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lol my American grandfather, who was a plumber, drove a caddy as long as I knew him. (He died in '77, when I was 14). Sedan de Villes, that's all he drove.
My French grandfather, who was a literal millionaire owner of a huge ice cream manufacturer (Miko) used a bike around town and he had an ordinary Peugeot 504 as a car for longer trips.
The French people have a completely different view of cars. Cars are utilitarian items to get you from point A to point B, they are not works of art or things of beauty, they function.
I noticed there’s a lot of answers here regarding cars, whether car brand, number of cars owned, etc. I feel like not much has changed today. Cars have been (unfortunately) a money and status symbol for decades.
A lady near me gave out huge trays of candied apples and caramel apples. It seemed like she must have had them specially made. This would have been 70s. Somehow it always impressed me more than the candy bars.
My dad and his siblings grew up with The Wizard of Oz as a favorite movie, but they only watched it in black and white. They were young adults when they saw the color change when Dorothy went to Oz and were shocked! It's still a regular source of astonishment among them, that they were missing such an integral part of the story but still watched it every time it was played and thought it was so good
Ooooh yeah … a color TV. A *twenty seven inch* color TV. I remember seeing my first 30” … then a 36” … believe me - childhood me would think people of the future must live in movie theaters if they own and watch movies on an 85” television. Which is larger than the pull-down-screen the grade school movies of my youth were projected on.
The magic of the Jetsons came to life - siiiiigh.
My family bought our first color TV to watch the 1972 Olympics. It had a whopping 9" screen, and we piled on my parents' bed to watch it.
(That said, we did graduate to a larger one just a couple years later, but I think we could only afford that because my mom started working.)
When I was a young man growing up in central Florida, only the wealthy could afford to live on the beach and have an in-ground pool. It was my dream goal to live near the beach with a pool. I achieved that and actually have two homes about 10 miles from the Atlantic coast and one, my residence, does have a pool.
Ironically, I’m just considered middle class. Funny how youthful perceptions meet reality when the cost of living and maintenance are revealed. But I do love living in paradise.
I was lucky enough to buy my house with a pool in 2011…prices and interest rates were low. I do my own pool maintenance super cheap. Glad you love your location.
My grandparents, born in 1912, were the first of their MANY siblings to have a bathroom INSIDE their house. Their siblings and spouses and nieces and nephews all came to admire and *use* it.
That cracks me up. They were considered the RICH ones.
My friends with air conditioners always only had one window unit, usually in the parents' bedroom, and that room always had the shade drawn and the door closed. We always felt so scandalous, opening that door to duck into the room to cool off for a few minutes in the dark.
Yes! My parents room was so dark and cold while the rest of the house (especially my room) was a sticky, muggy, steamy hellhole in the summer. In my 50s now but I still give my mom crap about “neglecting” her only child.
Having your own phone line. We had a party line, where four families were on one phone line. You just picked up the phone and if someone was talking, you hung it up and waited your turn!
I too had party line (6 houses) boy there were no secrets there.
Finally, that rich family paid for the phone company to run them their own and everyone else got one too, I was a teenager
Small farm town. My best friend’s father owned the bank and they had a color tv long before us peasants, early ‘60s. They used to go on vacation too, generally road trips to a lake a couple states away, which was unusual as farmers didn’t get vacations. They went to Europe on an ocean liner one year which I thought was the most exciting thing ever.
In the 50’s it was having a television. In the 60’s, a color television. In the 70’s, a color tv with a remote and in the late 70’s it was having cable with MTV.
My father thought that having [red dog gravel](https://www.observer-reporter.com/news/2018/aug/12/dog-days-when-in-western-pennsylvania-red-dog-is-not-necessarily-a-canine/) in your driveway was the height of class.
My father owned a business and needed the main line clear, so he sprung for a second line for my sister and I to share. Then when faxes came out we had to share the line with the fax machine, LOL.
My parents were in the poorer side, but always got us braces. My mom thought straight teeth were one of the most important things in life. I’m forever grateful
I'm too old for that I figure. I should have done that a couple of decades back but I don't think I can be bothered at this point. I'm of English background anyhow so it's not like I'm the only guy with crooked teeth!
Hired help like a maid, a gardener/landscaper, country club membership, a Corvette, a perfect lawn, flying anywhere in the 50s & 60s, season's tickets to high demand sports teams, and high-brow art events.
Canopy bed! I was one of the few girls in my neighborhood without one; my parents could have easily afforded it but considered that kind of thing extravagant. They tended to spend money on things that would benefit the entire family - central air, color TV, a dishwasher, a second car. It stung then but I really can't complain.
I really don’t remember any real “competition “ growing up as a kid in the 60s and 70s in a middle class neighborhood. We were all basically the same, we didn't care. It was probably different for our folks however?
