Question to people who dated in the 60's,70's,80's

[Popinski]

First of all, all of you trolls who are sick and tired of me askingabout people from the 60's, 70's, and 80's, don't say anything, please.

I've asked many questions for these people who lived in that era many times on BITOG. I lived my teen years in the early 90's and one of my hobbies is to study about how life was before the 90's.

I've already asked about what you did for fun, I've asked about how cars were back then... my next question is: What did you do on your dates? I have so many questions and BITOG is the only website where people gladly tell about their experiences "back then". For the ones who did: Thank you very much!!!

2 days ago, I talked to one who served in Vietnam. He promised himself that if he got back alive, he would ask his dream girl out in high school on a date; she was a jock and he was the low-life nerd!!!! They've been married every since. Please share!

 

[Popinski]

I wish children and teens nowadays would learn from our ancestors. All of them had fun, freedom, and grew up better and wise. Our lives are now overrun by computers and paranoia. RIP, life....

 

[TooManyWheels]

Drive-in movies......

 

[Popinski]

Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
Drive-in movies......

According to movies....I know what went on!!!!!

 

[Spyder7]

It was pretty much the same then as now, except more personal and less "easy" (in the casual hookup sense). No messenger, cell phones to text on, etc meant there was a lot more personal contact; "personal" in the sense that if you wanted to speak to the chick you were dating, you had to call her and actually speak to her.

This brings up a pet peeve of mine that didn't exist then but is common today: the "multi-tasking" that takes place during simple interactions where the other party is texting, or your cell phone rings, during dinner, parked in the car together (not while its moving if either is driving, obviously), etc. This lack of the 'distraction' also made early interaction more personal.

That is something that has changed since then is that society, in that realm as in other social realms, is more removed from one another by technology and its "social networking" that makes things today seem more transient and impersonal.

Just my two cents by the way. YMMV.

Edit: and drive-in movies was the generation before my time. No comment there.

-Spyder

 

[crinkles]

double S double D.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
Drive-in movies......

Those were the best days

 

[Shannow]

Never dated at a drivein...us boys used to buy beer and watch horror movies.

Girls were phone calls, movies, bands, dinner, weekends away, long walks, finding secluded carparks on the way home at night, fogging up the windows and having the cops tap on the windows.

 

[hr1940]

Please don't laugh. My date had to come to the door and was invited in and usually had to wait a few minutes for me to finish getting ready to go out. We went to the drive in movies, dancing, out to dinner, bands or hung out with friends. Sometimes your date came over for dinner and then talked with the parents, watched TV or played board games. Times were slower back then and you actually talked about your hopes and dreams. Depending on who I was dating I would go dancing 2 or 3 times a week. My mom was a great cook and people enjoyed having dinner at our house. It was not unusual for some of my friends to "drop" by at dinner time. Oklahoma was a dry state back then and so there wasn't any bars. I met guys at work or through friends.

 

[FowVay]

I might show my bias but quite simply, the 1980's were the greatest years of all time.

Pittsburgh Steelers were great, Atlanta Braves were America's team, WTBS and the SuperStation (Ted Turner's deal) started shows at 5 minutes past the hour/half hour so you had a chance to browse before deciding, MTV had music videos, Kawasaki introduced the Ninja, Honda brought out their V4 engines (motorcycles), Suzuki had the funky Katana and Later the GSXR series, Yamaha had that gorgeous XS-11,, Freddy Spencer was on top, Toyota still sold a rear-wheel drive Corolla and Nissan had the Turbo-Z. Wendy's still made a great burger, the big hair bands were simply the greatest producers of music in the history of the world, Michele Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan made history, the Berlin wall finally came down and Germany set into motion the plans for complete reunification.

Wow,, I could go on forever. Top Gun was the greatest Navy recruiting video ever made, the IROC camaro came on scene and Knight Rider reversed all the positive ground that Burt Reynolds gave to the Pontiac Trans Am.

Parachute pants, leg warmers, "Members Only" jackets that we thought were cool,,, and the world famous MULLET.

I miss the 1980's.....

Ohh, what did we do on dates? The same things teenagers have done on dates since the history of mankind. Tried to be cool, get lucky, and hope nobody noticed that zit on our nose.

