On the Homefront - A Look at Life in America During the 1940s
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ค. 2023
- Today we return back to the enchanting era of the 1940s in the United States. Step into the shoes of those who lived during this remarkable period as we present a captivating collection of vintage photos showcasing the people and street scenes of 1940s America.
Immerse yourself in the vibrant atmosphere of bustling cities and charming small towns that defined the American landscape during this transformative decade. Witness the stylish attire, iconic automobiles, and timeless architecture that painted the backdrop for everyday life. From the shimmering lights of New York City to the laid-back charm of small-town America, each image tells a story of a bygone era.
Through these photographs, we glimpse the spirit of resilience and unity that characterized a nation amidst the challenges of World War II. Discover the faces of hardworking individuals, the warm smiles of families, and the camaraderie of communities coming together in times of both celebration and adversity.
Whether you are a history enthusiast, a lover of vintage aesthetics, or simply curious about the past, this video offers an immersive visual experience that will evoke a sense of nostalgia and leave you with a renewed appreciation for the beauty of the human experience.
Thanks for joining me again in The History Lounge. Now, hit that play button and prepare to embark on another mesmerizing journey through time! Remember to subscribe to the channel for more captivating glimpses into the annals of history and join our community of fellow time travelers.
#lifeinamerica #nostalgia #1940s
Intractable by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/... - บันเทิง
![Wonderful California 40's in color [60fps,Remastered] w/sound design added](/img/n.gif)
The main streets were so vibrant and alive. You can just feel the sense of community
Contrast that to today. People are slobs - Fat, tattooed unkempt degenerates. City streets covered with homeless tents, drug addicts and streets reeking of feces and urine. Uncontrolled crime and corrupt, greedy politicians who do nothing about it. I'd like to have grown up during this era.
@@miket7184 Just curious. Are your comments about the country? Your state? Your city? Your county? Your mother? 'Cause people like you, with generalities like those, just piss me off!
Atheism and cultural marxism have destroyed the USA
Loved those days, I am old as dirt, I lived in those times. We had little repair shops where, instead of throwing everything away to go to the land fill , you had it repaired. All kinds of little businesses and shops and little restaurants. Loved the manners people had back then also. People are never perfect of course , but again I miss the manners of the time. Also people didn’t throw trash all over the place, and expect others to clean up after them.
Respect to you, sir.
People today simply cannot relate to such a foreign world. I wish fedoras would come back!
@@frankgordon8829 What's stopping you from buying a fedora? You can wear one.
@@willp.8120 Actually, there's a place relatively close to me that sells them. I will get one!
Awesome 👍😎
I have many family photos from this era. My father was born in 1927 and my Mother was born in 1924. They are both gone now and I miss them both. I’m 58 and the youngest of my siblings. We honor the legacy set forth 🥲by our parents.🇺🇸
Everything so clean. No rubbish on the streets. Lovely people on the streets. Everyone so chic.I see the joy of life.The good USA.
In the Chicago street scene, it really looks like a place you'd love to visit, rather than a place to avoid out of fear.
Sure,d as long as Al Capone wasn't looking for you.
Most looked like places that would be great to visit. As far as Capone, he was pretty much near death.
@@marions.120
Frank Nitti was still around. While Paul Ricca was about to take over in Chicago. So whoever somehow finds their way back to 1940s Chicago be sure not to piss off those guys.
6:38 As retired military I still appreciate the fact that those two gentleman appear to be in perfect step with each other even on liberty. My buddies and I used to catch ourselves doing the same thing.
Reminds me of how my grandparents and my folks dressed. Back then most people, my family included, would change clothes before leaving home for downtown. My Dad wore Levi’s around the house or when he worked in the yard or on our car. My Mom wore some simple dress working around the house with her hair up in braids. If my folks needed to go somewhere, they changed clothes. They never wore shorts or went barefoot away from home.
As it has been said : decorum at all moments.
Great comment - thanks for adding this.
Beautiful people and a beautiful society. Hard to believe it's the same country... Really makes me wish I had a time machine. And, btw, the colorization is great. It's nice to see these images in color...