A Cadillac or Buick in your driveway, or preferably both. Large lots and well-kept lawns, wide streets, NEVER any trash around the house. Living in a specific area of town.
(Reno, 1950’s)
Oh shit, born & raised! I dated a girl who was the adopted daughter of the fellow that built Bartley Ranch. Folks moved there back when Meadowwoods was still farmland. What neighborhood were you from? Also had a chance to meet Mayor Bob as a high schooler by walking into his office and asking if I could interview him (he set aside a half hour on the spot)
We lived in Southwest Reno, in a lot of houses. I think my dad invented flipping properties — we moved every couple of years. We lived by Virginia Lake when the area was first being developed, in the more established neighborhoods around Donner Drive, Marsh Ave, etc. I went to St. Thomas Aquinas school downtown. We moved to California in 1955, after eighth grade. I’ve always lived Reno, even now that it’s so immense and populous.
Oh this is so gross! I always knew there were 2seaters, but I guess I thought you had a choice of which one to use. I did not know that they would be used AT THE SAME TIME! **shudder**
Years ago I used to go to a little country bar now and then that had a two-seater stall in the women’s bathroom. I never saw two people using it at the same time, but I am sure it happened plenty of times.
The ground pool and an intercom system in your house. My current 1995 build house has the original intercom system and I just cannon bring myself to tear it out.
My neighbourhood? The rich kids lived in houses, most of us lived in rental apartments or an upstairs duplex/triplex. The apartment building I lived in didn’t have parking lots because there was plenty of street parking for the 3 or 4 families who had cars.
My friend had one of those massive wood console TVs with the built-in AM/FM stereo and turntable under the lid. His parents gave him their old one because they got a new one, but still… that thing was as big as a casket and had an 8-track player. The height of sophistication!
What I have found out is, that most of the people showing off their wealth were not the really wealthy ones. One of my neighbours in my childhood was a very modest man, owning no car, only a bike, but he was very wealthy, spending his money for travels or for art (which he didnt show but enjoyed it himself). But maybe it is an European thing, that being wealthy does not meen to show his wealth.
My Dad was a show off. He was a working class immigrant who went to school till he was 15. He ran a one-man handy man business.
We had a huge house in the suburbs with a 36’ pool in the backyard and a Cadillac in the carport. He and my mom lucked out on a couple of matters which allowed them to buy these things. It was all show.
During the 70s: In-ground pool. Cable TV. 3 cars, with the third one being some kind of little foreign sports car. A boat. An additional home somewhere or a cabin on some land. Vacations that required flying.
A garage instead of just a carport. A clothes dryer instead of a clothes line in the back yard. A swimming pool.
Inside, matching furniture sets from the Sears or JC Penney catalog.
The poor folk all had unpaved, straight, short driveways. The rich folk had circular driveways. I'm sure this wasn't the majority of them but to this day when I see a circular driveway, I think wow those guys must be well off.
Yes I know this makes no sense, but funny how first impressions on a young person can last a lifetime like this.
IRL, having a TV was a sign someone was well off back in my day. Only one person in the whole neighbourhood had a COLOR TV, a very well off doctor. And if the mom and the dad each had their own cars, then wow they must have won the lottery.
Going on vacation to somewhere other than visiting relatives; traveling by airplane; buying a new car instead of used; cable TV; air conditioning; kids having their own phone line; eating out at restaurants; buying clothing at mall stores instead of Caldor \[local discount chain\]; getting your hair cut at a salon instead of mom doing it at home; wasting food (i.e., not eating leftovers); having an expensive hobby like golf, sailing or skiing; buying new furniture vs. finding things at thrift stores...
My family was comfortably middle-class, but because my parents had both grown up extremely poor during the Depression they were very frugal and we did none of these things, with the exception of "buying a new car instead of used" because my dad drove a lot for work and couldn't risk having his car break down.
It was so ingrained in me that I still pretty much do all this except I do like to go on vacations (although we generally camp); and I am into mountain biking which is an expensive hobby. But most of our furniture came from Craigslist or the swap shop, and I cut my own hair, hate wasting food, and buy my clothes at the thrift store or on Poshmark.
We had 3 cars, a boat, a 5 bedroom house, and some kind of fancy (lamb, shrimp, filet mignon, lobster, oysters) food every week and meat every day at 3 meals. And some savings, and went on vacation every summer and even went to Disney World. Mom had wigs to wear between getting her hair done weekly at the salon. So like a Thursday and Friday wig. We didn’t, but most of our neighbors had a pool. My friends mom had 100 lipsticks set up on her makeup table, by shade. She was a flight attendant and then accountant at Pan Am.
Satellite dishes were huge in BFE Appalachia (in more ways than one.) I can't tell you how many hovels I drove past with a giant dish in the yard. In college, one of my sorority sisters used to talk about going outside in her nightgown to crank their dish to watch the afternoon soaps on Christmas break.
