Hello, all,

I'm doing some research for a story I'm writing, which is set in New Orleans in 1962. Now I was only 9 back then, and so my memories are a little limited and dim (for instance, I *do not* remember the Cuban Missile Crisis at all). Naturally I've checked various nostalgia websites such as Mr. PopHistory, and they've been helpful in building the story's background.

I thought I'd ask those of you who were around back then your memories of the time (especially prices such as gasoline, airfares, rents, etc.), including any involving MBs. For example, the first MB I ever saw outside a movie was one parked on the streets of my native French Quarter ca. 1963. I know now it was a fintail, in blue-grey with deeply contoured leather (or MB-Tex?) seats in tan. Very striking car, especially among all the Chevies, Fords, and Cadillacs. There weren't many foreign cars at all, except for the ubiquitous VW Beetle.

How about you?

__________________
* *
-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

Gas was 25/30 cents and gas wars could make it 19 cents. After school work paid 50cents an hour, and lawyers made $20,000 per year. We'd run around at night on a dollars worth of gas. Everybody would chip in and get a $150 car and drive it into the ground. Jags were more popular than Mercs. The birth control pill was big news and getting the clap was a passage into manhood. Social life meant drive-in movies and a sixpack of “Country Club” malt liquor. My first apt. was $93 a month for a 1 bedroom in West LA.
A VW was about $1200 and an MG about $2,000. I bought a very cherry BSA Goldstar for $350 and had a Sunbeam Alpine that cost $1700.
Damn – back to work.

__________________
89 300E
79 240D
72 Westy
63 Bug sunroof
85 Jeep CJ7
86 Chevy 6.2l diesel PU

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius

My Dad had just retired from the USN and we moved to Atlanta for his grad school. In the Navy he'd been involved with amphibious war planning, COMPHIBLANT. They called him out of retirement and sent him somewhere to work on invasion plans. War got real.

Some random thought....
I was only 13 in 1962, but I remember listening to Kennedy's speech on the Cuban Missle Crisiis on the radio. My Dad might have watched it on the TV, but I had a radio; very tense. I won't say "scary" becasue this was pre VietNam, and the US was always the the "good guy", and we always won the war.
My 19 year old brother was walking perimeter guard for the Air Force in Kansas. He had a superior officer try to sneak past him, and he almost got shot by my brother.
The unknown during this time was how would the Russians respond. We did not understand them, and they were inscutable, at best. It was very interesting to see the U2 spy plane photos of the missle installations.
I remember seeing " whites only" water fountains on the way to Ocean City, MD, and I remember thinking that was simply wrong.
Kennedy was an unpopular president--The Cuban Missle Crisis was his high point, but things were going poorly for him after that. IIRC, there was debate as to whether he could seek a second term.
Most families were single car and single earner, only. Divorce was rare. Driveways were often not paved, merely dirt, or stone. Cars were financed for 2 or 3 years.
There were various types of lawn mowers. Most popular was the manual, push, reel type. Gas powered, self-propelled reel types were also popular, rotary type mowers were novel.
TV--there were three (3) channels, no remote control. Thety had been recently invented, but were considered "decadent" by most people.
Gas stations were full service, and often there were "give aways" to entice customers. Green Stamps were a promotional item that many stores gave away. Blue laws prohibited most stores from doing business on Sundays. There were basically only 2 types of bicycles--Americans with a single speed and a coaster brake, and English with three speed Strumey Archer and caliper brakes. Everybody clipped baseball cards ( doubles only) using a clothes pin to make motorcycle noises on your bike.
45RPM records, single song per side, big hole in the middle.
No OSHA