Atheism and cultural marxism have destroyed the USA
First, thank you for doing this for us..we appreciate your time. Second, I love hats, so seeing both men and women wearing them makes me happy. I would have like to have been around during this time, I didn't happen till 1954! I always enjoy your videos so much...thanks!
I'm a kid from the 50's also. Now that I'm older, I appreciate the style hats provided. When I was young I remember thinking, I'm sure glad hats went out of style, lol. My grandparents still wore hats when they went outdoors all the way up to their passing in the 70's. You may know this but others reading this might not. People from that time didn't wash their hair as frequently as now. Once or maybe twice a week for women was common. Hats helped keep dust and dirt out of your hair when going outdoors. Also, it was believed that if you got your head wet and didn't dry it right away, you'd certainly catch a cold. Hats helped with that if you got caught in rain.
In the 1990s I wore my large brim gray fedora hat to the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy in NYC in Lower Manhattan. I was treated with respect and I paid for hot sandwiches and pastries in cash. I walked to the Port Authority Trans Hudson subway at 9th Street and 6th Avenue and took the train home and got off at Journal Square, Jersey City and walked 10 blocks to my home for my late mother to try. It was a cool evening that day.😊
Thanks for watching and for your kind comments! I'm glad you're enjoying these!
People had fewer clothes, but they were amazingly tailored.
You could say the same thing about a bikini wax.
It was the GOLDEN age of NUDISM.
Americans across the board dressed better than they do today.
That is a gross understatement! Especially the women, who took pride in their appearance back then. Nowadays, they plaster themselves with body graffiti, and try to look as trashy as they possibly can. This is "progress"?
I agree…we’ve become a nation of slobs.
And were a heck of a lot thinner.
When watching the movie "Saboteur " Robert Cummings goes to a baseball game and everyone in the stadium is wearing a suit and hat
Life before Walmart and fast food.
Always impressed at how well dressed most people were back then
Me too.
And no fatties or freaks.
Simple times and simple pleasures.
MN in 1942 compare to today is like night and day. So refreshing to see these lovely memories
The photos on all of these are incredible, but so is the music...perfect match.
How far our country has fallen. Lovely women, without any tattoos or fishing tackle on their faces, everyone well-dressed, the architecture was elevating instead of oppressing, and there weren't any "street people." I want a time machine!
Ah yes, the good ol racist and misogynist days gone by! Don't forget to get your fill of environment poisoning chemicals too being spilled out of the factories! Have a smoke even!
@@rickmeyer9495 And you think the racism is better now???? No Burn, Loot, & MUrder back then... This country is more divided now, and is by far worse! And lets not forget that wonderful train derailment earlier this year in East Palestine Ohio just to name a few.. I'll take this time period in a heartbeat!
Me too, there is an aura of community and decency in these shots.
Americans were a much better quality people back then…. And I’m American and I’m saying this!
@@rickmeyer9495 anything and everything is racistREEEEE
That view of Chicago in 1941 is stunning. Such elegant, solid skyscrapers, clean wide sidewalks, love the old bus too.
Lost civilization.
Watching these photos is exactly as I thought of America being like when I was growing up in England in the 1950s.Very enjoyable.
That's cool - I'm glad you liked it!
@@TheHistoryLounge it's the size of those cars that impresses me
To me the women from the earlier years seem to be so beautiful ! There is just something special about them .
@@Judywilkerson More natural all the way around. The only make-up was the ubiquitous red lipstick.
@@vincentl.9469It is the fact that there are few nonwhites that impress s me.
These photos are a blend of real American style and quality. That quality of life is no more in America or any other western country. All were devastated
The 40's are my mythical decade. I was born in 52. Everything about the 40's fascinates me. Not war, of course, but women's fashion, cooking, country club memberships, department stores, even weather.
Cool - that's so interesting. I hope you're liking the '40s videos!
@@TheHistoryLounge you betcha
Atheism and cultural marxism have destroyed the USA
Everything back then looked so clean especially the streets
the buildings and the cars! wow....just can't get enough :) and there were clearly defined men and women...what a concept
Clearly defined separation of the races ! Jim Crow laws & segregation with voter supression & poll tax. Internment of loyal Japanese americans sh*to & giggles!
