I know it is technically the wrong section but the pre 70s section is dead so...Did anyone here experience the early or mid 60s at all?

Yeah, the mid 60s was going on all around me. I remember the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965 where a big chunk of the eastern seaboard of the US was blacked out for many hours. Afterwards an urban legend went around that UFOs were seen in the vicinity of the power station whose failure caused the chain reaction blackout. The real reason was some technical thing that was far more mundane, but the UFO story was fun nonetheless. Shortly after, an episode of the then-popular TV series "Bewitched" based an episode on the blackout. Except they had the blackout caused by incompetent witch Aunt Clara.  :)

Early 60's - not much, I was in (or just barely out of) diapers.  The only things I remember from then would've related specifically to kid culture.  But the kid stuff was memorable, for example:

Funny Company (1963)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqcU6367yss

Mid 60's - some, as an early elementary school kid.  Mostly the biggest pop culture sensations that would matter to a young kid.  Like the Beatles - I became aware of the Beatles' phenomenon when I was just 4 (1964) and by the following year became a big fan due to watching the Beatles' kiddie cartoon.  Not to mention the Monkees - I was right there for them.  And Batman, of course (the original).  Stuff like that.  I don't remember anything of current events of the mid 60's as I was too young to care.

:)

Similar to AmericanGirl.  I was born in 1960 ... I remember playing outside (even at a young age). We were gone most of the day and only came in for meals. Parents didn't really worry as much. They came looking for us rarely. My memories of the 60's only go back to age 4-5 ... and then it was all about, Cartoons, Bewitched,  Dream of Jeanie, Get Smart, Hogans Heroes and Batman. Loads of comic books and MAD magazines.

Current affairs type memories only started around the mid to late 60's ... e.g. watching the Moon Landing, Muhammad Ali fighting ... that sort of thing.

Similar to AmericanGirl.  I was born in 1960 ... I remember playing outside (even at a young age). We were gone most of the day and only came in for meals. Parents didn't really worry as much. They came looking for us rarely. My memories of the 60's only go back to age 4-5 ... and then it was all about, Cartoons, Bewitched,  Dream of Jeanie, Get Smart, Hogans Heroes and Batman.


"Lost In Space" too. And the lesser-remembered "Time Tunnel".

Aside from pop culture stuff, there was a lot of everyday stuff...for example, plastic garbage bags which everybody simply takes for granted now were nonexistent. Garbage was thrown away in paper sacks from the supermarket. Plastic sandwich bags weren't around either until at least mid decade when they were first marketed as "Baggies", not a "zip lock" type, mind you, but the kind with a twisty to keep it closed, and everybody was excited about these. Before that sandwiches to take for lunch were wrapped in wax paper or aluminum foil (the latter being more expensive). Soft drinks (soda, pop, whatever your regionally call it) was in glass bottles which had to be opened with an opener. There were cans, but they too had to be opened with an opener. Around mid decade the "pop top" for cans showed up. Not today's type, but the type that came off completely and was discarded. These stuck around until at least the 80s before being done away with because they created too much litter, and barefoot people on beaches and such would cut their feet on them.

Around mid decade the "pop top" for cans showed up. Not today's type, but the type that came off completely and was discarded. These stuck around until at least the 80s before being done away with because they created too much litter, and barefoot people on beaches and such would cut their feet on them.


"I blew out my flip flop
Stepped on a pop top
Cut my heel had to cruise on back home"
- from Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett

;D

... I remember playing outside (even at a young age). We were gone most of the day and only came in for meals. Parents didn't really worry as much. They came looking for us rarely...


That was the life of us young kids in the early '60s - the more outside time, the better :D


... Loads of comic books and MAD magazines ...


Me too!  :)

That was the life of us young kids in the early '60s - the more outside time, the better :D


We were basically expected to go out in the morning and come home for dinner, maybe stopping home for lunch. I don't think it was until the late 90s that I actually heard the phrase "play date" and I had to ask what it was. I was amazed that children getting together to play was actually a thing being arranged like a business meeting.  :o

Yes, as others have said, we could leave the house in the morning and return only for lunch, being gone sometimes for hours while our mothers had no idea where we were. This was the norm and there was no such thing as an overprotective parent. Everyone on our street always had scrapes and cuts.
TV was black and white and we only had 3 channels. Also, we had to get up to change channels. Everyone more or less watched the same TV shows and saw the same movies. We didn't have Cable TV. It was available, but my parents refused to let us watch more than 1 hour of TV daily.
Air travel was completely different. People dressed to fly and passengers were treated like royalty.
Smoking was allowed everywhere. I started smoking when I was 12, in 1968, and nobody was upset. Kids were able to buy cigarettes themselves so it was not a big deal.
I remember the day JFK was shot. Our teachers got all serious at school and we were sent home early. Of course, we all walked home alone, because that was what we did back then.

