If you could spend one day/night in the Roaring 20's/Golden Era what would you do?

[KY Gentleman]

Welcome to the Lounge, Caity Lynn!

I'd catch a ride in a new "old" car or truck, listen to some old tunes and meet some of the relatives I've only heard stories about or seen pictures of.

I might try to head up to NY and find a great new actress named Louise Brooks...

 

[Brinybay]

I would spy on my family in the 20s. Great Grandparents (both sides) and were already dead, but paternal Grandpa was in his mid-40s and Dad and Mom were little kids. I never knew my maternal Grandparents, and only remember my paternal grandparents after they were elderly and Grandpa had long since grayed, but I was told he had flaming red hair and beard like his father did. That gene hasn't appeared yet in our family, so sometimes I wonder. But I don't see it in any nearby cousins either.

 

[Diamondback]

Hmmm... Not allowed any carry-ons to bring back, huh?

1. Trust-investment in Blue Chips with instructions to sell everything and buy MSFT as soon as it IPO's, aside from selling a little to buy some specific surplused planes after WWII.

2. Buy an abandoned salt-mine to cache goodies in.

3. Guns, cars, you name it, with instructions to pack it all for preservation and drop-ship it to said abandoned mine for long-term storage.

4. I suppose if anybody else was going back too and needed to stash "acquisitions" somewhere, I could split the costs of my cache-site with y'all...

I suppose all this sounds materialistic, but there's a principle reason for it: minimal interference with the timeline prevents possible adverse reactions. WWII had to happen, it was only a question of would it be the Wehrmacht or the Red Army heading west for Paris...

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Heya, new here, but this thread looked interesting.

I'd most definitely get someone to teach me the Charleston and other dances.Buy a ciggie holder, and get a bob. I'd probably also get a garter flask (is that what they were called?) and have a nip, even though I don't drink, just to say I did.lol

A friend recently mentioned she'd learned the Charleston & other dances on YouTube. Yeah, well, I know - you COULD actually learn them in classes put on by some swing-dance groups, but if you can't find one...or there aren't any groups in your area or to fit your schedule...or want to work on them a little before you try it in front of others, I suppose it's quite a viable option. Myself...I had Grandma & Grampa to teach me as a kid, much to Mom's consternation...

 

[Brinybay]

Hmmm... Not allowed any carry-ons to bring back, huh?

1. Trust-investment in Blue Chips with instructions to sell everything and buy MSFT as soon as it IPO's, aside from selling a little to buy some specific surplused planes after WWII.

2. Buy an abandoned salt-mine to cache goodies in.

3. Guns, cars, you name it, with instructions to pack it all for preservation and drop-ship it to said abandoned mine for long-term storage.

4. I suppose if anybody else was going back too and needed to stash "acquisitions" somewhere, I could split the costs of my cache-site with y'all...

I suppose all this sounds materialistic, but there's a principle reason for it: minimal interference with the timeline prevents possible adverse reactions. WWII had to happen, it was only a question of would it be the Wehrmacht or the Red Army heading west for Paris...

That's one of the dilemmas of time travel to the past - how do you buy all that stuff? You can't use currency from today, and your checks and credit cards would be worthless.

 

[Diamondback]

Precious metals and gems are always negotiable... just heavy. lol

 

[Jay]

If I could spend one day in the Golden Era...

I'd go to a barbershop and get a decent haircut. My usual barber was closed yesterday so I tried a newer place and got absolutely butchered. Ah to live in a time where there was a mans barbershop in every town...

Stay clear of unisex hair salons...

 

[Brinybay]

Precious metals and gems are always negotiable... just heavy. lol

That occurred to me, but you would have to buy them at today's prices and exchange them at yester-year's prices. It would work, but you would take a hit in the exchange rate, wouldn't you? But then again, I'm not factoring in the buying power of a dollar in the past compared to today, so maybe that would work after all. I time travel quite a bit for real, I'm always slipping into the future (like that old song).

 

[Diamondback]

And knowledge/analytical skill can be a commodity too, particularly if I cross paths with a few Fortune 500'er types and inform them of things that only they would know, then tell them "I'll make a bet with you that [fill-in-the-blank useful info-nugget] will happen. If I'm wrong, you keep my gold, but if I'm right, you deposit $X in cash or shares of your company and return my gold to this trust-fund."

Good point on the inflation-index, though...

 

[radrians]

Party in the Hamptons

I would head out to the Hamptons and crash some parties with illegal hootch, then take a skinny dip on moonlit Long Island Sound.