I know things back then weren’t as rosy as many remember, but the one thing that sticks out to me that’s sadly missing today is respect!
Narcissism is the overiding theme now.
@@GordoGambler 👍 Absolutely and probably due to the onslaught of social media, where a young girl killed herself because she didn’t get enough likes or too many dislikes! That’s a WTF moment in my head and that of a normal person! Or in the UK 2 years ago where a 13 year old girl was used via social media to lure a 13 year old boy to the woods where they stabbed him to death! WTF!!!! The reason…..because the 13 year old victim snitched on social media about bullying and therefore paid the price for telling the truth with his life!!!! Now tell me this hasn’t become a f###ed up society!
They actually have this 13 year old girl on audio gleeeeeeeeing with excitement about the on coming stabbing!!!! 😳 WTF!!!!! I mean seriously WTF is wrong with these kids!!! Future sociopaths in the making l say 🤔
@rowdyjr2318 Yep you’re right there’s ALWAYS been nasty humans, but the disrespectful ones back then were like 10% of the nasty, rude, obnoxious, thieving, stabbing ones that we have today! Example. Old folk being mugged at cash machines today! Whoever did a manoeuvre like this back then would of got such a bashing they would not of done it ever again! That’s my point ok.
Sure you'd get respect.....except if you were black😲
literally the entire planet by 1939' - 45 would be either goose stepping or sliding into the dumpster fire of WW2 & Holocaust.'@@EtonieE25
Everyone, across all social classes, dressed well, clean, THIN, no obesity, no blue or purple hair, nothing like what we have devolved into
Deep State & corruption did it.
Can you imagine bringing bringing anyone from these pictures forward to see what America is like now?
I'm sure they would be in a hurry to get back to their own time.
Yes, they did dress better and they cared what they looked like. Thank you for this.
These videos make me want a Time Machine.
So true!
TH-cam is a time machine... of a kind.
Take me with you
It's truly shocking just how far the quality of life has fallen in these major cities.
Life was better for America back then.
White America
@@chrism271 Go study the books of Thomas E. Sowell.
Back then life was so simple and also safe , good old days .
What was safe about WW2 & Holocaust and the US under Jim Crow & segregation strict race laws. good old insanity.
The couple of photos of Chicago showed a pristine beautiful city. Now...
Wow just wow where did America go wrong?
It's called fastfood.
allowing progressives to take over every institution
liberalism
Mass immigration from disparate peoples.
The Supreme court ruled that prayer in schools violated the separation of church and state.
Back in the day when small business was everywhere and peoples dreams became realities. Sure wish I had the chance to go back and walk among the classiest looking bunch of people of their time. I dare anyone to start dressing like they did in the past and that goes for any time period. Looking forward to every single video you upload my friend. 🎞📽
I just want to cry.
back then people had more class from the looks of these pictures.
Folks dressed so well in those days!
Girls with no tattoos nor nose rings, WOW.
Yes. There is nothing more repulsive than seeing women with diaper pins sticking in their eyebrows or diamonds in their noses or tongues.
@@joeyjamison5772maybe you should try men if your not interested In the ladies
@@saidufofanah2210 Women with tattoos all over their bodies are no ladies!
I’ve never once heard a guy say. “Wow, you should have seen the nose ring on that babe, she is so hot!”
“Those Were The Days, My Friend”!
paradise lost - we degraded as a society.
We may have gained a lot since then but in important ways we lost more than we gained.
@@davis7099 London is no longer British, racially and ethnically. You've already lost most of your major cities, or they are on the path to erosion.
Awesome photos thanks for sharing...
These people had just come out of the Great Depression and World War II was going on. The future was very uncertain America had not yet become a Superpower. I'm sure they would be astonished at the greatness to come only to squander it all away now.
Awesome photos. No circus freaks, tattoos, man buns, hooped ear lobes and aasorted other circus acts.
The good old days. Gone forever.
So relaxed, happy , and the the people so beautifully turned out in lovely clothes , where did it go wrong ?
The 1960s.