Air travel was completely different. People dressed to fly and passengers were treated like royalty.


And people simply walked right onto the plane. No metal detectors, no searching, no scanning, and certainly none of the way it is now.

And people simply walked right onto the plane. No metal detectors, no searching, no scanning, and certainly none of the way it is now.


Exactly. No searching or security at all.

Exactly. No searching or security at all.


Why not? ???

Why not? ???


Because it wasn't needed. Why else?

Metal detectors were first put in place in US airports in the late 60s after a number of hijackings and attempted hijackings. In those days, if I recall, a number of hijackers wished to divert planes to Cuba. Before that it really wasn't much of a thing.

... we had to get up to change channels ...


Sure - but it gave us kiddies a chance to sit real close - we were the "designated channel changers"  ;D

Sure - but it gave us kiddies a chance to sit real close - we were the "designated channel changers"  ;D


and you changed the channel using the knob? 

and you changed the channel using the knob?


Usually - I think there was that rare TV that had buttons or something else weird...  ::)

Usually - I think there was that rare TV that had buttons or something else weird...  ::)


and when did TV remotes come into play?  ???

and when did TV remotes come into play?  ???
From wiki:

"The first remote intended to control a television was developed by Zenith Radio Corporation in 1950. The remote, called "Lazy Bones", was connected to the television by a wire. A wireless remote control, the "Flashmatic", was developed in 1955 by Eugene Polley."

From wiki:

"The first remote intended to control a television was developed by Zenith Radio Corporation in 1950. The remote, called "Lazy Bones", was connected to the television by a wire. A wireless remote control, the "Flashmatic", was developed in 1955 by Eugene Polley."



So I guess the remote control was before The 1960's.

So I guess the remote control was before The 1960's.
I never saw one till around the time of the late 70s or early 80s.

Wow, what an innocent time compared to 2018.  :o  :o  ::)

Life was wonderful without the Internet.

I remember most of 1961/62 onwards, I was too young before that. 
We grew up with black and white TV , 3 channels.
We listened to AM radio, the music was outstanding and 60s music has never been matched since.
Most mom's were housewives, only the dad was employed (in most cases, not all).
The family unit was intact, I don't recall meeting any divorced people during the 1960s.
The older folks we encountered were born in the previous century (late 1800s)
If the weather was good, we almost always played outside, anywhere in the neighborhood. Most of us has bikes and we'd travel to different houses/streets in the neighborhood. We'd go to the park , every park had a baseball diamond (or so it seemed) and baseball was the most popular sport back then.
Whether if was safer or not, it seemed very safe in comparison with today. The  house doors were unlocked during the day, no car has a car alarm or safety device.

I'm having a feeling as I type this that Comic books were very popular in the '60s. And puzzles with popular music bands on them...Am I correct?

I'm having a feeling as I type this that Comic books were very popular in the '60s. And puzzles with popular music bands on them...Am I correct?


I'd say probably yes on the comic books - although I can't compare their popularity to that of the bookend decades; comics remained popular in the 70's, I don't know about the 50's.  As far as puzzles with popular music bands, I don't think that was too popular, although when the Beatles hit they ushered in all kinds of Beatles' merchandise - for instance I had a Beatles lunch box when I was seven (wish I still had that, it would be worth $$$).  So if there were Beatles' puzzles around, I wouldn't be surprised.

The mid-1960s was when I had my first tastes of "fast food".  I remember eating at McDonalds, Burger King, and Jack In The Box (though I may be wrong on Jack In The Box, maybe not until the late 1960s).  We had these fast food places relatively near our home.  We didn't eat fast food very much; it was a "treat".

I remember that I loved going to department stores with my Mom mostly because I was fascinated with escalators.  I liked riding in elevators too - who remembers that many elevators at the time had attendants, and some elevators used the big metal grates instead of regular elevator doors?

