1962—we were all so innocent. We all thought we knew a lot—but did we? Looking back, life really was simple. We worried about social relationships, but not social media. Let’s take a trip down Memory Lane…
A guy’s hair was held in the tight roll with some kind of gel, aka “Kookie” of 77 Sunset Strip. My comb would only go through the back of my hair because the front was hard as a rock (that is until “coach” made me cut if off). Girls worried about rolling their hair and how to be neat like the girls on American Bandstand.
Girlfriends and Boyfriends; we had semi-sprouts of adult physical parts with which we didn’t know fully how to deal. We also had the need to “go steady,” but wondered whether we could hold hands, get the first kiss or even “make out.” Watch out! What to do with all that pent-up emotion, not to mention the semi-adult body parts.
Most of our schools wouldn’t let us wear jeans. Yeah, that’s right. The guys had to wear slacks and the girls, dresses. They boys couldn’t wear t shirts, only shirts with collars. Yeah, this was public school in L.A. The girls’ tops could show no under clothes and a stray bra strap was enough to earn detention, suspension or even expulsion. Oh no, a stray bra strap!
We had full P.E. everyday. Everyday, with showers — you had to take showers. That was tough for a lot of us boys because the act of getting naked in front of your friends…oh no…..and I’m sure most of us were in some “state of development” (Of course, I don’t know because, you know, I never looked). For the girls, I can only imagine, but the same thoughts had to have crossed their minds. Although, for the most part, I’m sure they were more mature than us guys.
And discipline? Oh, the P.E. teachers weren’t shy about letting you know how they felt. I remember one day when a number of us were flipping towels in the shower—that was so cool—if you got a good snap on a rear, it would leave such a groovy welt. One of the teachers, (who happened to be my basketball coach), saw us doing it and told us to put on our shorts and go into the office. He told us to turn around, bend over and drop our pants. He took a sand paper paddle and went down the row, smacking all of us with the paddle on our right butt cheek. He then switched hands (a switch hitter) and went down the row picking off the left cheek. None of us could sit down for hours. Can you imagine the blow-back if that happened today?
In ’62, I wasn’t old enough to drive, but my basketball friends would get out their GTO (we called it a “goat”…creative huh?), or Corvair, or my favorite, my friend’s VW Bug. He took the exhaust pipes off and it sounded really loud — really “cherry” and “boss.”
Looking back, 1962 was an age of innocence for all of us. Sure, some snuck some beer and hazed our club members, but, well, it was nothing like it is today. We didn’t really have gangs. We’d heard about Vietnam, but it didn’t affect us. There hadn’t been a “Watergate,” and we pretty much trusted our politicians. Heck, we hadn’t even heard of the Beatles, not to mention the “flower power” evolution or Haight/Ashbury.
As I look back now from the vantage point of living to see 2013, I feel life is much tougher for our kids, and will be harder for their kids. When you look at life through the vision of American Graffiti, life looks so simple. Maybe that’s why all of us turned out so veeerrry perfectly.
Ed Baxter can be read and heard at EdBaxterMedia.com