Interior of the ’50s American Houses Through Amazing Kodachrome Slides
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
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I was born in 1940, so I still have vivid memories of the 1950's. It's interesting how each decade is so different from the one before and the one following.
every decade has its own flavor, its own music etc.
The thing that’s interesting, is that photos back then were for “ occasions.” Hence all the people being dressed up. It is not like today, where you can just whip out your phone and take a picture. I was a child during 50s. It was a wonderful decade. Thanks for the memories.
I was born in 1953, I can see all my aunts and uncles in these pictures. Good times.
Me too, born in 54.
@@joanneplunkett4656 me too! Born 1950...
Yes, so true! It was a great time to be a kid. I feel sorry for today's kids.
Me too!
cool my dad was born in 1953
Obviously so many of these photos were family get-togethers at home, for holidays or just Sunday dinners, but the ladies are all dressed so nice in dresses and the men with white shirts, jackets and ties. I remember those days as a young boy, where did that all go?
We live at a time where people take pride in their slovenly tatties and fatties ugliness. I was born in 1960 and grew up in small town Norman Rockwell America. I miss those days too.
I had a 50s house it was tiny but very comfy! People had less, and two bedrooms and 1 bathroom and a tiny kitchen were perfect for an entire family of 5.
In the beginning no one had much time for TV or took it seriously except for it being a status symbol. TV shows had to be catchy with catchy theme songs and characters to draw folks into the deal of watching and hopefully buying what the commercials were pushing...usually basic products all housewives needed. A family was still defined by who they were as a unit of love and togetherness and not a unit to be taken apart and adrift into an electronic fantasy land which TV still is.
I recently moved into an apartment from 1952...it has the original fixtures in bathroom and green tile in kitchen and bath...not sure if tile is from 1952 but it has that feel...tiny kitchen and I love it.I'm trying to decorate in that style which is my thing anyway.
@@caliden3785 Sounds wonderful. I love mid century style...I grew up in the 60s and everything from the 50s still furnished and decorated houses. That style means home to me. ...Enjoy your home!
@@curtischildress9580 Thank you I am enjoying looking for pieces that fit this space. my 21 yr.old daughter is not so keen but its my apartment so she can move to a modern place if she likes 😉
@@caliden3785 Your daughter will learn good things from you! You all have fun!
I grew up in the 60s &70s but my grandparents had alot of those pieces of furniture in the pictures..and another strange thing I noticed was alot of the people in the pictures look like some of my family members..I had many memories watching this video..😀😀
They certainly weren’t afraid of dark colors on their walls. A few of those lamps I’d love to find at the thrift store!
We had beautiful lamps I remember a lady dancing, a man with a bull they were a set, so many and I never ever see them in thrift stores haven't in at least 20 plus years. Anna In Ohio
We grew up with less, but had so much more!!!
Agree, but I don't remember any interiors like these. Dresses yes but not curtains etc.
the designs and shapes catch my eye. But you will also notice that the room is not centered around the TV set. Chairs and couches are set for face to face interaction, and the organ isn't there collecting dust or holding pictures....people actually have the time/talent/interest to play. Good times & great memories.
Most of the pics appear to be taken on a holiday when company is over, which was the most common time for taking snapshots back in the days of old fashioned film cams. That possibly could not be the normal arrangement. In some pics kitchens chairs were placed on the LR.
And not one of them have a cell phone so they could send messages to their friends who aren't there while ignoring the people who are there.
I grew up in the 50's and didn't realize that we were poor but we were happy. Does anyone remember plastic curtains??? I had them in my bedroom.
My mother at age 13 tried to sneak a smoke out of the bathroom window on their second floor. Plastic curtains caught on fire and the fire dept had to come!
We had blue plastic lace curtains in our living room even in the early 60s. The white Venetian blinds were metal. Our sofa and chair were mohair, a deep blue color and deep wine color respectively. The floor was linoleum and the walls were papered a blue-green print. As children we can't comprehend financial things...I surely didn't.
In the 70’s I had last plastic curtain in the window in the shower !