@@jgrab1 fat acceptance
Hart-Cellar Immigration Act of 1965
1933' Adolf Hitler comes to power with NSDAP. By 1939' WW2 starts. When exactly in your fantasy was it beautiful.
I love this channel. Beautiful pictures of a gentile time. Superb music to go along with the photos. I've added a like and subscribed. Look forward to more of your offerings.
Tidy Cities - Well dressed/fed people - Very interesting!
In 100 years people will see this and won't believe that beautiful, classy people like this ever existed.
Some people today don't believe it.I have seen so many comments on videos like this saying "this is fake","They didn't really do that","that was just in movies"--as if movies never or have never shown what the real world physically looked like--It's so depressing.People today,especially if under 40,have n9 knowledge of history,no idea how to think historically,and have no ability to imagine that anything could have been different than it is right now.They don't understand that these films were actually of real life,because to them everything is a video game or a movie,not realizing that even a game or movie has to be based on SOMETHING.
Many people believe history began when they were born. @@debra1363
I like the colorizing. Very good job on that. Looks natural and real. Brings another dimension to the photos.
Go directly to an optometrist.
@@peaceonearth8693 I am an optometrist.
Look how nice everyone dressed back then. Nowadays people struggle to put on a some panamas to go to Walmart.
At 3:37. I would LOVE to walk into those record and magazines/books store.
Definitely!
What beautful people! Well dressed, slender, smiling, clean, and optimistic. I knew something was going very wrong when I hit age 18 in 1968. San Francisco, where I was born, began it's long, slow descent into Hell. People barely noticed at first, but all of Califirnia became unglued in 2000. Now it's both Purgatory and The Inferno; a toilet and foundry of red hot misery. Moved East in 2007. Much better for awhile. Now it's going down like the Titanic. Only God can help us now.
WW2 & Holocaust enter the chat.
@@fluffy1931 WWII barely affected the US, except for rationing of fuel and food. Full employment ended the Depression and raised living standards and everyone’s mood. Only about 15% of military personnel saw combat. The rest supported the war with ammo, ships, planes, supplies, and medical assistance. The public had little awareness of the murder of Jews, Catholics, Gypsies, and gays until the Nuremberg trials began well after the war.
On Feb 20, 1939, a Nazi rally took place at Madison Square Garden, organized by the German American Bund. More than 20,000 people attended complete with swatzikas & goose stepping and dumpster fire of anti semitism and pro nazi themes like ' Amerika First'.@@riverwildcat1
we were a truly beautiful and great nation on top of her game
Unfortunately, the American century of which this was right in the middle of this time (1940’s)! I mean it’s just about over unless we take back, control of the reins and turn this country around we’re screwed!
@@nealsausen4651 You can't have an American century when you are being invaded by different races. Just the facts.
@@willp.8120 : yes, (sigh) I suppose you were right!
Everything looks so stylish.
Simply put...this channel is top shelf ! Thanks for the memories. 👍
No nose rings, purple hair or tattoos. Nice.
Or plastic surgery
Ku Klux Klan & Jim Crow strict race laws & segregation and voter supression & poll tax. Loyal American ciizens forced into internment camps because of their Japanese ancestery .
Nice music and beautiful pictures.
I wonder what people who grew up around the 1900’s - thought of fashion by the 1940’s. My guess is they thought “Americans used to have such style and elegance.”
America was a great place to live then , ok it had human rights issues but in general much safer and pleasant to live in and work in for all
Unless you were a minority of course. Lynching and vigilantism were widespread, especially outside urban areas.
@@jaandebruer yeah , appreciate that , minorities have had it hard in the USA even my kinfolk the Irish were treated badly in the mid 19 th century as depicted in the movie " gangs of new york " i,ve researched it too and its true , but having said that many minorities had a good life too there and became prosperous and high rack,, ask Mr Obama and Jessie Jackson and of course music is in the soul of black people and many even today make it big, good luck to them, I had a great time in Wildwood New Jersey in the 80,s as a student from Ireland , told US is far different today tho , it was a bit like the video and brought back memories for me, met a beautiful black girl there too at that time
@@jaandebruerGood thing they didn’t give up, now as a minority I’m living a prosperous, peaceful life the way they hoped it would be for their descendants.