 

[WinoJunko]

If I got the chance to go back for one day and night I would probably stop by a diner and chat up some folks there. After that I'd take a stroll around town to take it all in and talk to some more people. That would cover the day. Once it starts to get dark I would probably go to a club for some live music and to dance with some cute girls =) After that I'd go to a bar and hang out there talking and drinking until closing time. That sure sounds like a good time to me!

 

[Zemke Fan]

Just one thing...

... steal a kiss from Carole Landis.

 

[HadleyH]

Paris in the 1920s

Spend an afternoon in "Le Dome" in Montparnasse, a place where all american expatriates used to frequent.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'd go back to 1929 or 1930, smuggle a bunch of recording equipment back with me, rent an obscure hotel room in New York, and set up to record all the day's radio programming from all the city's various stations. And while the tapes were rolling, I'd go have macaroni and cheese and a ham sandwich at the Automat, and spend the rest of the day at the movies.

I might also stop into an Enna Jettick store and stock up on shoes in my size. And I'd also visit an Easy appliance dealer and get a new lower roller for the wringer on my washing machine.

 

[Flivver]

I'd go back to New York in January 1925 and attend the 25th Anniversary New York Auto Show where I'd tale lots of pictures and collect all the sales brochures.

Then I'd head downtown to Radio Row where I'd purchase the parts to build a Leutz Model L Superheterodyne.

If there was any time left, I'd go over to the Singer Building and the Woolworth Building where I'd take the elevator up to the Observation Deck of each.

Then, because I'd be running short of time, I'd take a Checker Cab uptown to Penn Station where I'd board the last New Haven train heading for home.

 

[Diamondback]

Oh, and arrange for a copy of the complete 1890 Census before it burned.

(EDIT for non-genealogists: there was only one copy of the 1890 Census, as opposed to three for every other due to its more expensive and "advanced" format--most of it was lost in a fire, and what wasn't burned was disposed of shortly thereafter. And since sometimes the census and households are all you got to find oyur ancestors, that 20-year hole from 1880-1900 is enough time for people to just disappear, or to be unable to find a given individual's parent's at all...)

 

[VintageGirl143]

Caity: Heres something you might like:

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urba...es=&navCount=207&navAction=poppushpush&color=

Urban Outfitters sells garter flasks.

 

[MEDIUMMYND]

I would fly to Brooklands the home of British motor sport.

 

[Mojito]

So many things I'd like to do...perhaps strike up an acquaintance with my young Grandmother Nell on her visit to the US in that decade (1927, I think it might have been)...or even catch the Manly Ferry with my grandfather on the day he broke up with his fiance (who went on to marry a future Governor General of Australia).

Wear a respendant Poiret or Lanvin ensemble to the debut performance of Rhapsody in Blue. I'd also like to see Paul Whitehead and his orchestra.

Try to catch up with F Scott Fitzgerald...when he was sober. Perhaps spend a day on the Riviera that famous summer when the only folks there were the Fitzgeralds, the Murphys, the Valentinos and a few other notables.

I'd also like to spend a day and night on one of the White Star Liners, perhaps one where I could chat to one of my research subjects...the Ceramic en route to Australia, or the Regina on a North Atlantic crossing. I'd also settle for the Olympic (by preference), Majestic or, if going Cunard, the Mauretania.

I wouldn't mind a booze cruise outside the 3-mile limit as a way of circumventing prohibition.

A visit to Lanvin, Poiret, Callot Souers, Chanel, the House of Adair and a few others...although not being able to take anything back would be a heartbreaker! I'd have to console myself by catching one of Josephine Baker's Paris performances.

Most of all, though, I think a day and night in NYC, drinking in the sights, popping into the Algonquin, observing the architecture etc - culminating with a night at the Ziegfeld Follies and then a tour of Speakeasies with Lois Long and Louise Brooks.

This is assuming, of course, I'd have the money and the right entree into the society I desired.

Somethings I don't think I could do...I'd love to visit some of the great Harlem Clubs, for example, but how could you walk into the Cotton Club knowing that the only African Americans allowed were the performers? (although the rules were sometimes circumvented by some of the wealthier or more famous patrons - I remember a story about Tallulah Bankhead inviting the performers to her table afterward their stint on stage). I would love to see some of the greats, though - imagine seeing (or, more importantly, hearing) Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton perform!

On the Speakeasy trek, I'd also love to find a place where they played some of the great dance tunes of the era. And Bix Beiderbecke.

 

[Mike K.]

I'd stay there!