Step Back In Time With These Vintage Photos Prove Why The 1950s Was The Best Decade
It’s easy to feel nostalgic for the past, and the 1950s might just be the most romanticized decade of the 20th century. While the world was far from a perfect place — inequality was rampant and the threat of nuclear war was ever-present — there were still plenty of reasons for optimism during this iconic decade.
Let’s delve into some photos that help explain the nostalgia. While many are posed, they demonstrate the idealized image of life in the 1950s.
It was a time of economic growth.
Cliched images like this one, showing a smartly-dressed housewife in front of a brand-new kitchen installation, show just how aspirational this decade was.
The decade was a period of economic growth — in the United States, at least — with low unemployment and the promise of upward mobility in society.
Family life was emphasized.
The traditional nuclear family, with a bread-winning father and a homemaking wife, were still the order of the day in the 1950s.
While this was not necessarily an advantageous situation for all, the fact that a sole middle-class salary could support an entire family is significant in itself.
There was a housing boom.
The modern-day image of American suburbia started immediately after World War II, with planned suburban communities springing up nationwide.
This photo of comedian Johnny Carson with his family outside of their home in Encino, California, gives us a glimpse of idyllic suburban life in the 1950s.
It was a classic era for cars.
Car enthusiasts tend to see the ’50s as a golden age for automobiles, with manufacturers continually outdoing each other with stylish, chrome-laden cars like the Chevrolet Bel Air and Ford Thunderbird.
Not only were these cars well-built, they were also relatively affordable — and with the rise of car culture and the construction of freeways, the car became a permanent icon of American culture.
Job security was high.
Unlike today’s economy, with its gig work and job uncertainty, the 1950s were a great time to be a worker in the United States — for the most part, at least.
Not only could most families get by on a single income, pensions were also more reliable and jobs in general were more stable.
Schools underwent a building boom as well.
While many smaller communities would stick with single-room schoolhouses for decades to come, the 1950s were a boom period for larger, more modern schools.
These schools allowed for higher student populations and a more diverse range of activities. However, many who grew up in the era have not-so-fond memories of “duck and cover” nuclear attack drills.
Small-town America thrived.
Thanks in no small part to nostalgic TV shows and movies, many view small-town America in the 1950s through rose-tinted glasses.
Of course, the reality is far more complicated — but there is still some truth to this nostalgia, as many towns that are now dead or dying had thriving main streets during this era.
Big box stores didn’t quite exist yet.
Large department stores have existed since the 19th century, but in midcentury America, there was still no sign of today’s monoliths like Walmart.
In the 1950s, shopping was a more intimate experience, with shoppers more likely to frequent a mom-and-pop store than go through the hassle of mail order.
It’s an iconic decade for a reason.
This classic image of 1950s teen culture is quite obviously staged, and in the years since it was taken, it — and other similar photos — have become a quintessential symbol of the 1950s.
It’s entirely possible that this was not a hallmark of teenage culture at the time — but after this photo was taken, there’s no doubt that countless lovebirds replicated it.
Modern-day grocery stores got their start.
If you were to go back a century, you’d hardly recognize grocery stores. At one time, shoppers made their order at a counter and had to wait for a picker to deliver their food.
However, in the 1950s, the large-scale, open-concept stores that we’d recognize as modern grocery stores began to spring up. This development went hand-in-hand with the boom of suburbia.
Suburbia owed a lot to the GI Bill.
As thanks to the soldiers who returned home from World War II, the GI Bill helped soldiers to buy homes with low-interest loans.
This in turn prompted homebuilders to start putting up tracts of houses in suburbia. Levittown, New York is generally regarded as the first master-planned suburb.
Beach culture gained in popularity.
There’s always been a timeless allure to going to the beach, but the growing suburbs in coastal areas like California and Florida made beach life more accessible than ever before.
Much of what we think of today as classic beach fashion — striped towels, board shorts, and sunglasses — stem from this growing popularity during the 1950s.
Jazz clubs were great for nightlife.
These dimly-lit, smoky venues dotted cities from coast to coast, particularly in jazz hotspots like New York and Chicago.
Some of the most iconic jazz artists of all time — Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk — were hot tickets at these nightclubs.
Hollywood was in the midst of a golden era.
The movie industry was forced to scale back somewhat during World War II but by the 1950s, the glitz and glamour of Hollywood was back with a vengeance.
This is the decade that saw the emergence of iconic stars like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Audrey Hepburn.
Movie theaters were prime entertainment.
In an era before everyone had a television set, many Americans had to leave the house to find some form of entertainment.