I'd say probably yes on the comic books - although I can't compare their popularity to that of the bookend decades; comics remained popular in the 70's, I don't know about the 50's.  As far as puzzles with popular music bands, I don't think that was too popular, although when the Beatles hit they ushered in all kinds of Beatles' merchandise - for instance I had a Beatles lunch box when I was seven (wish I still had that, it would be worth $$$).  So if there were Beatles' puzzles around, I wouldn't be surprised.


Actually there WERE puzzles featuring album covers in the 1960s---sort of. Some albums on Columbia/Epic came with an innersleeve advertising posters  as well as jigsaw puzzles of album covers (the puzzles all being from albums on that label, of course). I've even got some albums with this innersleeve! Among the puzzles offered was Donovan's "Gift From A Flower To A Garden" (a fantastic double album!), Sly & The Family Stone's "Stand!", and Johnny Cash's "Live At San Quentin".  I don't know of anyone who ever bought one of these puzzles and I have never laid eyes on one in my life. I suspect it was a VERY limited thing. (See where it says "offer available for a limited time only"). If one of these turned up intact it would be worth a mint.

I do remember in the 1970s seeing a Donny Osmond jigsaw puzzle in a department store, but that's kind of a different thing. Teen idols always came with lots of merchandising. 

https://preview.redd.it/kavq8mvp3mj71.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=5b7bb13e94326655cfbb5ee956250a253ff0c5cf

Actually there WERE puzzles featuring album covers in the 1960s---sort of. Some albums on Columbia/Epic came with an innersleeve advertising posters  as well as jigsaw puzzles of album covers (the puzzles all being from albums on that label, of course). I've even got some albums with this innersleeve! Among the puzzles offered was Donovan's "Gift From A Flower To A Garden" (a fantastic double album!), Sly & The Family Stone's "Stand!", and Johnny Cash's "Live At San Quentin".  I don't know of anyone who ever bought one of these puzzles and I have never laid eyes on one in my life. I suspect it was a VERY limited thing. (See where it says "offer available for a limited time only"). If one of these turned up intact it would be worth a mint.

I do remember in the 1970s seeing a Donny Osmond jigsaw puzzle in a department store, but that's kind of a different thing. Teen idols always came with lots of merchandising. 

https://preview.redd.it/kavq8mvp3mj71.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=5b7bb13e94326655cfbb5ee956250a253ff0c5cf


O0 Very cool artifact!  I wasn't aware of those jigsaw puzzles, and never saw one, but come to think of it that was likely well received among album buffs.  It would be a blast to work on, for instance, a Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album puzzle...

I was born in 1970 so I didn't experience the 1960's but I've always been fascinated with that era, so I wish I could have.

The mid-1960s was when I had my first tastes of "fast food".  I remember eating at McDonalds, Burger King, and Jack In The Box (though I may be wrong on Jack In The Box, maybe not until the late 1960s).  We had these fast food places relatively near our home.  We didn't eat fast food very much; it was a "treat".

I remember that I loved going to department stores with my Mom mostly because I was fascinated with escalators.  I liked riding in elevators too - who remembers that many elevators at the time had attendants, and some elevators used the big metal grates instead of regular elevator doors?

How much were the prices of fast foods back then?

Actually there WERE puzzles featuring album covers in the 1960s---sort of. Some albums on Columbia/Epic came with an innersleeve advertising posters  as well as jigsaw puzzles of album covers (the puzzles all being from albums on that label, of course). I've even got some albums with this innersleeve! Among the puzzles offered was Donovan's "Gift From A Flower To A Garden" (a fantastic double album!), Sly & The Family Stone's "Stand!", and Johnny Cash's "Live At San Quentin".  I don't know of anyone who ever bought one of these puzzles and I have never laid eyes on one in my life. I suspect it was a VERY limited thing. (See where it says "offer available for a limited time only"). If one of these turned up intact it would be worth a mint.

I do remember in the 1970s seeing a Donny Osmond jigsaw puzzle in a department store, but that's kind of a different thing. Teen idols always came with lots of merchandising. 

https://preview.redd.it/kavq8mvp3mj71.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=5b7bb13e94326655cfbb5ee956250a253ff0c5cf


I am curious, color posters advertised in black and white?