just shake my head when I think of the 1960′s…..
Gavin, though 6th grade, girls were not allowed to wear pants/slacks to school. And this was public school in groovy southern California. There was a dress code – dresses only.
Oh..but fishnets!
I just remember a classroom of orange/lime or yellow legs.
All the girls limbs complimented their “Foot-sie”‘s. or whatever those hoop, cord and bell things were called.
Thank God we moved on to “Klackers” , until they got confiscated!
oh my, Klackers. Now there’s something that I haven’t thought about in like 40 years. Of course I had fishnets.
I had Klackers too. Talk about a plaintiff’s attorney’s dream. They remind me of the large glass grapes that sat on our living room coffee table. These grapes were popular because a lot my friends’ parents had them in their living room tables as well. The grapes remind me of the small circle and square velvet couch pillows with four button tufts that were also on most living room couches.
I actually have a Klackers story. When I was in the 5th grade at Monte Vista Elementary School in Vista, California — 1967-8, I remember the year because I was a Humphrey supporter — I got my first and only “pink slip” one recess because someone was throwing a ball up against this hilly thing that bordered the playground…I tried to retrieve it by throwing my Klacker at it, hoping to dislodge it…a recess Mom thought I was doing something untoward so she gave me a pink slip. It was very traumatizing as I was a perfect child.
In my part of the world they were called Kiick Klacks. Had the 2 black and blue spots on my arm, one above the wrist and another further up the forearm from when I missed the Klick and those hard glass balls bit my arm. You could do a whole post on fun toys that could hurt you. I think my mom bought them all for me. Booby Trap, a piece of wood held back with a spring that et go and would crush your fingers, Creepy Crawlers with the all metal electric stove to cook the Goop, guns that shot darts with suction cups ( that also worked really great with my moms knitting needles)…
Ok. First person to send me a picture of a vintage set of Klackers or Kiick Klacks wins a prize to be determined by me. Must be over 14. Must be U.S. citizen located in U.S. retrorenovation [at] gmail [dot] com
Oh those Klackers! I’m a 1963 baby and had a set of Klackers when I was seven. They were a beautiful clear pink. That’s all I wanted to play with throughout the second grade. Wish I had a picture of them.
Here ya go.
http://z.hubpages.com/u/883167_f260.jpg
Speaking of dangerous toys, what about lawn darts. My next door neighbor had a set.
Very good, Frank. Send me your address, okay?
Lawn darts: I actually impaled my brother on the leg with one of these. I was….in 3rd grade, he was in 2nd probably. Hmmm. My childhood memories are more interesting than I remembered.
Okay, and on the klackers, I am still interested in more photos including one I can actually show on the homepage some time. So…the photo would have to “belong” to the contributor.
Hi everyone,
I look back at the 60s with much feeling, good and bad. I was born in 1955 into a large Italian family who went to my Grandmothers EVERY Sunday. My parents would visit with my Aunts and Uncles and we kids would play outside. Such good memories. But I think the downside of the 60s was what happened socially in our country and it seems to have been evolving downward ever since. I yearn for the days when we could let our kids out to play and not worry, a parent was home with the kids, we didn’t have enormous houses and multiple expensive cars, etc,etc. We’ve evolved in ways that I don’t think are necessarily that great . Oh well, call me a dreamer. I’d love for the silliness and fun of lime green fishnet days.
We HAVE a set of lawn darts, found by going through (in C. Wheeler’s words) dead peoples’ houses.
I’m in my mid-forties and remember the Klackers being taken away from everyone (including the carnivals that gave ‘em as prizes) somewhere around the 6th grade.
Then again, we watched that old Bert the Turtle duck-and-cover movie until 2nd grade, when they quit the weekly under-the-desk-when-the-siren-on-the-courthouse-roof-sounds drill, too.
What about the toy rockets you put a little water in and pumped the snot out of on the launcher/pump? They didn’t shoot too well in any plane save for the vertical, but they sure did go high! The satisfying and somewhat sobering noise they made when they landed on a parked car was quite something (WHAAAAM–OH! S^&%!):), as I expect the impact left on nice lawn and flowerbeds by a cluster of running kids in search or the rocket’s re-entry was, too. (I did see them in Cheesy Chinese form in an obscure toy catalog recently)
Or, for that matter, BB Guns. All of us boys had one, now almost no one does.
Let’s not forget the Chemistry Set! DIY Mustard Gas and Stinkbombs for Everyone!
(You know, I saw one on E-bay recently from the 50′s that claimed to contain a radiation screen and genuine uranium isotope??? Wow!)
How about the home-made rubber band shooter crafted from a piece of wood, a screw or nail, and a clothespin that we MADE IN THE CUB SCOUTS!
I never thought of the knitting needles for the suction-cup .45, but if you pulled the suckers off the darts fit perfectly into a pencil sharpener!
I also remember the StarTrek Tracer gun, a spring-loaded zipgun toy that shot out flat plastic discs with satisfying force; and some other toy pistol that shot these 1/4″ rubber BB’s called “SS Ammo” (SS stood for ‘Soft,Safe’. Ask any little boy that had one, you’d know that really meant ‘Smarts Satisfyingly’!).
Naturally, the model rocketry merit elective was an excellent opportunity to make devastating toy artillery (so long, GI JOE, for I have outgrown you AND your Jeep!) or crudely-aimed Surface-to-Seagull missles (boys, embarrasingly enough, being boys).
Ah, alas…Where Have All The Good Toys Gone? (Sigh)
And which one of those old bikes was it that had the babana seat, the sissy bar AND a steering wheel? Looked like a good way to really mess up to me, that wheel! (and I wished for one terribly…) Anybody have one of those in the family?
Dave
Another “only in the 1960′s” moment:
There were 11 kids in my family, the Ryans across the street had 10, and the Murphy’s pulled up the rear with 7.
Needless to say….there were not a whole lot of toys in the neighborhood.
Unbroken, that is….
I’m here too…1962! (living in a 1965 ranch!). and I have two sets of vintage, in the box, lawn darts…that yes, get played every summer in my backyard!
Oh.. sorry, they are Lawn Jarts.