Do You Remember When: An Insider's Look at What the 1970's was Really Like

Figure 1. James Costa senior picture 1974

Introduction

When people think about the 1970's the first things that come to mind are hippies, drugs, and rock and roll. They vision bell-bottom pants, peace sign, flowers, and tie die. But was this actually how life was like for everyone during this time period? After interviewing James Costa (figure 1), who was born, raised and still lives in a little country town in South Eastern Massachusetts called Dartmouth, I was painted a much different picture of the era. He describes the Hippies as being "out-casts, kind of just in the back ground being ignored sort of like the Gothic kids you see today" (Costa). Throughout my interview with him, he just kept telling me all about what life was like. He told me about his past times, what was popular during the time, prices of house hold necessities like bread and milk. Listening to him talk about the 70's was like stepping into a time machine and actually living the stories and descriptions he spoke of. I realized how different life was for him not only in terms of the hippie movement, but also compared to the lives we live today. I am studying the 1970 trough the eyes of my dad, James Costa, to find out what life was like for someone who was not a hippie but rather just a normal country boy to help my readers understand what normal everyday life was like back in the 1970's. I want to share what I learned from talking with James and take you back on a trip to the 1970's to show you just what I mean.

Smoking Like a Chimney

In todays society smoking cigarettes is not as popular as back in the 1970's. People are more informed about the risked and therefor choose not to smoke. Back in the 70's, people were not as informed so everyone smoked. Mr Costa recalls that everyone he knew smoked. He remembers starting to smoke at the age of 16 because of how exposed he was too it from all the guys he worked in the factory with (Costa). I learned that some of the popular cigarettes were Camel, Kool, Pallmall and Mr. Costa's personal favorite, Marlboro (figure 2).

Figure. 2, p. 14 & 15 1972 LIFE Magazine. Marlboro cigarette ad featuring an icon of the time; The Marlboro man

Music is Everything

People have always found pleasure in listening to music the only things that change is what is listened to and how it is listened to. Now a days most listen to music from their ipods/mp3 players or CDs. Back in the 1970's people listened to music either on records or 8 track tapes (Costa). As shown in figure 3, 8 tracks are like bigger versions of cassettes. They were called 8 tracks because they held 8 tracks on each one.

Figure 3. 8 tracks that Mr. Costa liked to listen to. James Taylor and the Beatles

Carrying your music in the 70's though was no where near as easy as now. Back then if they wanted to carry different artists to listen to you had to carry around a big box as seen in figure 4, with your 8 tracks in it in your car. He said that "everyone had at least one of these 8 track carrying boxes. Most including [Mr.Costa], had two and some of my friends even had three plus some loose ones" (Costa).

Figure 4. Mr. Costa's Boxes of 8 track tapes

When I asked Mr. Costa about music back in the 70's he told me that "the Beatles, Aerosmith and The Who were some very popular bands but his personal favorite was country music" (Costa). He went on to say that his and many of his friends' favorite artist was Johnny Cash. These bands are still popular today among some. The times have changed a little and rap and harder rock and roll have emerged and add to todays variety of music. Figure 5 is an example of the music that Mr. Costa and many others from the area listen to this particular song was Mr. Costa's favorite of era.

Figure 5. Mr. Costa's Favorite song by Johnny Cash; Folsom Prison Blues.

Walking up Hill Both Ways Barefoot in the Snow

Having a vehicle was something that not everyone had in the 1970's. There was not two, three or even four cars in the driveways like we see today. Most families had just one car and that was the family car. When kids got their license they drove this family car. Mr. Costa recalls not being able to go out and use the family car (figure 6) until his father got home from work and they ate dinner and then he would be allowed to take the car out (Costa). He used this car to get around at night until he graduated from high school when his parents bought him is first car for graduating which was a 1974 AMC Gremlin (Costa).

Figure 6. 1970 Ford Ranchero. This is what Mr. Costa's family car looked like.