Do a youtube search for a good song.. Mark Wills "19 somethin' ". It's excellent.

 

[JDD]

I was in HS in the late 70s. Biggest difference was no cell phones, Ipods, no DVD players and even VHS players were a few years away for all but a very few. Cable was just starting up, just the big 3 networks. We just went out and had fun. Go to a movie, watch TV at someone's home, play tennis, go to the lake, take a drive somewhere, go skiing, go to a baseball game. Contrary to what you may believe, cars were not near as good as today. Best part of yesteryear was that 'they' didn't track everything you did. There was a lot more freedom to to what you wanted. Everyone was not out suing everyone else for everything. The victim mentality was just not there. The entitlement mentality was not near as strong as it is today. My biggest complaint of today is all the whiners about everything and the weenification of America. Men actually knew how to fix a car, weld, etc. If your baseball/football coach benched you for screwing up or being lazy and a bad teammate, and you told your parents about it, they would tell you that the coach was right and to get your act together. Now days, there would be a lawsiut or at the least a formal investigation by someone and it is on the 10 o'clock news. We kids went to work and bought our own stuff and food. If we wanted something, we went out and worked for it and saved and bought it. If I wanted to go skiing, I saved up to pay for it. We knew who the bad guys were (Russians) and that freedom was good. A lot fewer gray areas. No bull**** upselling by every business you encountered everyday. A lot more honest people and the rich made only a few times more money than the regular guy. But there was a lot less tolerance for being different. People were just tougher and more resilient. America still believed in itself and hadn't spent themselves into the near breaking point that we are in today. I would say that I am glad I was a teen in the 70's as compared to today. Dating today is much too casual and the casual attitude toward sex in young single people is appalling in my opinion.

 

[Silk]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Never dated at a drivein...us boys used to buy beer and watch horror movies.

Girls were phone calls, movies, bands, dinner, weekends away, long walks, finding secluded carparks on the way home at night, fogging up the windows and having the cops tap on the windows.


Dating wasn't done here either,and I don't think there has never been a drive in in NZ.I had a 1954 Austin A40 pickup....I didn't have a back seat.At the time I really didn't think it was worth all the drama...wish I had listened to myself.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

One of the big differences that I see-I always picked my "dates" up at their home. I always went to the door, was invited inside, and spent a few minutes talking with her parents. If there were curfews to be observed, those curfews were honored. Without curfews a date never lasted any later than 10:30 PM.

If there was snow on the ground we often went sledding. There was a hill on the grounds of the capital building that was great for sledding and all the kids met there and would spend an evening sledding.

Summer months was often a drive-in or school activity. We'd frequently arrive at the drive-in well before the movie started and hang out at the playground that was at the foot of the gigantic screen.

There were also a couple of drug stores downtown with real "soda jerk" fountains that we occasionally frequented.

A lot of time was spent in simple casual conversation; it has a depth that has been lost on much of the current generation. There's no substitute for sitting on a swing and just spending an hour or two talking-no text, no phone, no shallow "social networking". Just pure conversation between two people talking face to face.

 

[Bluestream]

I started to date around 1974. Just missed out on the "free sex" revolution of the 60's, so I had to "work" for it.

We went to house parties, movies, (Exorcist, American Graffiti were big hits) Drive ins, Concerts (Alice Cooper, April Wine) getting into bars at age 16 was not that hard. We had a few places out in the country, that we could drive to build a fire and drink Beer and play loud music. (10-20 under-age kids) If you had a good 8-track player with "Mind Blower" amplified speakers, that was cool, Cops would come sometimes, and kick us out and they took all our beer. No charges for drinking, and they let us drive our cars home.

 

[CourierDriver]

Went off to college the fall of 1964. Dating before that was movies,swimming at the lakes,pools, and high school stuff. But college was the most fun. The days of the GTOs,Chevelles,442Olds,all the 60s cars, u know, when big v8s ruled the streets and auto designs were unique and not bland like they are today. Of course gas was 29 to 33 cents a gallon and it was real gas too. Oil was something we didnt think about much if at all. I miss those days of real rides. I grew up in Chattanooga tn, life was not to cluttered as it is now. I was 18 once and dating was fun. Mom and Dad had a place on the lake and we went there a lot and invited my date there and sometimes their parents. Time surely flies, dont waste ur time, enjoy ur early years, make good memories and friends along the way.