Joyce - unfortunately, yes.
@@navret1707 Our plastic curtains back then were kind of different for sure but they created memories that we still have today. Meaningful memories of past things and my family are all I have now.
Makes you realize that our grandmas’ houses were like ours: a jumble of old and new and mismatched, and that all these sleek midcentury houses we pine for today are a Palm Springs rat-pack fantasy.
I'm basically a child of the '60s, having been born at the end of 1959, but I love everything there is about the 50s!
Me too! I was born in 1960, but always felt I was born after my time. Loved my grandma's and great-aunts' houses. And I had to pretend with peers I liked rock and roll when I actually listened to Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, etc.. I also love Elvis. Most of my house is done in 50s decor, including a 50s couch, pink tile bathroom, boomerang countertops, and '54 refrigerator that still works. I know I'm an old soul; that's why I look at videos on TH-cam about the past. I'm so glad I refound Yesterday Today!
Wow, what an escape to a better time. Born in 1955, I never really experienced the 50s to their fullest, but after seeing these horrible times today, I am looking for a time tunnel. I actually have bags full of photos and yes, Kodachrome slides taken by my father. The backdrop is identical. And things that don't happen today, like families together at the dinner table
Another 1955 baby here too. Those photos remind me of the ones I have in my possession since most of my family has passed on. In fact, I found my mom's albums from the 1940s too - classy people all around. Good times never to be seen again.
1956 here.
@@cordiscoscorner Me to.
I love this. My parents were teens in the 50s, it's like seeing a world they grew up in
Consumer goods were built to last and not break down so quickly. Thanks for the pictures. Happy times for me back then.
I love the dresses! They're so classy, elegant, and tasteful.
Moved to suburbs in 1952 at age of 12. These photos are truly representative
of the era. Good show.
Ahhh, yes. Those were HAPPY DAYS for me in the 1950’s. What a great time to be a kid. Knotty pine club basements, bright colors, optimism 👍🏻❤️
Notice how much more simply everyone lived. Didn't have to have 3 cars, McMansions, and all the excess you see today, Including all the technology which is a mixed blessing. That is why people were able to live on one income back then.
So true. These pictures make me pine for a bygone era, especially in our present global predicament.
Not true. The wage disparity is not caused by excess. It is caused by big business and the one percent. Also, it is called like then, "Keeping up with the Jonses".
@@MsRmaclaren the things you mentioned were around in those days too. In fact, they have always been around in one form or the other.
@@MsRmaclaren Stop with the 1% narrative, it's bull. The top 1% pay 40% of all income taxes, and the top 10% pay 78% of all income tax. Next time you see a 'rich' person, thank them.
It feels as though I’ve been in every room, seen every item of clothing and decor, and met all the people before. Good music too, IMO.
moments in time, never to be relived, only remembered. so strange to contemplate
Boy would I love to get my hands on some of these items 😍 especially the lamps
I'll roll you for that green lamp in the 3rd slide with the 2 yellow dress women! 😜
Love! I love, love, love everything about these pictures. Thank you for these amazing bygone fashions, decor, and family photos!
Tiny 50’s homes... with large families! Today.... the BIGGER the house, the SMALLER the family!
First thought. "Mama don't take my Kodachrome away". Second thought, look at all the items in these homes that came from the Top Value Stamp store. I guess you had to be there to understand.
Also Blue Chip and S&H stamps. I remember, as a child, watching selected items moving on a conveyor belt to the sales counter.
@@Vidchemy I remember, as far as grocery stores, Kroger's used Top Value and A&P used S&H. The Top Value was more popular here in Ohio. The small business's even gave them out. I pumped gas while in high school at the local Gulf station and we gave then out. I carried a red plastic wallet that held pages ($2.00) in my back pocket. I still have one of their catalogs from 1966 that listed most of the items you could redeem your stamps for. There is a 1966 Galaxy convertible on the back page. I can't remember how many it took but they had most everything.
@@JT-SE-OHIO Down south we had Piggly Wiggly..gave out S& H stamps. I remember wetting them and putting them in pages..
Among the things the saving stamps paid for was the tennis racket I took to college. Our Thanksgiving holiday fun was gathering up all the stamps and pasting them into the books then we would all go as a family to pick and choose the gifts we would exchange. Mom and Dad would play the game of being surprised and always found a way to compliment us on our choices.
@@Vidchemy I worked for S&H green stamps when I was in high school.
I've bought a few houses where the interior looked exactly the same as it did in the 1950s.
They're the BEST!!
Hey Friends , Did you all notice everything was in glass no plastic , pop ,milk , etc etc no plastic .
Yeah, let's bring that back!
Quite a bit of that brought back memories. The picture of the 2 little girls at 5:44 reminded me that I wore dresses like the one on the right when I was small. Some of them were hand-me-downs from my cousins but I loved them.
We had a big family and had older cousins. We always fought over the hand-me-downs
When there were cocktail parties and cocktail dresses!
When party dresses were designed to make you feel beautiful and sexy, not to make someone else admire your exposed fresh.
And dress shields under those dresses! 🤣🤣🤣
@@Elizabeth-rp1pi and girdles and a belt and mattress size Kotex!
@@missg.5940 And sanitary belts!
Margot Gulliford mattress size?? Thanks for the laughs, I'm grateful for today's maxi thins lol
Every new 50s house was supposed to have an Insinkerator and an incinerator. Don’t forget your Electrolux vacuum cleaner. Three TV channels and no internet.
""Nothing sucks like an Electrolux"!"
I have an Electrolux vacuum from 1990 which was bought when Electrolux had door-to-door salesmen. It lasted up until last year. It was the best vacuum ever! (It cost $1500.00 so it better be-lol). However it will cost me $500 bucks to get a new motor.
In the late 40s and early fifties Electrolux vacuum cleaners were being sold by door to door salesman. I think they sold for $200 plus. Almost a months pay when the average person made $60 a week.
People visited and read!
No incinerator nor insinkerator in my 1950s home
This version of America had it going on, at least, all appears to be well in these pictures. But, times change, and this too, has practically gone by the wayside.
The couch I am sitting on is the one my parents bought after their wedding in 1956. It's been reupholstered once but is still in great shape.
I love these picture and the music. It feels like I am in those times. The music is so relaxing.
I was looking at some photos from the 1950's the other day. My grandmother had those curtains from Hell also. Seems horribly busy patterns that didn't match anything in the room were the order of the day, as was eye-blinding wall paper. Happy that fad went away.
An average guy could make enough money to buy a house, car, get married have a family AND mom didn’t have to work outside the home if she didn’t want to. I remember my dad telling me that in the mid 60’s, when I was a toddler he made $700/mo. We lived in a 3 bedroom house with a yard. We had a ‘64 Buick LeSabre, affectionately dubbed The Fish in later years. My 3 older brothers went to private school and mom stayed home. All on $700/mo.
The inflation wasn't as bad then as it is today. A 1965 $700 dollars now equals approx $6000 dollars. If our wages kept up with inflation, we all could afford our houses, cars, schooling, utilities and food purchases on a one person salary.
In August 1971, Nixon illegally and unconstitutionally took the US off what remained of the gold standard. 1972 was the peak of US workers' purchasing power; it's been in an overall decline ever since.
Moms rarely worked because they couldn't get hired. No sense at all in educating girls, since they were never going to do anything anyway, so few even bothered to finish high school. Employers usually fired girls when they got married; that was legal at the time.
@@christinebutler7630 I don't know where you live, but I challenge your statement that " few even bothered to finish high school". Where are the statistics and sources for that? Were you even alive then? I was, and that's not at all what I saw.
Yes, women could be fired for sex-discriminatory reasons, such as getting married or getting pregnant, which was horrible. However, that doesn't mean that all employers behaved that way. Far from it. I can't think of a single business or institution that didn't have female employees, all ages. Most did stay home when they had small children, but there were working moms, part- and full-time.
@@christinebutler7630 More girls than boys have graduated high school since 1870! Yes, *_eighteen_* -seventy: nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_100.asp
I remember all of it--from the ashtrays to the hard alcohol bottles to the boxy television sets and blonde furniture and gaudy table lamps. Less than 15 years earlier having those things seemed like an impossible dream. Yet, there it was.
Your all missing the point. These are taken on Kodachrome for slide projectors which needs a special camera. You have to send your film away for a 4 part process like a movie film for each slide. Very expensive but true to life colors. Forget the lamps and dress but focus on the Kodachrome quality.
Okay. NO.
Good memories! I remember our kitchen was entirely in knotty pine, walls, table chairs!
You had to live it to fully appreciate these pictures. Nostalgic
I was a teen in the '50s and remember the era fondly. We had big family holiday dinners, too, and we dressed up for them, especially Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
I have photos of us at those events in suits and ties and the girls in nice dresses. It is different today, but I won't say it's worse or better. I just hope the kids today grow up with warm memories of their holidays, birthdays, and other events.
This reminds me so much of my childhood!
at 2:06 everyone had those cabinets with encyclopedias in them. And 2:39 I bet those glasses were made from beer bottles, there was a gadget kit sold then to cut bottles and sand the edges. We had some!
My parents had the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica. When the new family room addition was built in 1970, the wall of bookshelves and lower cabinets was divided into four sections with five shelves each. They are all the HxWxD of the set of books so that they could fit perfectly! Eventually one shell was cut out to accommodate a turntable stereo, so the lid could be lifted. Bye bye huge hifi.
If there’s one thing this video reminded me of about the late 50’s and early 60’s, it’s that everyone had the absolute UGLIEST LAMPS in their houses.
And FWIW, my own parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were absolutely NOT excluded from this observation!
🤣🤣🤣
Isn't that funny? I was admiring all the lamps and wishing I could come across some of them. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I was seeing $$$$ signs.
Yes a lot of those lamps were ugly but the mid-century design ones are worth a lot today especially the one at 0:52 4:57 and the eagerly sought after bullet planter at 5:05. The ugly 50's decor was evident in the choice of wallpaper and drapes, mostly the bark cloth ones.
Lol....that's what caught my eye too....'the lamp' must have been 'the' item to have...they feature front and centre in nearly all the pictures :)
There is one photo with two women. I couldn’t decide which was worse, the huge hideous lamp, the bright red drapes or the flying saucer hat on her head! 😂😂😂
I was going to comment on the lamps ( must have been a thing ) haha
My parents went from teens to 20's during the '50's. They are 83 and 84 today. Mom is showing signs of memory loss and it's scary. Time is fascinating but it's also cruel, it scares me. But I'm getting a laugh from all the comments about the ugly lamps! No kidding! Just wait though, it never ceases to amaze me what comes back in style.
I remember this. We had conversations.
What are conversations?
Fun to see and remember (born 1955). Those are the oddest collection of lamps I've ever seen!
Many homes had a bookcase, some with encyclopedias. Also wicker chairs and that Danish modern blonde colored furniture that was so popular then. The TV was perched on those wheeled metal grilled stands so they could be positioned about the room or out of the way whenever the occasion called. The gatherings called for semi-formal wear, not the casual clothing we have today.
( using husband's YT acct. ) The blonde Danish modern furniture we had was by Heywood-Wakefield (full living room set & dining room table w/ six chairs ) ; my parents bo't ours 1950 / 51 & it was in mint condition when sold in 2005 for a very good price to a collector . Used daily , it was beautiful quality that truly lasted .
Clothes class and colour. Today we are such slobs.
Back then, photos were for special occasions" mostly. People would buy some film and get the camera ready. Everyone would 'look their best' for the shots. The film and picture development cost was about 50 cents per picture which was a lot then and often, some didn't turn out. The only reason there are more slobs these days is because there are twice as many people now.