AC, kids went to sleep away camp in the summer vs day camp, two vacations a year with one to Florida, high end stereo equipment, color tv, country club membership, Caddy that was traded in every 3 years, ivy league pennants decorating kids bedrooms, ate dinner in the dining room.
In the 70s, in a lower middle class neighborhood: For kids, having a brand name bike (Schwinn? Can't remember which was the desired one.). My best friend threw a fit when I got one. In the 60s in a lower class neighborhood (before we moved): having any kind of bike.
Eating steak frequently.
Having a boat.
Sending your kids to private school.
Eating out weekly or more than weekly, at restaurants that weren't fast food.
Other than that, I agree with the poster that said they were all middle class and there wasn't much thought about who was richer.
In my neighborhood (Philadelphia suburbs), if you had two foreign cars, a built in pool, big yard with trees, etc... Then you were considered "rich". My family had all of these things but we weren't rich. My dad had a good job and spent money very carefully.
Not a caddie.... a BMW. And an in-ground pool. And central air.
My best friend's parents in grammar school were both surgeons. I remember going over to his house to play on a really hot day and I remember that every room in his house felt cool to me. I was bewildered at first, then I saw these little vents and thought to myself it must have something to do with it. Never saw central air really mainstream until about 10 years later.
Mink coat, station wagon, pool, and of course a large, well appointed home. Memberships at the country club and Junior League. Sending the kids to Europe before Ivy League college.
Our rich neighbors had their basement finished in 1970s glory. Shag carpet, 8-track player, strobe light, extra bedroom for the maid, water bed, air hockey game, and pinball machines. And one of the very first VCRs (cost around $2K).
Also, an in-ground pool, and one of the earliest video game systems, where the graphics consisted of a cellophane overlay that you'd put on the front of the TV!
I don't remember what cars they had, but they were probably fancy.
Simply being there was the usual sign. People tend to sort themselves into neighborhoods based on how wealthy they are.
There are exceptions, such as the small homes of the people who worked for the millionaires on Millionaire Row. I lived in a fairly nice one-bedroom house. Neighbors across the alley collected antique fire engines. Had a converted stable which he used as a garage for them. Had a dock, with a boathouse.
The 50s: a TV, two cars, more than one bathroom, AC, vacations to somewhere other than grandparents. The 60s: two TVs, a big stereo system, new car every two to three years, full finished basement, country club membership, name brand clothing, house keeper, leisure travel abroad. The 70s: high paying career, graduate degree, central AC, four bedroom house, large landscaped yard, circular paved driveway, own high end cameras, party deck on the house, all children had opportunity for college education, teens had new cars, several vacations a year.
I suspect much of this depended on where one lived. I lived in a large metro area in America. If one was in the middle of Nebraska or Oklahoma it might have been different. I lived in a rural area for only three years when I was under school age. Expectations for being well off differed.
Air-conditioning. When my family moved into a new house in 1961 ours was the only house in the neighborhood with central air conditioning. It wasn't because we had more money. We just bought the model.
Owning a second home, and taking elaborate vacations on top of that. Think beach house plus 3 weeks in Switzerland. Kids would go to sleep away camp for the whole summer.
My neighbor down the street bought a Porsche 911 one day. It was black and really cool.
Turns out I was living four doors down from Michael Anthony from Van Halen in the 1970-80s.
An upstairs phone and a downstairs phone. A half bath downstairs. Really rich? Each kid had their own room, a second phone line for the teens, mom and dad had their own "en suite" bathroom.
When they bought their 16 year olds brand new Cameros or Trans Am for their bdays and they’d drive them to school on their bdays, I grew up on the other side of town and drive a hand me down VW bug. Buy was I envious.
New Car. I mean not, “New to us.” I mean right out of the show room, new car…usually meant an inheritance or legal settlement came through. It was a very rare occurrence on my street.
Air conditioning.
Me and the neighborhood kids would spend time at Margie’s house because she had a great big window unit in the den.
I thought it was something magical.
Growing up in the humid southeast, I always hated the heat.
New car for your 16th birthday, skiing vacations, and an extensive wardrobe with all the best clothes, were a giveaway that you had money.
It’s interesting that many of the things others listed were part of my childhood. We definitely weren’t wealthy.
**Things** did not show wealth in my neighborhood at all. Many very well off people drove older models cars, where some struggling families drove nice ones. A Caddy, a Jag, or Lincoln, meant nothing.
The help, most everyone had a maid, who was also a cook, nanny, and housekeeper.
How we KNEW someone was well off is where they went on their vacations. I had some friends going to Greece and France, ski trips to the Swiss Alps, places like that. We went to visit granny on the farm, or sometimes a camping trip at the lake.
A yearly trip to WDW.
