I’ve been working on this site for a few years, changing the splash picture over and over. Here’s one example. Here’s another. The pictures seemed right, but also seemed too easy. Of course, the elegant car and post-war modernism. Of course, the domestic suburban scene.

Why the picture above? Perhaps because that’s not what springs to mind right away when the subject of the Fifties comes up. At least for some. Here's some copy from a site that has 50s fonts.

From poodle skirts, Elvis Presley, to jukeboxes, and drive-in movies – these are just a few of the icons from the ‘Roaring 50s’.

It was during this time, between 1946 and 1960 that it seemed like there would be a happier, better tomorrow. Soldiers were coming back from the war, the economy was booming, and families were moving to the suburbs.

Sure, there was still some tension around the world (the Cold War, civil rights movements, etc.). But in general, people looked forward to the jitterbug and Davy Crockett. They were, without a doubt, simpler, happier times.

It’s always tail fins and drive-ins and hula hoops and Elvis and all the other manifestations of youth culture, revered from a distance, frozen, disconnected from everything else. Soldiers were coming back from the war. It seems necessary to point out that soldiers were also going off to war. Sure, there were racial tensions, but people were looking forward to a dance that was first popular in the 1930s!

 Whether this site will confirm your preconceptions or not, I can't say, since I don't know what you think. I do know that this is the last piece of the Decades Project - and yes, it is a remarkably clever name, I know. It might not be authoritative, but it's big, and it's mine.

JL

2021

PS: It was not, in fact, the last piece of the Decades Project.