I cannot wait for ripped jeans to disappear 😩
Very emotional for me to see these photos from the era of my Mom and Dad, born in 1960 I grew up seeing these kinds of images from my childhood, thank you for bringing these photos here.🙏
I wish I had some of that furniture and I love the big lamps.💗
Those were the days my friends ❤
how little have things changed in the way of taste in interiors since then. Most of those chairs, tables, bookcases, and a good many lamps, can be found in today's American homes, if YT is any guide. So many modern-day Americans seem to love the furniture of their great-grandmothers.
Love all the lamps in these photos
Absolutely amazes me just how thin we were back then . Just goes to show you how processed foods and chemicals have ruined the human population. Now a days all we do is overeat and pay for it by our rapidly declining health. Cancer and disease are running rampant in this country and nothing is being done about it . I feel extremely fortunate to have grown up in the 60’s and 70’s . My mom was a stay at home mom . We ate 3 prepared meals a day and ate very little out of a box . Fast food was a once in a blue moon treat . As a child there was no better day than getting to go to 7-Eleven to get a slurpee in a collectible baseball cup . We watched tv at night as a family. Went to church on Sunday . I cherish those memories. Thank you for all the content that you upload . Because of videos like these I can escape this current world we live in and for a moment I can relive the greatest time in my life .
That's what they looked like. These were taken with slide film. Who remembers that? It was specifically for slides. You loaded the film spool into your Kodak camera, added the flash attachment and pushed a single bulb into it with each picture. Those bulbs were so hot after a shot the glass would bubble. Then you took your film to the local drugstore and picked it up a week later. Then the fun began. You loaded all those little square slides into your Kodak Carousel slide projector, dragged out the screen to show them on, turned off the lights and presto.....they would appear on the big screens of those times, about 6 foot. One by one the circular carousel would revolve until all were shown and half your guests had nodded off.
Some amazing lamps.
They certainly loved their lamp stands back then , some really novel designs.
Lovely memories! I remember having to dress up for photos as a kid 😊
There are quite a few 'long faces ' pictured as well 🤣🤣
Loved all those crazy lamps
OMG!!! Thank you for posting! My parents were in their teens & beginning 20’s this fabulous time era!!!
wow! this is sooo nice. usually pic's from the 50's r black and white? i almost felt like i was ther... probably b'cuz there were no obnoxious captions superimposed over the photos like in most vids? that was a nice touch. tnx for sharing
Amazing. I was born in 54. Such good memories
Its all about the lamps. Great vid.
Boy these bring back memories!
The small chairs next to the tv were remote control operators seats, when dad said change you changed it to the station he chose, very few times were kids choices honored.
I love the lady on the couch with a big Frisbee Hat.
Obviously, lamps were an important decorative accessory.
Such good times. Clothing was made with quality then and people dressed so nicely. And food was real food, no crap until TV dinners were invented. Children respected adults. Old people had value. Men respected women and women respected men. Children weren’t rushed into adulthood. Schools could be trusted with children’s education. America was strong. A household only needed one breadwinner so children almost always had a parent at home children could safely play in their neighborhoods. Everyone watched out for the children and few were abused, unlike today. I miss those days. Much simpler times.
0:50....man alive I have seen some vintage lamps but THAT one is amazing!!👍 And at 6:40 - those drapes are the BEST design - I would LOVE to have them. Wow.
Many a family photo was posed in front of the mocha colored fiberglass drapes that covered the picture widow in our living room.
I have used a lot of kodachrome slide film. Lot of these pics it is obvious the photographer did not know a lot about photography. Still fun to look at.
Kodachrome. Gives us the nice bright colors.
It’s interesting to see the San Diego Union Newspaper in one photo.
We had so many family get togethers then. I don’t know where the crazy wall colors are coming from. I grew up in the 50s and 60s and I don’t remember anyone from the 50s who had such horrid wall colors. We didn’t. We had white.
I thought the same thing. It was either some terrible wallpaper (and they were definitely paper) or beige paint. I do not remember those dark colors.
Interesting table lamps.