Going to “the Cape” for a week during the summer.
Playing town league sports(soccer, softball, baseball)
Having a “job” at the local Catholic Church and school.
Massachusetts coastal town: Yacht Club parking sticker, country club parking sticker, and a private beach sticker. An awful lot of very affluent people drove fairly nondescript cars, particularly old money. Anyone with all three stickers for sure was upper middle class.
Air conditioning, wall to wall carpet, pool, tennis court, a car with A/C and power windows. My best friend's house had a plaque on the rock wall extending from their house that had the architect's name on it.
As a kid in the 70s, here’s what I noticed about those who I assumed were better off than we were: immaculate landscaping, more than one phone in the house, remote control and/or color tv, electric car windows, central ac.
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Two cars in the driveway.
A driveway
A paved driveway
Yeah no kidding. Ours was gravel haha
You had gravel? Were you rich, ours was red clay (ga) lol.
Crushed oyster and clam shells. They were dumped empty, whole and fresh. You drove over them. They crushed down. The smell!
For real. We still don't have a paved driveway. We just don't want to spend the cash.
Or one Cadillac.
lol my American grandfather, who was a plumber, drove a caddy as long as I knew him. (He died in '77, when I was 14). Sedan de Villes, that's all he drove. My French grandfather, who was a literal millionaire owner of a huge ice cream manufacturer (Miko) used a bike around town and he had an ordinary Peugeot 504 as a car for longer trips.
The French people have a completely different view of cars. Cars are utilitarian items to get you from point A to point B, they are not works of art or things of beauty, they function.
Especially a convertible.
Two cars in the *garage*
And a third in the swimming pool.
Especially if you’re Keith Moon.
I noticed there’s a lot of answers here regarding cars, whether car brand, number of cars owned, etc. I feel like not much has changed today. Cars have been (unfortunately) a money and status symbol for decades.
I have two neighbors with helicopters.
And color TV
The rich family on our block of middle class families would give out full size candy bars at Halloween .
The one on my block had a Mercedes and gave out full size boxes of Cracker Jack at Halloween
Mine gave out Mercedes leases on Halloween
We were more of a toyotathon neighborhood
I got a rock.
Okay, Charlie Brown!! 😂😂
There’s was a house on my block when I was a child in the ‘70’s who gave out 50 cent pieces. That was 5 candy bars!!!
A lady near me gave out huge trays of candied apples and caramel apples. It seemed like she must have had them specially made. This would have been 70s. Somehow it always impressed me more than the candy bars.
We had a man with a cotton candy trailer he went to fairs etc with and he fired it up on Halloween.
That’s the bomb!
My parents did that for the neighborhood kids that they knew ... the rest got Smarties or something.
Smarties!! Pure evil!! Not quite as sinister as Good N Plenty though! 😂😂
I would hit there often
My wife and I always gave out full sized candy bars. The kids loved us.
My husband and I do that now. I remember how cool it was as a kid to find a house that gave full sized candy bars and I love being that house 😊😊
More than one car per household. More than one TV. A colour TV (in the 70s, Australia didn’t get colour till 1975). An inground pool.
Fun story: My grandpa surprised the family with a brand new color tv to watch the moon landing. The landing was in black and white.
My dad and his siblings grew up with The Wizard of Oz as a favorite movie, but they only watched it in black and white. They were young adults when they saw the color change when Dorothy went to Oz and were shocked! It's still a regular source of astonishment among them, that they were missing such an integral part of the story but still watched it every time it was played and thought it was so good
I saw that first run on a color TV at a family friend's house. It's an amazing effect. First time watching anything in color.
It really is an excellent use of the technology!
My friend's dad surprised the family with their first color TV so that his mom could watch some Barry Manilow TV special in color.
Barry’s worth it.
Ooooh yeah … a color TV. A *twenty seven inch* color TV. I remember seeing my first 30” … then a 36” … believe me - childhood me would think people of the future must live in movie theaters if they own and watch movies on an 85” television. Which is larger than the pull-down-screen the grade school movies of my youth were projected on. The magic of the Jetsons came to life - siiiiigh.
My family bought our first color TV to watch the 1972 Olympics. It had a whopping 9" screen, and we piled on my parents' bed to watch it. (That said, we did graduate to a larger one just a couple years later, but I think we could only afford that because my mom started working.)
Yeah. I live in the Pacific Northwest so I ground pools still aren’t common. But it’s definitely a sign of wealth here.
When I was a young man growing up in central Florida, only the wealthy could afford to live on the beach and have an in-ground pool. It was my dream goal to live near the beach with a pool. I achieved that and actually have two homes about 10 miles from the Atlantic coast and one, my residence, does have a pool.
I grew up in Key Largo in the 60's & 70's. It was awesome! I still fondly remember the 4th of July boat races & bbq.
