So I was born in the sixties..

[rfuerst911sc]

Paul I beat you by one year Jan 58 for me . Born and raised in upstate NY in a fairly small town but it had lots of manufacturing jobs . There were three IBM facilities , a Zerox and a few other large employers with many smaller supporting manufacturing facilities . My dad worked for IBM and mom was a stay at home . We were not rich we were not poor ............. we were the typical middle class family .

Met my wife there ( we just celebrated 42 years of bliss ) and started our family . But by the 90's the area had lost a LOT of manufacturing jobs and the area became quite depressed which was our queue to get out . We moved south and here we are to stay . But we don't regret any or our time in NY it was a simpler time and quite good for most of the stay . But life moves on .

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

Paul I beat you by one year Jan 58 for me . Born and raised in upstate NY in a fairly small town but it had lots of manufacturing jobs . There were three IBM facilities , a Zerox and a few other large employers with many smaller supporting manufacturing facilities . My dad worked for IBM and mom was a stay at home . We were not rich we were not poor ............. we were the typical middle class family .

Met my wife there ( we just celebrated 42 years of bliss ) and started our family . But by the 90's the area had lost a LOT of manufacturing jobs and the area became quite depressed which was our queue to get out . We moved south and here we are to stay . But we don't regret any or our time in NY it was a simpler time and quite good for most of the stay . But life moves on .

Sounds like Rochester to me?

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Dpmulvan

Sounds like Rochester to me?

Kodak was there also.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

The 60's video got me in the Hoffman rabbithole- and came to this.
They had things figured out.

[flatbutt]

Seed bag dresses...man that say's it all.

I will say that our first family dinner table (mine not my parents) was one that I fashioned out of one side of a power company cable reel. Do I get any points for that?

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Seed bag dresses...man that say's it all.

I will say that our first family dinner table (mine not my parents) was one that I fashioned out of one side of a power company cable reel. Do I get any points for that?

Yes, the famous power company cable reel. By my time, they were relegated to coffee table status!

I thought their view on being "given things" was interesting. Also, too much information coming at you at once, such as in the late 70's, could make your "head spin".

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by Dpmulvan

Sounds like Rochester to me?

Nope I was born in Endicott and my wife in Conklin . Between Endicott/Binghamton/Johnson City/Conklin there were tons of manufacturing jobs . And then poof they were mostly gone ☹️ . There is one IBM facility on North Street in Endicott and one Lockheed Martin facility in Owego and that's about it. Some smaller feeder facilities but nothing like back in the day .

[KFC911]

^^^ Ya know what made my head spin in the late 70s? Girlz on my college campus

[Zeke]

Born in '45 and I was 17 when I graduated HS in '63. I was the right age for being whatever change I felt like and there were a lot of things starting up. People weren't yet flocking to SF as in the fad to do so. I made it up there but I was an observer. I went to the Filmore West and saw the Grateful Dead before they knew much other than jamming on LSD, which they served free out of water coolers.

On the other side of things, hot rodding and drag racing were becoming professional as in they sold tickets to the races. The circle dirt tracks had been around for awhile but attendance was growing.

Concerts, mygod there were concerts ALL the time. Surf music every night down near the beaches or any auditorium. The Beatles were doing stadiums and Sunset Strip had so many acts all there at once it was the writing of the book how on they all came up.

Then you had VW's that could do a 12 second 1/4 mile then 10.

But the British Invasion and Acid Rock buried a lot of traditional culture and everything you can think of changed on the 2 coasts. It was hard to make choices then if you had the presence of mind for choices.

And just like that, you were 10 years older and it was over for us in our mid to late 20's taken completely over by the new crop of 14 YO's.

[Sunroof]

I was born in 1948 (baby boomer) so my time was the 60's! A road trip in my senior high school year (1966) in a new Ford Mustang via Route 66 from Chicago to LA. Weekends in San Francisco from Travis AFB (1967-1968) with lots of time in the Haight Asbury District, listening to poetry in Golden Gate Park, concerts at Filmore West and Avalon, Market Street, tons of grass to smoke, love beads, incense burners, all the sex you ever dreamed of, bell bottoms, head shops, black light posters, etc. Drove my 1959 Austin Healy Bug Eyed Sprite all around northern California. I survived a year in Vietnam (1968-1969), discharged in 1970 then onto college and so on. Moved onto Fiats, Triumphs and Porsche's which was the natural order of things.

Looking back at age 72, we had a social conscience back then, 1968 was a horrible year, both in the USA and Vietnam. Death and uprisings always in the news. Today reminds me of the late sixty's but throw the pandemic in for good measure. You had to experience the 1960's to truly understand it all, but it has strongly influenced me to this day and I am a better person for it.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by Sunroof

..... Today reminds me of the late sixty's but throw the pandemic in for good measure. You had to experience the 1960's to truly understand it all, but it has strongly influenced me to this day and I am a better person for it.

1968 Pandemic (H3N2 virus) approx 100k dead in the usa. Per capita, that was possibly worse. I don't remember it either. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1968-pandemic.html