Flashback: Hating On Suburbia, 1965 Style

"Not another cocktail & buffet dinner party!"

In September of 1965, the magazine Lady's Circle ran an article called: "One Woman’s Confession: I HATE SUBURBIA" (she wasn't alone). It told the story of one woman's move to Long Island, which she described as "a jail sentence," despite the pleasant shrubbery and forsythia. Instead of finding the best of country life and city conveniences mixed in to one perfect Utopia, she found that it had "all of the drawbacks of living in the city... and none of the advantages!” This was years after her family originally moved there, and everything became very Edward Scissorhands. Here are just some of the reasons why the suburbs sucked:

"People are almost all from the same income level, have the same interests, the same outlook, the same values. There’s just no difference.. It isn’t just monotony, it’s stagnation!"
We may have moved out here for the fresh air, but these days there’s so much gasoline exhaust in the air it could hardly be called fresh. No one walks an inch!"
"Each day, almost every day, seems to be spent running dozens of errands and doing things I don’t want to do. In most cases, they’re things I wouldn’t have to do if we were living in the city."
There are just three restaurants in town, so Saturday night is “Steak Night” at one of them. Sunday night is “Chinese dinner” night at another.
"It’s so difficult to get around out here, and transportation is so time-consuming, that we don’t have the opportunity to choose our friends for their attributes and qualities, as we might if we were living in a city. We’re forced to select our friends for their geographic availability."

Guess it wasn't all jello salad and shooting pigeons. At least there was plenty of white whine to go around though. Her list also included:

"Membership in the country club almost drains the budget."
"I happen to like small dinner parties of six or eight, [but] what’s 'in' is huge cocktails-and-buffet parties at which you can pay off all your social obligations at one time, and offend no one because you’ve invited everyone. The only trouble with them is that they aren’t any fun."

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By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on June 28, 2011 5:19 PM

Comments [rss]

BarrioPuente

The suburbs will be the death of America.

John Dillworth

I think you are trying a bit hard to convince yourself that you would rather not be in the suburbs in the summer. The city is hot and smelly in July & August. Thats what people have always left during those months. I live in a small village on the North shore of Long Island. I can walk to the beach, have plenty of fine restaurants, bike when and where I want without harassment of any sort, have a 4 star library open 6 days a week, lowest crime rate in the country, never lock my doors and be in the city in an hour if I choose. Enjoy the city in 95 degree heat. I'll be at the beach

fleur_de_lis

sounds nice!!

Austin Scott Brooks

I have never been a fan of suburbia...would prefer a nice little piece of Upper East Side Manhattan real estate any day. Although times are changing, diversity is definitely less prominent outside of urban neighborhoods. Steak Saturday? No thanks, I'll go for sushi instead.

rcltrh

Notice all the houses in Edward Scissorhands have architectural shingles, which weren't invented in 1965. I wonder how much they paid those people in Florida to repaint their houses. Great movie though.

Emmily_Litella

Fuck Wal-martia

Le Nwwaert

The local rock group down the street

Is trying hard to learn their song,

They serenade the weekend squire

Who just came out to mow his lawn.

Another pleasant valley Sunday,

Charcoal burning everywhere,

Rows of houses that are all the same,

And no one seems to care.

See Mrs. Gray, she's proud today

Because her roses are in bloom,

And Mr. Green, he's so serene,

He's got a TV in every room.

Another pleasant valley Sunday,

Here in Status Symbol Land,

Mothers complain about how hard life is,

And the kids just don't understand.

Creature comfort goals, they only numb my soul,

And make it hard for me to see.

Ahhh...thoughts all seem to stray to places far away,

I need a change of scenery.

Ta ta ta ta, ta ta ta ta... (etc.)

Another pleasant valley Sunday,

Charcoal burning everywhere.

Another pleasant valley Sunday,

Here in Status Symbol Land.

Another pleasant valley Sunday,

(A pleasant valley Sunday)

Another pleasant valley Sunday,

Smith Corona

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh

Nos Feratu

If the adherents of "peak oil" are correct, suburban living is a dead end.

Gothamist_Cynic

Basically if you don't assimilate to white culture in suburbia you're fucked.

Ann

Except white culture pushed all the working class out to the suburbs.

J_Temperance

Please Ann, we prefer "Honkey" culture.

tsol

....which means most of Long Island and NJ are fucked.

Smith Corona

All of Connecticut, except for three patches in Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford, respectively.

openheads

You wish that were true because it would fit in the neat little box you've created in your mind. The exodus of NYC natives from fucked the fuck up neighborhoods in the 70's & 80's; the honkyization of NYC in the 2000's has made the suburbs wildly diverse.
It's always funny when NYC types try to pin old stereotypes of
homogeneous living on the suburbs when you actively try & push out all undesirable ethnic types through economic means. With every ill advised lux condo, ethnic enclaves shift further from the core.
You don't want actual diversity; you want diverse eating options (as long as the people of origin don't live in your neighborhood).
Tell the truth.......................... You want a pseudo cultural experience. You know, with out all of those pesky brown people.
New York is quickly becoming the Paris of North America. A museum city full of what was. A city full of rich people acting like they didn't force out all of the creative types, ethnic types, working class types who make a city is what it is & yet still act like they matter simply because of their zip code.

b

OK, so do you live in Long Island or NJ, and how diverse and chock full of brown people is your neighborhood?

And FYI, there are plenty of creative types, ethnic types, and working class types where I live in Queens. Probably more than anywhere else in the country. I doubt many of them could afford the property taxes and car insurance etc. in LI or NJ.

Len_Drexler

You don't want actual diversity; you want diverse eating options

LOL. I've been saying the same thing for years.

MattyGC

"We’re forced to select our friends for their geographic availability."

So, it's pretty much exactly like NYC.

imadick

i dunno about you, but i select my friends based on their myspace profile pics.

Jibreel K Riley

I have no friends, my jeans are not tight enough for hipster friends, I don't have a career for yuppie friends, I don't speak spanish, I'm just screwed