It's better now in some ways, far worse in other ways, same for Ireland and the world as a whole.
You could be right but I feel with the rise in technology people are under more pressure than b4 to produce , something the human brain is not coping well with and all in the name of economic growth and corporate profitability and greed. Greed that is rampaging the planet for resources and ensuring the chosen few or chosen few countries have all the gain , I think simpler times suited humans better and people had more compassion and time for each other , not to mention the drug gangs ruining society. I fear for this planet now , its being destroyed
I really like good old America
Very classic 👍👍
5:45: I like the one of downtown Bisbee, AZ. I went on to Google street view just now and found many of those downtown buildings still there and hardly changed with some of the painted signage on the buildings still there but faded. So cool to see! My dad would have been a 13 year old boy living near there during 1940, as my grandfather was a senior officer at the nearby Douglas Army Airfield (now Bisbee-Douglas International Airport) right at that time. Cool images. .
Everyone, especially men, dressed well
wow! I had to pause and take in every photo!!This took much more time to watch then 8 min, even had to go back a few times!! Anyone else? >> Like if paused!!
Batman, no I put it on double speed and still couldn't get through the whole video. But I'm sure I'm much much older than you, so this these photos are no big deal to me... it was normal.
Mesmerizing. Could watch this all day. Background music is perfect.
Love that theme music.
Post -Two was probably the best five years the US ever had .
We won the war, everyone had a hero in their family, the baby boom, post-war houses you could buy cheap, free college for soldiers....
The President was a brilliant businessman ...
You said everything I would've said. Today is a disaster.
Bastard, not you won the war! Only USSR. We would won without America.
I love these old images.
Seemed to be more civilised back then
What do you expect when you invite the uncivilized impoverished nations to live them among you and then let them outnumber you?
No fatties or freaks .
WW2 & Holocaust enter the chat ffs.
I could watch these all day long.
Me too, but my boss just kicked my chair and said to get back to work!
I love this channel. And the theme song is haunting and so beautiful.
Can you identify the music?
Hats and neckties. I belong in that time!
Yes - me too!
Evert shot shows a clean town, no trash and litter.
@BoneyParker - Why do you think everything is so well-maintained……?????
Another world captured wonderfully through superb colorizing technique and photo editing. Some marvelous images that reawaken a world we envision as black & white. As a former small-paper photojournalist, I am a true believer in b&w but these pictures resound with meaning and impact. Bravo!
Enjoy the photos and the music, they do go together thanks
Thanks, @lavernedofelmier6496! I do my best to match the mood of the music to the photos in the videos. I'm glad you like the combo!
I remember those days, back when everyone tried to look their best no matter how much money you had. And believe it or not, women actually walked around with CLOTHES ON ,never saw a naked butt hanging out anywhere .
Chicago was breathtaking 🤙🏼 still a uniquely beautiful place today
great stuff, thank you for the upload...
You're very welcome - I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome video - love the music!
First picture shows a woman not wearing gloves, which I remarked upon: there is no * way * my mother or grandmother or great-grandmother would have * ever * left the house without dressing correctly and wearing gloves.
Then I looked at all the other women - all wearing gloves 🙂. 1930s (among thos not affected by the Depression) and 40s: most elegant time for women in our history. And those unique 40s hairstyles designed * solely * for wearing hats: straight against the head on top, with curls or rolls further down, framing the hat.
When I was a girl my mom sighed and told me about spending a month's wages on a hat.
And glad she did.
My sister got a really bad telling off from her convent school when she took off her white gloves in the street (they wore grey in the winter), “nice” girls always wore gloves and a hat.
@@kevinkane7667 Not much freedom eh?
I love the music in this video too
For fans of retro and nostalgic colors..
There's a Kirk Douglas movie titled 'Strangers When We Meet' from 1960. It captures a lot of the colors that characterized the late 1950s.
Thanks, really great.
You know, what jumps out at me, is all the free enterprise.
No Walmart, which kills small business
Target is just as bad if not worse!
You don’t see anybuddy thats over weight in those days because food was good for everyone !!!!!!!!!❤
You beat me to it. People were thin and I mean thirty pounds thinner.
