re: What was life like in the 1970s as an adult

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Until the late 70's when the interest rates and inflation exploded.

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Yep, in the 80's if making a home loan, you were looking at double digit interest rates on 30 yr. loans and high single digit loans on 15 yr. mortgages.


It was a crazy time to try to buy a house back then.

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What I remember the most was that smoking was accepted everywhere. Every place you went was permeated with the smell of cigarette smoke. Offices, airplanes, restaurants, etc.

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you forgot hospitals, it was common for people to smoke outside of the rooms in hallways of the hospital

ETA--smoking was allowed in rooms as well w/o O2

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Kelly Leak was real.

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I turned 12 in 1980, so spent my childhood in the 70s.

I knew a few “Kelly Leakes”. I wasn’t one of them.

I, too, remember buying cigs for my parents at the tender age of 8.

Less fatties in public.

Adult, Smaldult....I was a teenager in the midst of the seventies and IT WAS AWESOME!!

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Politically not a good decade at all. It started with Vietnam winding down, Kent State, and Watergate. It ended with Jimmy Carter's malaise, an oil crisis, and the Iranian revolution/hostage crisis. Gerald Ford in between. The Russians were still around and nuclear was was a real possibility. Economically it wasn't very good, people have a lot more stuff now. There was a stock market crash, inflation, slow growth, oil shocks. Japanese cars started selling like hotcakes because of the oil shocks, and they were just built better than US cars. It was a very tough time for US auto. Clothing and wall paper were gaudy as hell. Women were wearing halter tops and that was awesome. Music was both fantastic and terrible but I don't think music and concerts have ever been better than the early to mid 70's. Movies were great too. In the early 70's there was no airport security at all, and half the plane was the "smoking section". Seats may have been bigger but there were also fewer fat asses. Pong came out in the early 70's and video games were very basic. Home computers were non existent, same for cell phones. TV's were small with limited stations via antenna. Music in the car was either 8-track or cassette, CD's weren't out yet. Home music was via turntables and album art was great but the hiss and pop of albums wasn't so great.

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Right on all counts, I miss them too.

I was a '71 baby but my sisters graduated in '79 and '81. The greatest period of my life was getting to be around a house load of boys and girls in their teens as a young kid. People taking care of people. Framed so much of who I was. Truly an incredible decade, as were the 80's. Would trade all today if we could live in those times again.

I attended a taping of Three's Company in the early 80s while visiting Universal Studios in L.A. Very professional. They finished the taping in less than 30 minutes. There was one mistake they had to redo. Chrissie had left the show, the nurse wore a bikini so...

I grew up in a river parish town between BR and NO in the 60s and 70s. If you wanted to cross the river you took a ferry. Party lines (look it up) and S&H Green Stamps were the norm. Three networks, and we got up to change the channel.

In the late 60s I walked to the local theater. I got in for a quarter. Blacks were not allowed to sit with whites, by the way. They entered the theater from the back and sat in a balcony.

Many years went by before I even realized blacks were in the building. Only when I saw arms reaching through a hole the the ceiling to buy candy at the snack bar did I realize blacks were in the bldg.

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White Only

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signs were the norm at the time so nobody thought that was strange.

I remember John Kennedy getting shot. I was in the 2nd grade. It was announced over the PA system. Several of the girls in my class were crying. At the time I thought, "why are they crying, they don't know who JFK is?" Looking back, they were crying because they knew something bad had happened and were scared. Everything stopped.

Things were different. My father took me to a George Wallace rally held at the old Ag Bldg. I'll never forget that scene. There were boxing matches at the local gymnasium. I remember my father taking me to one of those. The opposing/ visiting team was all black. They were physical specimens. Each and every one, in better shape than the mostly flabby white boxers. The white boxers won every fight.

For years and years I always wondered how that happened. As I grew older and wiser, I realized how that happened. Those black fighters would not dare beat a white boxer. The crowd was all white. And you can imagine the anger and slurs directed to those kids. I remember pieces of paper on the ground so there was likely open betting. Concussion protocols wouldn't happen for another 50 years, lol.

Yo-yos, tops, marbles were recess favorites.

The Beatles. Motown. Elvis (Caught him at the Assembly Center. Most electric atmosphere I ever experienced.)

Technology was exploding. Transistor radios were sufficient. I huddled next to my radio as Pistol Pete knocked down 20 footers. I would match my ride's Pioneer Super Tuner with Jensen Triax against anything today. Johnny Carson was my window to the rest of America.

Minimum wage was 95 cents hr and a candy bar was a nickel when I started my first job. Schlitz was the number one beer. Getting drunk was the local past time. CBs and Disco were the rage, thank heaven for the second British invasion. Jimmy Swaggert came on the scene.

The Saints. I first saw the Saints in the old Sugar Bowl stadium. Miami came to town. Griese, Warfield, Kick, and Zonka (sp). Before our seats were warm it was 21-0. Three possessions, three scores, still first qtr.

About that same time and same place there was this concert. J Giels, ZZ Top, and Lynard Skynard scheduled. It was an all day affair so everyone arrived early, like noon. Hot as a mother. The bands were late, hour after hour passed, no bands. The crowd went crazy.

Finally, a hundred police, or more, came running out of the tunnel. It looked like a football team with their blue riot helmets. The police formed a perimeter on the field as they grabbed people taking them to the center of the circle they formed. Crazy and funny at the same time. Then they left. I guess they gave up or the bands arrived. J Geils and ZZ Top performed. Skynard never made it.

I could go on and on. From the Rolling Stones giant inflatable penis on stage in the Assembly Center to pet rocks and mood rings.

I wouldn't change anything, but I wouldn't go back.

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I turned 12 in 1980, so spent my childhood in the 70s

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Same here..most weekends were spent outside, doing something other than sitting on your arse, riding your bike everywhere and anywhere, jumping ditches like Evel Knievel.