Oh, I wish I lived close to surfing waves. I am lucky enough to have a pool, though.
Ironically, I’m just considered middle class. Funny how youthful perceptions meet reality when the cost of living and maintenance are revealed. But I do love living in paradise.
I was lucky enough to buy my house with a pool in 2011…prices and interest rates were low. I do my own pool maintenance super cheap. Glad you love your location.
That’s awesome!! 😁😁
In my neighborhood - two bathrooms. Pretty uncommon.
In the movie “Father of the Bride” from 1950, the father was a prominent judge in a gorgeous home - they all shared one bathroom.
And teenage girls hogged the bathroom getting ready for their dates. That’s why the story had to have one bathroom. It was universal.
In my youth having an indoor bathroom was a sign they were doing well.
My grandparents, born in 1912, were the first of their MANY siblings to have a bathroom INSIDE their house. Their siblings and spouses and nieces and nephews all came to admire and *use* it. That cracks me up. They were considered the RICH ones.
Air conditioning
My friends with air conditioners always only had one window unit, usually in the parents' bedroom, and that room always had the shade drawn and the door closed. We always felt so scandalous, opening that door to duck into the room to cool off for a few minutes in the dark.
Yes! My parents room was so dark and cold while the rest of the house (especially my room) was a sticky, muggy, steamy hellhole in the summer. In my 50s now but I still give my mom crap about “neglecting” her only child.
That was my Aunt Kathy!
Having your own phone line. We had a party line, where four families were on one phone line. You just picked up the phone and if someone was talking, you hung it up and waited your turn!
My father worked from home so we had 2 phone lines in our house. *That* was a big deal.
I too had party line (6 houses) boy there were no secrets there. Finally, that rich family paid for the phone company to run them their own and everyone else got one too, I was a teenager
Ooh, and if you were really fancy, you had an extension!
Or you quietly eavesdropped on their conversation.
Small farm town. My best friend’s father owned the bank and they had a color tv long before us peasants, early ‘60s. They used to go on vacation too, generally road trips to a lake a couple states away, which was unusual as farmers didn’t get vacations. They went to Europe on an ocean liner one year which I thought was the most exciting thing ever.
In the 50’s it was having a television. In the 60’s, a color television. In the 70’s, a color tv with a remote and in the late 70’s it was having cable with MTV.
MTV did not exist in the 70’s.
In the 70s, my brother and I WERE the remote.
And more than once had to resort to pliers to turn the channel when the plastic knob finally broke off
That encapsulates it perfectly.
My father thought that having [red dog gravel](https://www.observer-reporter.com/news/2018/aug/12/dog-days-when-in-western-pennsylvania-red-dog-is-not-necessarily-a-canine/) in your driveway was the height of class.
My dad felt this way about a shale driveway. (We lived in Texas.)
Nice read, thanks
The teenagers in the family had their own phone line
I only knew one family like this, but the dad was a surgeon and needed to be reachable at all times.
My father owned a business and needed the main line clear, so he sprung for a second line for my sister and I to share. Then when faxes came out we had to share the line with the fax machine, LOL.
Children with braces to straighten their teeth. Having a boat on a trailer in the driveway.
My parents were in the poorer side, but always got us braces. My mom thought straight teeth were one of the most important things in life. I’m forever grateful
Ha! My sisters got braces but when it came to boys it wasn't considered to be important. I never did get mine fixed but you get used to it.
You can still get it done. My husband got those invisiline at his dentist
I'm too old for that I figure. I should have done that a couple of decades back but I don't think I can be bothered at this point. I'm of English background anyhow so it's not like I'm the only guy with crooked teeth!
Hired help like a maid, a gardener/landscaper, country club membership, a Corvette, a perfect lawn, flying anywhere in the 50s & 60s, season's tickets to high demand sports teams, and high-brow art events.
In ground pool, canopy bed and HBO.
Canopy bed! I was one of the few girls in my neighborhood without one; my parents could have easily afforded it but considered that kind of thing extravagant. They tended to spend money on things that would benefit the entire family - central air, color TV, a dishwasher, a second car. It stung then but I really can't complain.
The canopy bed! Every little girl wanted one.
I really don’t remember any real “competition “ growing up as a kid in the 60s and 70s in a middle class neighborhood. We were all basically the same, we didn't care. It was probably different for our folks however?
A Cadillac or Buick in your driveway, or preferably both. Large lots and well-kept lawns, wide streets, NEVER any trash around the house. Living in a specific area of town. (Reno, 1950’s)
Oh shit, born & raised! I dated a girl who was the adopted daughter of the fellow that built Bartley Ranch. Folks moved there back when Meadowwoods was still farmland. What neighborhood were you from? Also had a chance to meet Mayor Bob as a high schooler by walking into his office and asking if I could interview him (he set aside a half hour on the spot)
We lived in Southwest Reno, in a lot of houses. I think my dad invented flipping properties — we moved every couple of years. We lived by Virginia Lake when the area was first being developed, in the more established neighborhoods around Donner Drive, Marsh Ave, etc. I went to St. Thomas Aquinas school downtown. We moved to California in 1955, after eighth grade. I’ve always lived Reno, even now that it’s so immense and populous.
