LOOKING BACK An American StoryA Photo Essay

Long before life moved at the speed of the internet, America danced to the slower, sweeter tempo of 1965.  It was the golden hour of the mid-sixties—a time when a pocketful of change meant a day of adventure, and the best seat in town was a lawn chair on a warm summer evening.  Across the country, life unfolded in a series of simple, shared rituals. 

It was a fragile moment in time.  The old world hadn't quite vanished, and the roaring storm of the late sixties hadn't fully arrived.  It was a year suspended in the middle, standing on the hood of a parked convertible, looking at a moon yet to be walked on, utterly convinced that tomorrow would be bigger than today.

 

Families gathered around newly acquired color television sets on Sunday nights, teenagers traded 45 RPM records on front porches, and the local drive-in theater was the undisputed center of the weekend universe.  It was a year when the world felt wonderfully connected, not by screens or satellites, but by the familiar slam of a screen door and the hum of a community in perfect harmony.

Remembering 1965—Glancing Back at a Bygone Era

Income /  Expenses  $$$

The average yearly income:  $6,900 to $7,700.

The Cost of a new car averaged $2,650 (though a VW Bug could be bought for roughly $1,595).

A new house: The average cost was roughly $21,500. 

The Federal Minimum Wage: $1.25

The median factory wage was about $2.61 an hour, and a worker could buy a standard basket of basic groceries (milk, eggs, bread, beef, and potatoes) with just one single hour of labor.  The average US grocery prices for these staple items were about: 

$1.05 for a gallon of milk, 

53¢ for a dozen eggs, 

21¢ for a loaf of bread

55¢–59¢ per pound for ground beef 

49¢ for 10 lbs of potatoes

The average annual cost for a student to attend a four-year private college was $1,369 for tuition and fees, while a public state college averaged $243 per year.

Houses

In 1965, the typical American family structure remained largely traditional, centered around a married couple raising children in expanding suburban communities.  This era also marked the beginning of deep cultural shifts, as the rising feminist movement and a growing generational divide started reshaping traditional gender roles and family dynamics.

In 1965, the typical American home was a single-family suburban ranch, split-level, or traditional colonial style, with a median price of about $20,000.

1965 saw entertainment elevated to an art form.  Common spaces in the home were redesigned to maximize their potential as places to host.  Or as a great place for date night.

The living room in particular became the center stage for cocktail parties and game nights. 

Televisions took pride of place in nearly every living room across the country, and they helped shape public opinion and consumer culture.

Automobiles

Americans continued their love affair with the automobile.  And the biggest-selling car in 1965 was the Chevrolet Impala.  "See the USA in a Chevrolet!"  The cost of a brand-new convertible Chevy Impala that year was a mere $2,988.

The Ford Mustang was the second-largest seller

Starting price: $2,663

Movies

In 1965, about 4,000 drive-in movie theaters operated across America.  Adult admission cost about $1.00.  Children were usually admitted for 25¢ or free.  The movie everyone wanted to see?

This is what eating in the car looked like back in the day.  What fun!

Check out the roller skates.  The servers were called carhops, and they glided out to deliver food directly to customers' vehicles at drive-in restaurants.

Music 🎵 The Soundtrack of Pure Optimism

1965 was arguably one of the greatest years in music history, balancing Motown's sophisticated elegance with the sunny harmonies of surf rock.  People turned up their transistor radios to hear:

The Beach Boys' ‘California Girl,’ providing a sun-soaked, carefree anthem for the young.

The Temptations dominated the airwaves with the soulful, sweet elegance of ‘My Girl.’

            Petula Clark had everybody singing along to ‘Downtown.’

But the planet's undisputed biggest musical group was THE BEATLES, who spent 12 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.   They released iconic albums like Rubber Soul and played a historic, record-breaking concert for 55,600 fans at Shea Stadium.

 

The Runner-up was:

The Supremes—Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard—secured their historic fifth consecutive number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Back in My Arms Again" in June 1965.  Their massive commercial appeal rivaled that of peak-era rock acts such as the Beatles, firmly establishing Motown Records as a powerhouse American enterprise.

Paul McCartney attended a performance by Diana Ross & The Supremes at London's Talk of the Town nightclub.  McCartney and other celebrities joined the group for an after-party at London's Speakeasy club to celebrate their successful London debut.

Fun Fact:

The first Subway sandwich shop opened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in August 1965.

 

 

Seventeen-year-old Fred DeLuca and his family friend, Dr. Peter Buck, a nuclear physicist, started it.  DeLuca was looking for a way to pay his college tuition, and Dr. Buck provided a $1,000 initial investment to get the business off the ground.  

On its first day, the shop sold 312 sandwiches, with the average cost of a sub ranging from 49 to 69¢.  He parlayed his $1,000 student loan into a massive global fast-food empire and served as Subway's CEO for 50 years.  He died on September 14, 2015, at age 67, with a net worth of $3.5 billion.

Fashions:

    "You want my arm to fall off?"  🤭

OK, OK.  This is a cheat, but we couldn't resist.  Set in the 1940s and released in '72.  The line is the most memorable in the movie...

And On Every Other Corner

❤️THE ROMANCES OF '65

Sidney Poitier & Diahann Carroll

When their affair began, both were married to other people.   They made a pact to divorce their respective spouses so they could finally be together openly. 

 

Carroll followed through and waited for Poitier to do the same. He backed out of the promise multiple times to stay with his wife for his children's sake, leaving Carroll single and deeply frustrated.

Liz & Dick

Their love affair was so renowned that they don't need surnames. Though they were divorced at the time, when Taylor learned of Burton's sudden death from a brain hemorrhage, she was so overcome with grief that she fainted upon hearing the news.

Jane Fonda & Roger Vadim

In her 2005 memoir, My Life So Far, Fonda wrote that Vadim pressured and bullied her into participating in group sexual encounters to satisfy his fantasies.

And the Romance On the Other Side of Hollywood That Changed America

Mildred & Richard Loving

Mildred and Richard Loving grew up as neighbors in the rural community of Central Point, VA.  They fell in love, and when Mildred became pregnant in 1958, they decided to get married.  Because interracial marriage was illegal in Virginia, they traveled to Washington, D.C., to legally wed. 

Five weeks after returning home to Caroline County, VA, they were awakened in the middle of the night by a local sheriff's raid.  They were arrested in their bedroom for violating state law.  The presiding judge sentenced them to one year in prison but offered to suspend it on one condition: they must leave Virginia and not return together for 25 years.

By 1965, their legal battle was actively gaining national momentum.  Backed by the ACLU, their devotion to one another made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Their case ultimately resulted in the landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia ruling, which struck down all state bans on interracial marriage.

Closing the Year:

Long before Dick Clark or Ryan Seacrest dominated late-night holiday television, bandleader Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians were known nationwide as "Mr. New Year's Eve."  The transition from 1965 to 1966 was a historic milestone for this American tradition. 

For the first time, Lombardo's famous special, A New Year's Eve Party with Guy Lombardo, was syndicated nationwide, broadcasting the celebration to millions of homes from coast to coast.

At midnight, the cameras locked onto the Allied Chemical Tower as the famous Times Square ball dropped, and Lombardo led the nation in his signature rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" to usher in 1966.

 

1965 was the pivotal tipping point when the optimism of the early 1960s gave way to the deep societal upheavals, polarization, and cultural shifts of the modern era.

It was the year the stable, post-WWII consensus of the 1950s completely fractured, accelerating changes in civil rights, demographics, and social values.

The Year That Was

1965

Auld Lang Syne—Guy Lombardo

Thanks for Reading!

 by Jade Love

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