The 60s Fads & Fashions

The 60s had its own special places to enjoy our high calorie, high fat meals. They became part of our daily routine espcially during the summer.  We cruised to these places as part of our weekly or nightly cruisin' activities. These meals were high in fat and calories and we didn't have the obesity problem that we see today.  It seemed like we did more outside activities and we were not tied in front of the TV or sitting in front of a video screen playing games.  I remember eating at the Burger Chef at home where the hamburgers were just 15 cents.  We would cruise and park at the Burger Chef and watch and congregate with our friends until the manager ran us off, especially if we hadn't purchased anything. Remember the Big Boy Restarurants? They are still in business unlike the Burger Chef.

I remember inside many hangouts the booth and  floor tiles were color coordinated and the booth had its own jukebox to play your own favorite tunes.  You didn't have to climb out of your seat and walk over to the main jukebox to play it.  Ten cents a song or three plays for a quarter was a great deal then.  

Back in the 60s when you went out your personal appearance was very important especially on Friday and Saturday nights.  The boys had on their favorite jeans and paisley shirt and the girls normally had nice slacks or  a dress for the evening. Hey we were all hunting for the opposite sex or out on a date. We cared what we looked like. Well most of us did. Who could forget the women's hot pants and of course the girdles from those days? 

Compare the women's bathing suit especially the bikini style of those of today.

                   60s Men's Mod Style Shirt                              60s Men's Paisley Shirt

               60s Women's Hot Pants                  60s  Flowered Skirt     A Girdle from the 60s                

Remember the hairstyles of the girls back in the 60s?  I remember when they ironed their hair of all things. I guess that was suppose to make it hang straight down like the lead singer of the Shangri-Las.

Then there was the Twiggy hairstyle that some girls adopted.

Since the arrival of cell phones, phone booths out in the middle of nowhere are almost non existent now. I remember before we had a phone at my home I would use a phone on the corner by the neighborhood store. Phones then had a place to put in quarters, nickles and dimes and were really answered by an operator. Today they primarily use credit cards or calling calls. Rotary phones were real common back in the 60s.  Even the comics had their share of the phone booth. Clark Kent would make his change to Superman from a phone booth.

Remember these? They were called Curb feelers.  They were suppose to help you judge how close you were to the curb when you were parking. And how about these fender skirts.  Just a decoration as far I could ever determine.  Of course there was the steering knob.  Manufactured to make you look "cool."  Not really they were suppose to assist you in turnng the steering wheel.  Really helped before there was power steering.

                         Curb Feeler                                               Fender Skirt         

                                                              Steering Knob

     How about those continental kits with the really sharp covers for the spare tire?

                  Continental Kits for Cars

Do you still have one of these?  The old perculator and the ancient cumbersome vacuum cleaner from the 1960s era?