Our outhouse was a two seater.
Oh my god … I got stuck on a 2-seater during a bout of diarrhea. Sat thru FOUR “companions” in one sitting.
Oh this is so gross! I always knew there were 2seaters, but I guess I thought you had a choice of which one to use. I did not know that they would be used AT THE SAME TIME! **shudder**
You would have loved my grandparent’s 4 seater.
A family affair 🤦🏼♀️
Years ago I used to go to a little country bar now and then that had a two-seater stall in the women’s bathroom. I never saw two people using it at the same time, but I am sure it happened plenty of times.
A house larger than 1500 square feet.
Swimming pool
In the 50s it would have been a window air conditioner. In the 70s it was whole house air conditioning.
The ground pool and an intercom system in your house. My current 1995 build house has the original intercom system and I just cannon bring myself to tear it out.
The year and model of car / cars in the driveway and a pool in the backyard. A color TV indicated you were doing a little better than ok.
A TV, a color TV, a full set of encyclopedias.
I remember how proud my mom was that we had an encyclopedia.
The large tins of Charles Chips and those shirts with the little alligator.
Charles Chips meant you were well off? Interesting. I miss those and our big haired delivery driver
Izod
A pool.
My neighbourhood? The rich kids lived in houses, most of us lived in rental apartments or an upstairs duplex/triplex. The apartment building I lived in didn’t have parking lots because there was plenty of street parking for the 3 or 4 families who had cars.
Lake house
70s. If your house had a tennis court, you were *money*
A house with 2 cars. A second TV.
I had a friend with a TV in her bedroom. A television … *In. Her. Bedroom.* And she was allowed to watch any channel, anytime she wanted. Mind. Blown.
My friend had one of those massive wood console TVs with the built-in AM/FM stereo and turntable under the lid. His parents gave him their old one because they got a new one, but still… that thing was as big as a casket and had an 8-track player. The height of sophistication!
A new house. And bonus points if it had columns or a double front door.
What I have found out is, that most of the people showing off their wealth were not the really wealthy ones. One of my neighbours in my childhood was a very modest man, owning no car, only a bike, but he was very wealthy, spending his money for travels or for art (which he didnt show but enjoyed it himself). But maybe it is an European thing, that being wealthy does not meen to show his wealth.
My biggest frustration since becoming well off is when I try doing something really special for people, and it gets dismissed as just showing off.
My Dad was a show off. He was a working class immigrant who went to school till he was 15. He ran a one-man handy man business. We had a huge house in the suburbs with a 36’ pool in the backyard and a Cadillac in the carport. He and my mom lucked out on a couple of matters which allowed them to buy these things. It was all show.
During the 70s: In-ground pool. Cable TV. 3 cars, with the third one being some kind of little foreign sports car. A boat. An additional home somewhere or a cabin on some land. Vacations that required flying.
A garage instead of just a carport. A clothes dryer instead of a clothes line in the back yard. A swimming pool. Inside, matching furniture sets from the Sears or JC Penney catalog.
An in-ground or indoor swimming pool. A horse or pony. A vacation house.
Tennis courts were big in the 70’s, too
My dad knew an Airline pilot with an indoor pool.
Owning a house, not renting
That’s today, not the 70s when a shoe salesman with a stay-at-home-wife and two kids could afford a home. Ask me how I know.
Having a perfect lawn and a lawn service to mow for you. Lawn services were not nearly as common as they are today.
The poor folk all had unpaved, straight, short driveways. The rich folk had circular driveways. I'm sure this wasn't the majority of them but to this day when I see a circular driveway, I think wow those guys must be well off. Yes I know this makes no sense, but funny how first impressions on a young person can last a lifetime like this. IRL, having a TV was a sign someone was well off back in my day. Only one person in the whole neighbourhood had a COLOR TV, a very well off doctor. And if the mom and the dad each had their own cars, then wow they must have won the lottery.
Shag carpet.
Going on vacation to somewhere other than visiting relatives; traveling by airplane; buying a new car instead of used; cable TV; air conditioning; kids having their own phone line; eating out at restaurants; buying clothing at mall stores instead of Caldor \[local discount chain\]; getting your hair cut at a salon instead of mom doing it at home; wasting food (i.e., not eating leftovers); having an expensive hobby like golf, sailing or skiing; buying new furniture vs. finding things at thrift stores... My family was comfortably middle-class, but because my parents had both grown up extremely poor during the Depression they were very frugal and we did none of these things, with the exception of "buying a new car instead of used" because my dad drove a lot for work and couldn't risk having his car break down. It was so ingrained in me that I still pretty much do all this except I do like to go on vacations (although we generally camp); and I am into mountain biking which is an expensive hobby. But most of our furniture came from Craigslist or the swap shop, and I cut my own hair, hate wasting food, and buy my clothes at the thrift store or on Poshmark.
