If Happy Days taught us anything, it’s that life was better in the fifties.
On Friday I attended a Celebration of Life party at the Museum of Vancouver for a neighbour’s mom who just passed away.
With beautiful photos of her life rotating on a big screen and smooth jazz playing in the background (later a live Cuban band) it seemed she was in her element in the 1950’s. So how appropriate that the 50’s interactive exhibit was in the room adjacent to us (and open for us). I thought it would be interesting to post some photos I took. Here’s looking back….
People left their door unlocked at night, kids respected their elders and a guy who lived above his best friend’s garagecould still be cool so long as he owned a leather jacket. Well, turns out The Fonz didn’t lie: despite the racism, and homophobia, the fifties were a pretty good time to be alive.
In Hollywood, setting something in the fifties brings forth things like ‘nostalgia’ and ‘optimism’. But, how do you measure optimism?
Beginning in 1935, Polling Company AIPO spent decades ringing strangers up and asking them how happy they were—a move that actually yielded usable data. According to this, the fifties saw a surge of people claiming they were very happy, peaking between 1955 and 1960 at around forty percent. That’s the highest it’s ever been. Remember this isn’t just ‘happy’ but ‘very happy’—as in nothing could possibly be better.
In 1957 the murder rate bottomed out at four people per 100,000 the lowest in fifty five years.
It sure seemed like a more peaceful, less complicated time than living now in our more fast-paced, stressed out era. But life is still good, worth living and you can have your own reality show…..for even more than 15 minutes!
fyi – hula hoops have made a comeback and they’re a great exercise…..if you can swing it.
Not exactly a prophet, but he did predict the future. Andy was way ahead of his time.
This is the man who turned his creative eye towards consumerism in a brilliant manner. I just came back from a mini vacation in Palm Springs where Warhol’s works inhabits many galleries including the Palm Springs Art Museum. His influence is felt everywhere. Which brings me to:
The Warhol Museum
Over the course of his career, Andy Warhol transformed contemporary art. Employing mass-production techniques to create works, Warhol challenged preconceived notions about the nature of art and erased traditional distinctions between fine art and popular culture. The Andy Warhol Museum’s permanent collection is comprised of more than 8,000 works of art by Warhol including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, film, videotapes, and extensive archives that consists of ephemera, records, source material for works of art, and other documents of the artist’s life. Together, the art and archives make The Andy Warhol Museum the most comprehensive single-artist museum in the world.
In 1964 one visitor upon seeing Andy Warhol’s Brillo Boxes at the Stable Gallery questioned “Is this an art gallery or supermarket warehouse?”
The Andy Warhol Museum is located at: 117 Sandusky St, Pittsburgh, PA – USA. It is the largest museum in the country dedicated to a single artist.
For those who want a little piece:
All of these FAB Warhol ART books were spotted at Just Fabulous– Palm Springs.
It sure seemed like a more peaceful, less complicated time than living now in our more fast-paced, stressed out era. But life is still good, worth living and you can have your own reality show…..for even more than 15 minutes!
Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION. 
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