 

[grampi]

We used to "criuse" chicks, meaning we'd criuse around town looking for girls to meet. Our dates consisted of cruising around on the back roads partying, parking, going to movies, going out dancing, or partying at a friend's house. Life was much simpler and more personal back in those days.

 

[Torino]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
Went off to college the fall of 1964. Dating before that was movies,swimming at the lakes,pools, and high school stuff. But college was the most fun. The days of the GTOs,Chevelles,442Olds,all the 60s cars, u know, when big v8s ruled the streets and auto designs were unique and not bland like they are today. Of course gas was 29 to 33 cents a gallon and it was real gas too. Oil was something we didnt think about much if at all. I miss those days of real rides. I grew up in Chattanooga tn, life was not to cluttered as it is now. I was 18 once and dating was fun. Mom and Dad had a place on the lake and we went there a lot and invited my date there and sometimes their parents. Time surely flies, dont waste ur time, enjoy ur early years, make good memories and friends along the way.
Very good post. I might add that the women involved looked, acted and smelled like women. John--Las Vegas.

 

[CharBaby]

Drive-ins, bowling, burger joints, and the beach in the summer time. I liked Rock-n-Roll joints with a band playing, cold beer, loud cars and Harley's.

It seems as though dating was simple at one time, and then Disco was invented and dating became complicated as did the women. Things haven't been the same since! Life was less complicated back then.

 

[Spazdog]

Dating in the '80s got pretty easy once I quit my job at McDonalds and got a job at the movie theater. The hours at the theater meant that I didn't have a lot of time to go on dates but I had a few dollars to make my insurance payment on my rattly old Celica and admission to the movies was free. Plus my complexion got a lot better and I didn't smell like McDonalds anymore.

There was no internet of course. You just struck up a conversation with a girl in the hall at school.
You did have to have a lot of phone discussions with a girl you liked. Attached to the corded variety at your parent's house.I always hated talking on the phone but it was something you did.
You could get into certain clubs in Dallas under 18. Ironically usually the ones that sold ecstacy (it was still legal) you couldn't drink but you could get a Coke and some "X". you could pick out the girls your own age by the big black X on the back of their hands. (and their huge pupils and thier willingness to make out with you)

But my dad had it harder.
He joined the Army at 17. 82nd Airborne. He was going to be Sgt York. He turned 18 during combat operations in The Dominican Republic. When he returned to the states, no parent would let their daughters that were his age date him. No matter how good he looked with his jump boots highly shined and bloused, jump wings, CIB and the All-American bookend patches. A lot of those daddies were WWII vets. They knew what all that meant. Their little girls were not going near that soldier.
The women that would date soldiers thought he was "just a kid in a halloween costume". He was too young. It all worked out...I mean I'm here after all.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

We used to cruise, too. Never had much luck though.

Back in the 80's, we used to talk to one another, hang out at night with nothing more than beer, pizza and laugh til the wee hours of the morning. Or just hang out at White Castles "Nights at White Castles..." (we had our own lyrics to Nights in White Satin...lol)

Now, people don't huddle as much as the electronic world has taken over. It's sad to see how pervasive this has become. Things are more formulaic rather than organic, such as kids sports, having birthday parties or even just knocking on someone's door to see if they'd like to hang is now preceded with some sort of electronic "mother may I" beforehand.

We were able to enjoy the drive-in experience before these completely died-out.

As a hormonally crazed teen, I appreciated the Madonna-like fashions that girls would wear. Difficult to keep thine eyes focued anywhere else. lol

There was a sense of optimism then that doesn't exist now. Hard to quantify this one though.

And lastly, along with the electronics of today comes the mantra "kids today are trained on what to think, not how to think". I agree 100% with that. Are kids taught to think at different angles of a given problem, including good & bad ones? Not really, they're taught to think "If A happens, then X is your response". Uggh.

I listened to hard rock growing up, drank too much Michelob Dark & Leinenkugel's Limited, and my brain is just fine.

And I wish I would have bought that '88 Integra LS. I was too cheap back then. lol Who knows, I coulda picked up a few more gals with it rather than a tan base Saturn SL.