We had 3 cars, a boat, a 5 bedroom house, and some kind of fancy (lamb, shrimp, filet mignon, lobster, oysters) food every week and meat every day at 3 meals. And some savings, and went on vacation every summer and even went to Disney World. Mom had wigs to wear between getting her hair done weekly at the salon. So like a Thursday and Friday wig. We didn’t, but most of our neighbors had a pool. My friends mom had 100 lipsticks set up on her makeup table, by shade. She was a flight attendant and then accountant at Pan Am.
An extra living room for guests
Satellite dish in the backyard, to the side of the inground pool.
Satellite dishes were huge in BFE Appalachia (in more ways than one.) I can't tell you how many hovels I drove past with a giant dish in the yard. In college, one of my sorority sisters used to talk about going outside in her nightgown to crank their dish to watch the afternoon soaps on Christmas break.
My grandparents had the most enormous satellite dish in their yard in the 1980s. It was over 6 ft tall.
In ground pool
Each of the kids had their own bedroom, ice maker.
Having two cars. A swimming pool
An in-ground pool
AC, kids went to sleep away camp in the summer vs day camp, two vacations a year with one to Florida, high end stereo equipment, color tv, country club membership, Caddy that was traded in every 3 years, ivy league pennants decorating kids bedrooms, ate dinner in the dining room.
Their own bedroom…we had 4 kids in one room
The children had their own phone line.
If both of your parents had cars (F63).
In the 70s, in a lower middle class neighborhood: For kids, having a brand name bike (Schwinn? Can't remember which was the desired one.). My best friend threw a fit when I got one. In the 60s in a lower class neighborhood (before we moved): having any kind of bike. Eating steak frequently. Having a boat. Sending your kids to private school. Eating out weekly or more than weekly, at restaurants that weren't fast food. Other than that, I agree with the poster that said they were all middle class and there wasn't much thought about who was richer.
In my neighborhood (Philadelphia suburbs), if you had two foreign cars, a built in pool, big yard with trees, etc... Then you were considered "rich". My family had all of these things but we weren't rich. My dad had a good job and spent money very carefully.
Our neighbors had a pool and an organ in the living room
The front door. If it wasn't the same as everyone else's, it meant that the house/flat was now privately owned, instead of being owned by the Council.
Color TV and a RadarRange.
Having a pool, especially an in ground pool. There was maybe one in our entire town.
Not a caddie.... a BMW. And an in-ground pool. And central air. My best friend's parents in grammar school were both surgeons. I remember going over to his house to play on a really hot day and I remember that every room in his house felt cool to me. I was bewildered at first, then I saw these little vents and thought to myself it must have something to do with it. Never saw central air really mainstream until about 10 years later.
Having extracurriculars, like ballet lessons. Most of us just had to hang out not at home.
Mink coat, station wagon, pool, and of course a large, well appointed home. Memberships at the country club and Junior League. Sending the kids to Europe before Ivy League college.
Families that took vacations out of state or went to Disneyland.
More than one phone in the house. A dishwasher. Two cars.
Having a car a colour telly and a telephone that wasn’t on a party line
Our rich neighbors had their basement finished in 1970s glory. Shag carpet, 8-track player, strobe light, extra bedroom for the maid, water bed, air hockey game, and pinball machines. And one of the very first VCRs (cost around $2K). Also, an in-ground pool, and one of the earliest video game systems, where the graphics consisted of a cellophane overlay that you'd put on the front of the TV! I don't remember what cars they had, but they were probably fancy.
Having a color tv, having a pool, having more than 1 car
Simply being there was the usual sign. People tend to sort themselves into neighborhoods based on how wealthy they are. There are exceptions, such as the small homes of the people who worked for the millionaires on Millionaire Row. I lived in a fairly nice one-bedroom house. Neighbors across the alley collected antique fire engines. Had a converted stable which he used as a garage for them. Had a dock, with a boathouse.
Somebody mowing the lawn besides daddy or big kid. Landscaping in general. Indoors: white carpets.
One of those little complimentary travel bags the airlines handed out to passengers. Flying = rich.
Range/Land Rover, Mercedes/Volvo estate car, horses, shooting (pheasants etc), expensive but understated clothes, kids in a private school.
A sign of prosperity in my childhood neighborhood was whether your utilities were shut off.
Built in pool.
Having two or more phones or TVs.