Not every city had live entertainment, but most cities had movie theaters — and these venues offered all of the cutting-edge technology at the time, like Cinemascope, stereophonic sound, and color pictures.
It was a golden era for baseball.
Baseball was probably at the zenith of its popularity in the 1950s. The decade started out with all three New York teams playing competitive baseball, and ended with two of those teams moving to California.
In the decades to come, football would supplant baseball as the country’s most popular sport. But in the 1950s, baseball was still America’s pastime.
It was the dawn of the jet age.
Passenger flights had already existed for decades, but these smaller, propeller-driven planes had limited range and were generally seen as a novelty.
Advancements in technology, spurred by World War II, led to the development of jet planes like the Boeing 707 and De Havilland Comet — planes that could cross entire oceans in a matter of hours without needing to refuel.
Drive-in culture was huge.
Drive-in theaters were popular in the 1950s, but so were drive-in restaurants — the perfect fusion between convenience food and the era’s growing car culture.
Chains like Bob’s Big Boy and A&W thrived in the 1950s, offering drive-up customers the convenience of food delivered directly to their car — often by a carhop on roller skates.
Teens were encouraged to have a (supervised) good time.
With the rise of rock ‘n’ roll, parents did their best to curb the prospect of teen rebellion by holding organized events for teens to mingle.
This supervised dance, held in a rec room, might not have satisfied the more daring teens of the ’50s — but for those in attendance, it was plenty.
Civil rights became an issue.
The 1960s are remembered as an era of societal change, civil rights protest, and a strong counterculture — but all of these aspects first started stirring in the 1950s.
Racial segregation was a major focus of these early protests, with events like the Montgomery Bus Boycott standing as pivotal moments.
People could finally afford TVs.
Televisions were a prime status symbol in the 1950s, and the booming economy and consumer culture of the time made it possible for many Americans to buy their first TV set.
With more TVs in more homes, the TV industry itself flourished, with iconic favorites like I Love Lucy and The Twilight Zone making their debuts during the decade.
Soda shops were once a mainstay.
The prospect of going to a soda shop, with soda served to you by someone called a soda jerk, seems totally alien today — but in the 1950s, it was commonplace.
It was an experience similar to a bar, with the soda jerk making custom concoctions with syrups, malts, and ice cream.
It became possible to eradicate polio.
The development of the polio vaccine in the 1950s was a watershed moment in public health, as it meant that children could finally be inoculated against the devastating disease.
A massive program to vaccinate kids against polio took place, and by the end of the decade, the disease was all but eradicated.
New York was a bustling metropolis.
The New York of the 1950s is similar to the New York of today — it was a bustling metropolis, full of skyscrapers and iconic landmarks like Central Park.
But at the same time, midcentury New York was quite different. The massive glass skyscrapers of the later decades hadn’t been built, and the city’s skyline had a more understated look.
This became NASCAR.
Bootleggers of the 1950s modified stock cars to outrun police, and by the 1950s these modded cars were the centerpiece of a new sport: Stock car racing.
NASCAR was founded in 1948, with races like the Daytona 500 becoming major events. This photo shows the 1955 Daytona race, which was held directly on the beach.
The steel industry was booming.
Steel helped drive the post-war American economy, as the material was a vital compound in everything from buildings to vehicles.
The era saw massive steel conglomerates like U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel, and Republic Steel dominating the market. In the decades to come, competition from foreign markets would force these U.S. manufacturers to scale back.
Air travel was comfortable.
Earlier planes featured shaky aerodynamics, unpressurized cabins, and lightweight wicker chairs, making for an oftentimes hair-raising experience.
But the jets of the 1950s were a different experience, allowing travellers to enjoy the flight in total comfort. At the time, flying was an event, and people would dress in their finest anytime they were boarding a plane.
Disneyland opened in 1955.
A landmark moment in theme park history occurred in 1955 when Disneyland first opened in Anaheim, California. The theme park was several steps above the amusement parks of the era, and led to a revolution in this space.
Of course, the success of Disneyland spawned the construction of other Disney parks like Disneyland in Orlando, Florida, which is a massive success story of its own.
Window shopping was a popular pastime.
Any sizeable city or town tended to have a main street, where retailers would display their wares in large, street-facing windows.
As such, these shops became an attraction in and of themselves. Even those who couldn’t dream of buying what they saw could take a stroll down Main Street and dream a little.
Home trends were sleek and stylish.
The midcentury modern design emerged in the 1950s, reflecting post-war optimism and a desire for simplicity.
The clean lines and functional forms of this style have never really gone out of style, and modern trends tend to owe a lot to this innovative design.