Yeah but at least we have huge pillow pack economy sized bags of day glo orange cheese puffs. That's progress. Though my fingers are all covered in orange dust and I have to wear a bib or change my t-shirt.
@@JamesBond-uz2dm Smoking helped.
Great work,thanks!
Nice, thanks.
How low we've fallen.
We are but a caricature of the society we once were.
- back when we had class.
Excellent quality pics!! I really enjoyed it. Wish there were some southern towns though.
Great video
It always impresses me how slender people were before fake, ultra processed food came into the picture -
We've been experiencing a slow death, thanks to the toxins put in our food and the poison that doctors prescribe.
Everyone was well dressed and the streets appeared to be safe with many small businesses? It sad to see how much the U.S. has changed for the worse?
No it hasn’t. Crime was higher back then
I'm amazed by the number of new cars!!! The transition in body styling from say 1939 through '41 are dramatic. Very few 1930s production cars in these photos! It surprised me.
@robertmangano353 It's also true that people could AFFORD a new car then much more than they can today. Stakeholder Capitalism made things much more advantageous for the common worker than before or today with the readoption of Shareholder Capitalism.
By my dad's economic principle, an avg new car should cost no more than 25% of one's yearly gross income. ONE income. My dad never financed a new car in his life; he paid cash for every one he owned.
One car I went with him to buy was a stripped 1980 mustang. I remember; it stickered for $8k, he got it for $6.5k. Compare the increase in avg car values from 1920 to 1980, then from 1980 to today. It's madness how exponential the cost growth is, all at a time while costs, especially wages decreased.
@robertmangano353 1920:
$2,537
Cars cost an average of $2,537 in 1920. Source : Automotive Industries A 1920 Model-T Ford was priced at $440 , as recorded in the Automobile Trade Journal , Nov 1 1920 issue.
1980: Around 7,000 dollars
The 1980s were a great time for the automobile industry, the average model new 1980 car cost around 7,000 dollars, and a gallon of gas was about 90. cents.
2023: Around $49,388.
According to Kelley Blue Book and the Bureau Of Labor Statistics, the average new car price at the beginning of 2023 is $49,388!
@robertmangano353 So cars in 1980 were roughly 2.7x more expensive than 1920.
But cars are roughly 7x more expensive today than in 1980.
@robertmangano353 Wages in 1920
As is the case today, wage earners in the United States filed tax returns and paid federal tax on their wages. In 1920, the Internal Revenue Service reports, the average income was $3,269.40 per year.
The average wage in 1980 was $12,513.461. The average individual income in 1980 was $11,656.522. The average annual income in 1980 was $19,170.003. The median family income in 1980 was $21,020, but due to a 13.5% increase in consumer prices between 1979 and 1980, there was a net decline of 5.5% in real median family income4.
$53,490
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for a full-time wage or salary worker in the United States in 2023 is $53,490 or $1,028 per week for a 40-hour work week12. However, there are significant variations in pay relative to job type, education level, and social and economic factors34. The median wage for a full-time job in the states is currently at $53,490 in one year2.
Thanks, that was fun.
Très belles photos et bonne musique d’accompagnement.
Je suis heureux que vous l'ayez apprécié. Merci d'avoir regardé!
Nyc is clean unbelievable.
When I see these I always think of the tiny hole in the wall bar. Its snowing in the city at dusk on Christmas eve and you come in off the street to have a round with the boys. I bet the atmosphere in a place like that is nice at times.
The signage was great. Some beautiful women as well. Most streets were clean.
A lost civilization
Even though it's during the war years everyone looks so classy and slim. How the human race has degenerated in such a short time.
Average life expectancy 1940 was 60...lol
@@davis7099 So tell me all the great stuff you personally experienced in the 30’s and 40’s😄
@@gaim44 Modern medicine has something to do with that increase. Ambulances, hospitals, AED's, CPR... My dad had a massive heartattack at a gas station, a nursing student and several passersby took turns doing CPR till squad showed up. We got 2.5 more years with him.
This is a Great Channel. Love the photos
Thanks so much, @JRCinKY. I'm glad you're liking the pictures!