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

motherload- I was living in Miami, Fla and remember having bomb drills once a week at school to prepare for the Cuban missile crisis. We had to squat down under our desks,when we heard the siren call- like a little wooden desk is gonna save my butt. Thats the real reason your mom made sure your drawyers were clean. Gas was 20 cents a gallon, milk got delivered to the back stoop, dairy queen ice cream was 20 cents for a cone, 25 cents for a dipped cone and Ed Sullivan came on every Sunday night. My dad drove a 1955 Ford robin's egg blue then he bought a 1956 Lincoln Mark II(i think) I can remember what it smelled like- umm the new car smell. We used to go for long Sunday drives. The neighborhood men would smoke cigars after dinnner ahh Cuban cigars where legal, cigarettes where 15cents a pack. My first car was an MGB purchased for 1350.00 what a nightmare that car was but man when she was running could she haul butt- i got myself in more trouble racing at red lights, 2nd car 62' vw bug 425.00 sold it for 425.00 bought it back for 400.00. The word suck was so bad you got your mouth washed out with soap if you said it. The stero of the day was Macintosh and Pulsar made the first digital watch... one last note- my dad was a pilot for Pan Am and every Saturday night in the early 1960's he would fly to Cuba and bring back the refugees, I used to pray at night he'd return safely. Hope this helps.

I lived just outside of Bradford, in Yorkshire, England in 1962. I was 9 yrs old. Even then, there were lots of Pakistani immigrants in Bradford. I distinctly remember my 5th grade teacher telling us that nuclear war could happen in the next few days. I was very relieved when I learned the crisis was over. Family bought a mid-50's MG four door sedan. Previous transportation had been a bicycle. The MG had four electric jacks on each corner of the vehicle activated by switches in the glovebox. Later on, we got a Vauxhall Cresta. Car dealer down the street specialized in selling US Chrysler products, unheard of behemoths in that part of the world. I played in the woods about a half mile from our house. The most appealing feature was the huge bomb craters throughout the woods left over from WWII. Not to far away was a boarded up underground air raid shelter from WWII which we would sneak into on occasion.

If you can find the educational website for the movie, The Fog of War, there is lots of information on the Cuban Missile Crisis there including the original letters that went back and forth between Kennedy and Kruschev. I found Kruschev's letter pretty sensible when it explained that the missiles were defensive and not offensive.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

what exact model was that.. i find that not only interesting but funny

I don't think I ever knew what model it was.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

The Magnette.

Googling some MG's, I think it was probably a YA.

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/pics/pelhamya1.jpg

Vauxhall Cresta:

http://www.vauxhall.tripod.com/Cresta.jpg

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

My story -- at least not this one -- is not set during the crisis period in October of '62 but a lot earlier in the year.

What about attitudes toward sex (if you were old enough back then to know about it)? We don't have to get into details necessarily, but what was the prevailing attitude to being pregnant out of wedlock (being "in trouble," I think it was called) or having [voice drops to whisper here] an "illegal operation"? Did women consider being married, even if desperately unhappy, better than the alternative -- and what were the alternatives?

__________________
* *
-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

In case an "accident" did occur quite often the young lady was sent off to a convent and told she was sent to "boarding" school and the child was put up for adoption. Either that or the Winchester came out of the closet and there was a wedding...

You're really getting into how much the country has changed. In 62 there was still a huge migration into the west and the differences in culture from area to area were greater than they are today- I think.
I hit NOLA in 69 and it was still where the west was back in the 50's, so what it was like in 62 is only a guess. I felt like I was in a foreign country.
The west was really pushing the social envelope. Probably because it was like being away from home for the first time for so many people. NOLA was like a racial nightmare, and that was supposed to be a wide open progressive place for the southeast. A whole lot of drinking mixed in with in with very old fashioned “this is the way we do it” stuck on stupid social values. Dyed hair and makeup were for sluts and it seemed like most men had attitudes right out of high school as far a sex went. The movie “Easy Rider” came out, and when we went the whole crowd stood up and cheered at the end – it was scary if you didn't have a real short haircut.
Now the west coast is not the place to go and the southeast is more where Cal was back then. While I lived in the area the whole place loosened up, but if I'd look back too 62 I'd expect to find all the uptightness of the Midwest mixed with racism. I'd bet it wasn't that hard to get an abortion in NO, but yes back then a lot of people got married because of a pregnancy, and because most of them weren't very experienced they've stayed together at higher rates than is typical today. A lot of sad women, but people from that era are more committed. I think it comes from just not knowing any better, but whatever.
NOLA was also a poor place, and what goes on with kids that have money is different than those that don't. High school squeeze – screw – married – get a job – trapped – the end.

__________________
89 300E
79 240D
72 Westy
63 Bug sunroof
85 Jeep CJ7
86 Chevy 6.2l diesel PU

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius