If you went back to the Golden Era, what would you notice first?

[A Bomber General]

I was thinking about this idea the other day and would like to hear some thoughts from the group. Let's suppose that you could go back in time to 1940, to your hometown or a place that you know intimately. Toledo, Ohio in my case.

What would be the first thing that you noticed that clued you in that you were in 1940?

For me, I think it would be the smell. Think on it- in 1940, people smoked and smoked nearly everywhere. Automotive exhaust was essentially unbridled, and the gas was leaded and had a distinct smell. Many homes burned coal, as did most industries with nothing like scrubbers to filter the exhaust. Remember the Donora smog of 1948? The St. Louis smog incident of 1939? The air would reek depending on where you lived. My home growing up would have been two blocks south of New York Central's Air Line Yard in south Toledo; it had two roundhouses, a coaling tower, and was one of the busiest yards in the system. The whole area had to smell of coal smoke. Jennison Wright was a few blocks away; you'd smell creosote most of the time.

But once I got past the smell and realized where I was, I'd start smiling from ear to ear.

What do you think?

 

[LizzieMaine]

The smell here would be heavy with kerosene -- which most people burned for heat, in stoves. Central heating was very rare in Maine until the late fifties. That smell would be combined with the reek of fish guts -- the byproduct of the canneries which all died off in the eighties.

I'd also notice that our Main Street had two way traffic -- it's been one-way since 1954 -- and the blocks lining the south Main Street intersection were extant: that entire part of the city burned to the ground in 1952, changing the complexion of the city forever.

I'd notice a lot more people -- the population in this city in 1940 was a third more than it is now. I'd notice a much busier downtown, with actual stores where people buy actual things instead of long rows of art galleries and tourist traps.

And, I'd notice nobody here had any kind of a weird out-of-state accent. The gentrifiers would be decades in the future.

And finally I'd notice a "Continuous Shows" policy at the theatre, and would figure I was late for work.

 

[Gregg Axley]

The cars and dress obviously.
If I were in my house when I went back, I'd be in the middle of a field right now.
As for smells, at this time of the year, I'd notice wood burning.
Specifics?
Trolley cars in their FIRST run, not rebuilt like we have now.
Downtown FULL of people shopping, working, and hanging out.
And Sears Crosstown full of workers, because it was a catalog order/shopping store.

 

[gear-guy]

No paved roads, no a.c. not near as many people.People dressing up going to church, lot's of fedoras and my favorite NO WALMART!!!!!!!!!!!! Almost forgot no one could talk to each other because there would not be cell phones, texting,or internet.How did they ever survive.

 

[Stearmen]

God help me, I do miss the smell of high octane leaded gas! I would be sitting in the middle of a ranch, with either a bull chasing me, or a coyote sizing me up for dinner. In 1940 there were a whooping 36,789 people living here, now there are 436,354. Tuberculosis sanatoriums with hundreds of patients. The tallest building was only four stories, and we did have a trolly line. Meter Maids riding there Harley 45ci Trikes, putting chalk marks on tires. No military presence, now there are around 50,000 active duty and reserve, representing every branch of the armed forces, and Canada, plus some NATO countries. The military is our largest employer. Also, how churches would reek of Cologne and perfume, not as much bathing back then, I am old enough to remember that.

 

[Virginia Creeper]

Interestingly, I spent a goodly part of today trying to determine when a photograph of my city's downtown was taken, having been given a vague time frame of "sometime between 1940-1960."

 

[Shangas]

FIRST THING?

These:

From the 1920s until the 1990s (and some of them still run today), the W-class streetcar was the MAIN mode of public transport in Melbourne. In the 1940s, these would've been all over town, not just the tourist-attraction that they are these days.

They're incredibly noisy. They rattle and shake. The bells jangle, the pneumatic pumps that operate the doors let out this really loud chugging, hissing noise. The scraping wheels on the tracks, and the old-fashioned brakes which make a hell of a racket. An excessive amount of sand on the streets would also be an indication of the 1940s. These old streetcars had sand-bunkers built into them. The driver deployed the sand onto the tracks to provide friction, either to get the tram going, and give it extra traction, or to slow the tram down and assist the brakes.

 

[bburtner@moran]

Well here on Staten Island were I live we would not have all the "misfits" from the other borough`s!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Smog, Slums and Manufacturing, the glorious trifecta of a late Industrial UK inner city.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Acres of strawberry and bean fields. The city where I live wouldn't be incorporated until 1957 and the neighbourhood where I live wouldn't be built until the late 1960s, early '70s.

 

[cchgn]

First thing would be the extreme poverty that'd be rampant. The effects of the Depression would still be felt and there'd be a whole lot of have nots, empty buildings and empty shelves. Alot of folks were out of jobs, with no Unemployment, homeless and in food lines, before govt assistance.. The Middle Class was wiped out, there were only the very poor and very rich.The news would be full of rumors of war as Hilter's war machine was marching across Europe. Polio and small pox is wiping out thousands of folks every day. 1940 was a dark time, full of uncertainty. The entire decade was full of broken families, rationing, curfew, empty shelves and empty lives. The last part of the decade was dealing with all the dead, wounded and broken soldiers, before PTSD. My Grandfather was one of them. Dropped in Normandy, threw a hand grenade into a cave and charged in shooting, only to find it was full of women and children. He checked out that day. Never spoke again, just sat in his chair and stared into space, until he died.

6 years later, alot of the same folks( and a whole new generation) were in Korea.

America didn't breath a sigh of relief until 1954, where the economy was soaring, everyone had a job, a new home and new car in the driveway. Innovations to make the new brides' lives easier came out every week.

 

[Foxer55]

General,

What would be the first thing that you noticed that clued you in that you were in 1940?

The women: their style, dress, attitudes, and demeanor.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The women: their style, dress, attitudes, and demeanor.

Indeed. Women were a lot tougher than they are now.

 

[Foxer55]

Lizzie,

Indeed. Women were a lot tougher than they are now.

Indeed. They didn't think of themselves as another class of victims.

 

[rjb1]

If I were downtown (Nashville) in 1940 at this time of year the #1 thing noticeable would be the smoke and dust and darkness. It was well beyond "smog" here, since the city sits in a topographic bowl and the primary fuel then was coal. In those days there was a regular newspaper editorial-cartoon character named "Smoky Joe" who looked like the Michelin Man, except made of smoke. The newspaper used him to campaign for environmental laws.
I have seen pictures of a winter day at noon in those days and it looked almost like night, with streetlights on.
After the war the problem diminished significantly due to the use of electricity for heating in new houses.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Lizzie,
Indeed. They didn't think of themselves as another class of victims.

Indeed. They knew when someone was trying to victimize them, and they weren't afraid to crack some heads to make it stop.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Yeah..that's the type of woman that every man should want. Desirable for sure ain't they. [huh]
HD

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Live Alone And Like It!" was a popular catchphrase in the late thirties -- the war cry of women who were perfectly satisfied to live independent lives. And it scared a lot of men spitless. Apparently it still does.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Nothing wrong with living alone...but why would that scare any man since he isn't required to live with them..??
HD

 

[Foxer55]

Lizzie,

"Live Alone And Like It!" was a popular catchphrase in the late thirties -- the war cry of women who were perfectly satisfied to live independent lives. And it scared a lot of men spitless. Apparently it still does.

That's just...well...boring.