Born in ‘48 I remember the 50’s pretty well but I don’t remember how ugly the lamps and drapes were. I guess it doesn’t matter when you’re happy to have your own home with Mom, Dad and sister in it.
In the late 50s, dad brought home a huge tv cabinet with a 10 inch screen...used.
Wow! Nice pictures! It is amazing to see the difference in decorations (or the lack there of) and... seems people were a bit more slendor than they are today!
Born in 61 , this is how I want to see and meet my loved ones in the tomorrow .
My mother had a pink refrigerator.
When I married 1970 coppertone, harvest gold, avocado green were in colors.
Life was simple & better quality bc of fewer distractions.
2:30 it's all smiles and giggles, til she falls off and cracks her head open!
wonderful. thank you. :)
Most of those table lamps would be the desire of any current "antique" shop these days.
The lamp in pic 3 with the ufo shade is to die for!
So many of these look like the house I grew up in, like all our family parties, like the people I loved who are gone now
Oh the era of large ugly lamps and exposed cords plugged into wall sockets! But otherwise everything is cool.
My dad used Kodachrome a lot. I favored ektachrome because I could develop it at home and without a darkroom.
Yes, but Ectachrome does not hold color. I used Kodachrome exclusively on a six months trip to Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Isreal in 1976 and the color is still excellent.
@@sharonholdren7588 I didn't know that. I'll see for myself when I go through my similarly aged dad's slides.
I want those curtains at 6:38.
Those are great aren't they? Got a mind to try & recreate those!
Isn’t that a motel? I agree on the curtains.
Remember friends the women didn’t work outside of the home back then that’s why everything is spotlessly clean . Stay at home Moms . Very few women worked outside of the home .
...and the kids were able to take the bus or walk, so didn't need to be dropped off or picked up, they could take their bike to practice, or walk, so no time lost chauffeuring there. We didn't own as many clothes then, so didn't have piles of laundry every week, meals were often prepared ahead of time for the week, as were kids lunches for school, they could have milk, cheese, eggs and bread delivered nearly every day, they could buy stamps and send mail through the neighborhood postman who stopped by every day, sometimes twice, they made their own coffee at home, they had their own liquor at home, kids had chores and responsibilities, there was just more time during the day to get stuff done. Today, we're just too busy with stupid crap that wears us out, then we have no time and no energy.
@@annehenry6243 , I want to go back to the good old days , I’m a 1957 baby grew up in the 60’s life was great , we walked everywhere as kids , played outside like normal kids should be doing not glued to a iPad ,phone etc . We had respect for people ,police , teachers , loved our country . I’ll shut up now I could go on forever ..... I just want to go back ...
@@annehenry6243 And you can't call them postmen anymore, because women work outside the home (some as letter carriers), haha.
CAN’T WATCH. MAKES ME TOO SAD, being from that vanished era.
Me too. It reminds me of people long gone from my life.
@@joanneplunkett4656 Egg-zack-leh….
You Need to Toughen Up Jeff!!
@@gailcurl8663 Geez Gail, I’ll really really really really try.
@@gailcurl8663 …really….
The lamps were just completely wackadoodle!!
I...WANT.....that green lamp from the 3rd slide with the 2 women in yellow.
The 4th slide - with the ladies in yellow dresses - I’d fight someone for that lamp.
I love the Lamps
They sure had some wild lamps in those days.
Putting aluminum foil on the tips of your tv rabbit ears still works!
Great pictures but we never had anything that nice.
Yes this all is white mid to upper-class. Things weren't so great if you weren't in those categories within the U.S.
I think the men of that generation wax nostalgic far more than the women. So many intelligent women, who would secretly have wanted a career, were stuffed into the role of wife and mother. I am not denigrating that role, l am simply saying, my generation was the first to really be free to choose , and advanced the rights of women. I believe my mother, while exemplary at both, was deeply frustrated.😷🇨🇦
Did anyone get strong "Betrothal of the Arnolfini" vibes from the picture at about 5 minutes and 13 seconds?
Love those lamps
Just think: even the very young girls in these photos are now probably 70 something! How do I know that? Hmm!