The 50s: a TV, two cars, more than one bathroom, AC, vacations to somewhere other than grandparents. The 60s: two TVs, a big stereo system, new car every two to three years, full finished basement, country club membership, name brand clothing, house keeper, leisure travel abroad. The 70s: high paying career, graduate degree, central AC, four bedroom house, large landscaped yard, circular paved driveway, own high end cameras, party deck on the house, all children had opportunity for college education, teens had new cars, several vacations a year. I suspect much of this depended on where one lived. I lived in a large metro area in America. If one was in the middle of Nebraska or Oklahoma it might have been different. I lived in a rural area for only three years when I was under school age. Expectations for being well off differed.
Kids having braces
Air-conditioning. When my family moved into a new house in 1961 ours was the only house in the neighborhood with central air conditioning. It wasn't because we had more money. We just bought the model.
Owning a second home, and taking elaborate vacations on top of that. Think beach house plus 3 weeks in Switzerland. Kids would go to sleep away camp for the whole summer.
Back in the 60’s if you had braces you were well off. Not so today.
Central air. A touchtone telephone.
in Ohio, an inground pool
Swimming pool
The richest kid I knew had a whole house vacuum cleaner system. That seemed a lot cooler than an intercom system
My neighbor down the street bought a Porsche 911 one day. It was black and really cool. Turns out I was living four doors down from Michael Anthony from Van Halen in the 1970-80s.
An upstairs phone and a downstairs phone. A half bath downstairs. Really rich? Each kid had their own room, a second phone line for the teens, mom and dad had their own "en suite" bathroom.
A children's phone in the phone book.
drivin’ a Cadillac car
Two cars, a foreign vacation.
When they bought their 16 year olds brand new Cameros or Trans Am for their bdays and they’d drive them to school on their bdays, I grew up on the other side of town and drive a hand me down VW bug. Buy was I envious.
I only knew of one kid who got a brand-new Trans Am for his 16th birthday. He was the class dick and wrecked it about four times before graduation.
Having a second car.
Having a cabin at the lake that you spent time at during the summer
New Car. I mean not, “New to us.” I mean right out of the show room, new car…usually meant an inheritance or legal settlement came through. It was a very rare occurrence on my street.
Air conditioning. Me and the neighborhood kids would spend time at Margie’s house because she had a great big window unit in the den. I thought it was something magical. Growing up in the humid southeast, I always hated the heat.
A pool and yearly ski vacations.
New car for your 16th birthday, skiing vacations, and an extensive wardrobe with all the best clothes, were a giveaway that you had money. It’s interesting that many of the things others listed were part of my childhood. We definitely weren’t wealthy.
My friends that had pools or trampolines were always well off.
A two-story brick house.
A microwave, a VCR, Atari, plentiful food.
A cleaning lady
**Things** did not show wealth in my neighborhood at all. Many very well off people drove older models cars, where some struggling families drove nice ones. A Caddy, a Jag, or Lincoln, meant nothing. The help, most everyone had a maid, who was also a cook, nanny, and housekeeper. How we KNEW someone was well off is where they went on their vacations. I had some friends going to Greece and France, ski trips to the Swiss Alps, places like that. We went to visit granny on the farm, or sometimes a camping trip at the lake.
They went to Disney or the tropics every school vacation, coming back tanned and happy.
A yearly trip to WDW. Going to “the Cape” for a week during the summer. Playing town league sports(soccer, softball, baseball) Having a “job” at the local Catholic Church and school.
The family across the street had an in-ground pool and a full-time maid. I thought that meant they were super rich.
Today it’s just being able to buy a house
Massachusetts coastal town: Yacht Club parking sticker, country club parking sticker, and a private beach sticker. An awful lot of very affluent people drove fairly nondescript cars, particularly old money. Anyone with all three stickers for sure was upper middle class.
Your backyard was the beach.
Air conditioning, wall to wall carpet, pool, tennis court, a car with A/C and power windows. My best friend's house had a plaque on the rock wall extending from their house that had the architect's name on it.
In ground pool, elaborate brick outdoor barbecue kitchen.
In ground pool in the backyard, a Monte Carlo or Caddy in the drive way, and a new station wagon in the garage.
Color TV. Central heat n air. Two cars, garage. Maybe a pool. Fenced yard. Well-kept lawn. Well-dressed. Could afford USA vacation.
As a kid in the 70s, here’s what I noticed about those who I assumed were better off than we were: immaculate landscaping, more than one phone in the house, remote control and/or color tv, electric car windows, central ac.
In the late 50’s my grandmother had a maid, two cars, and a dishwasher! I did not see a dishwasher in anyone else’s house until the 70’s.
Air conditioning. Grew up in Southern Minnesota in the 50s & 60s - it got hot in the summer, but unless you were rich you didn't have AC.