Besides the Gremlin and the Ranchero some other popular cars of the time were the Chevrolet chevelle , the Chevrolet Nova, Chevrolet Camaro and the El Camino. Also jeeps were popular in the small town for plowing and off road recreation so later in the decade in 78, Mr. Costa bought a 1969 Jeepster (figure 6).

Figure 7. Mr. Costa's 1969 Jeepster with a plow set-up and bigger off road tires.

Life as we don't know it

Life in the 1970's as we know was very different than the lives we live today. The prices of things we a fraction of the price they are now. Mr. Costa recalls a loaf of bread being 25 cents, a gallon of milk 40 cents, a package of cigarettes 25 to 30 cents and a gallon of gas $1 (Costa). not only was the cost of goods less but the drinking age was lowered too. When asked about this Mr. Costa vividly remembers that, and states "I had just turned 18 the year when they lowered it and then once they raised it back I was already grandfathered into law. I remember having friends that still couldn't drink when I was because their 18th birthday was the year that he law was changed back to 21" (Costa). This was a big deal to many because now they could go out to the bars and hang out with their friends or have a drink at the dinner table.

Mr. Costa told me that back in the 1970's people liked to have good old fashion fun. People like to roller skate, bowl, go to see a drive-in movie and square dancing. Mr. Costa's favorite past time was square dancing. He said "I square danced 7 days a week and become a caller" you can see him calling in figure 8 A and B.

Figure 8A. Figure 8B

Mr. Costa calling at a square dance

Like today, people had their favorite shows that they like to watch on television at nights. Mr. Costa recalls some of the popular shows of the time being, The Partridge Family, The Brady Bunch, Hawaii Five-o and Happy Days, which can be seen in figure 8 (Costa).

Figure 8. popular tv shows

Like i mentioned earlier for fun people would go see movies at the drive-in movie theater. Some popular movies of the time were Taxi Driver, Patton and Dirty Harry just to mention a few (Costa). With popular movies always come favorite actors and actresses. One of the most popular actors and Mr. Costa's favorite of the time was Clint Eastwood (Costa).

Another interesting topic about the era that me and Mr. Costa talked about was the family life. Family was a big deal for Mr. Costa. Being one of the oldest of 6 he found himself helping his mother with his younger siblings. His father worked all day while his mother stayed home to clean, watch the kids and cook making sure that dinner was on the table when his father returned home from work (Costa). He also told me about what things where like around his house on Christmas and birthday's. He remembers them being "Just immediate family not like today when you have aunts and uncles and friends" (Costa). When telling me a bout Christmas morning he paints the image of his living room and how it was "Chaotic with six kids" and how they "usually got one big gift and a few small gifts" and that was their Christmas (Costa). People lived within their means back then and only bought what they could afford. For Birthdays He recalls getting "one gift usually selected out of the S & H green stamp catalog" (Costa). He Compares these stamps to the Stop & Shop gas points of today (Costa).

Putting the Past Behind us

Through my interview with my dad, James Costa, I learned a lot about the 1970's. I learned about the trend of smoking, the cars of the time, popular music and what day to day life was like. The era wasn't just about hippies like people think. It was filled with hard working people who liked to have old fashion fun. I can confidently state that i now have a better understanding of the era. Currently Mr. Costa (Figure 9) still lives in Dartmouth with his family; Me and my mom Donna. He is 55 and is still has the same hard working mentality as he did back when he was younger. He also still knows how have a little fun by golfing with me and telling me a bout what he was like at my age. I was and always will be interested in my fathers stores and i am glad that i finally got to use them for a research project.

Figure 9. Mr. Costa 2011

Works Cited

Costa, James. Personal interview. 24 Apr. 2011

"Green 1970 Ford Ranchero pickup" Remarablecars.com. Remarkablecars, n. d. web. 15 May. 2011.

"Johnny Cash - 1974 - Folsom Prision Blues". Youtube, 24 Mar. 2007. Web. 04 May 2011.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2sPvjlTdHo

Marlboro Cigarette Advertisement. Life 17 Nov. 1972: 14-15. Web. 2 Apr. 2011. http://books.google.com/books id=7FQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=life%20magazine&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q&f=false