Reflections on 1955

Reflections on the year 1955:

The year our Boles Aero was built, I was 5, my husband was 10.  The American culture, in ten years,  had shifted from the high energy, gritty determination and angst of WWII to a calm, mellow and “cool” suburban lifestyle.  Gone was the fast beat and rat-a-tat-tat of the swing era music, in its place stepped Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como and Andy Williams crooning to our parents while they had their 5 p.m. martini, lounging in their Eames style chairs in the livingroom listening to the hi-fi.  Some of the chart toppers included "Mr. Sandman", "Sincerely" by the McGuire Sisters, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" by Mitch Miller and "Love is a Many Splendored Thing".  Had my husband and I been a bit older, we would have been spinning "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Halley and the Comets.  Lawrence Welk and champagne bubbles were prime time t.v. fare as was "The Honeymooners", "The $64,000 Question" and the Johnny Carson show.  As kids, Mike and I were watching the Mickey Mouse Club, and Commando Cody.  

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Home life was modernizing quickly, and housewives had more time to take trips to the beauty parlor, cook recipes using the newest ingredients on the store shelves like Velveeta cheese,  and decorating their homes in the new modern look.  No more victory gardens, give me a new t.v. dinner, served on modern t.v. trays in front of the t.v. for an extra treat.

  

The aircraft industry of the war had matured into the rocket industry and the space age was becoming the wave of the future.   The “House of Tomorrow” at Disneyland propelled us away from the overstuffed, dark, clunky furnishings of our grandparents and into the sleek and modern.  Even the cars sported fins that gave them a look of going fast just sitting in the driveway.  I lived in a house in Palo Alto that was an "Eichler" clone.  If you don't know what an Eichler was, google it.  It had a flat roof, floor to ceiling windows to bring in lots of light, a quarry tile floor (no more heavy Persian rugs), a big patio for outside summer living and an outside BBQ.  This style of home was tantalizingly chic.  No more Craftsman style for us!  Our furniture was Danish modern, lots of teak and sleek.  Plastic and Formica were introduced, and kitchen appliances were now available in pink, yellow or turquoise.  (Have you seen these colors in the stoves in the old "canned ham" trailers?

Parents had time off from work now for actual vacations.  The plethora of travel trailers made the camping and trailer experience one that every family wanted to try.  But, they wanted to take along their new, modern house, albeit in smaller form, to the lake.  Hence, the Boles Aero Ensenada.  You could still have your formica kitchen and table, upholstered sofas, twin beds, and flush toilet....all in a rustic setting.  What a deal!

Pictures from the 1950’s of travel trailers and the families that pulled them hither and yon with the Nomad station wagon, or Ford “woodie”,  showed mom, decked out in pedal pushers, an ironed blouse, a smart bandana tied around her neck, earrings and a nice hairdo.  Dad had on pleated trousers, an ironed shirt (a tad more casual than a business shirt, but not by much) and a hat.  Usually he had a pipe in his mouth, to look really suburban and more like “Father knows Best”.  They sat in nice camping chairs alongside the trailer, while junior and little Debbie played contentedly nearby.  A fishing pole was usually propped against the tree.  No wonder trailers were flying off the trailer lots.  Who wouldn’t want to live like that for 2 weeks or so. 

And so today, our generation, who were junior and little Debbie, want to re-live that magical time, when life was simpler, more predictable and our parent’s choices of coffee in the percolator were either Maxwell or Folgers (not a soy, skinny, double shot, de-caf latte, with a shot of caramel), our bread was wheat or white, our lettuce was iceberg, our cereal was Wheaties, our milk was always whole and homogenized and delivered by the milkman.  We lived for a tootsie roll and a Marvel comic to read.  We played outdoors and made forts or played with dolls, and dreamed of being a fireman or a nurse.  

So, if you see us now, daydreaming in our vintage lawn chairs, under the vintage awning of our vintage trailer, cooking in our vintage kitchen, eating on our vintage formica table, you will know why.  We are livng the good life once again.