Being the vintage “lifers” that we are, Scott and I frequently wax nostalgic about the past that we love, but never knew. It is both fascinating and inexplicable to us that both of us gravitate towards an era that was at least a full generation ahead of us, that our parents had long rejected as their own past. We each cultivated our 1950s ideal from endless, tireless digging through the old boxes of family photos. Old cars…so much more visually stimulating than the 1970s models on the road (ever notice how, after the automobile became a staple in the average family household, people loved to take their snapshots by the car? It was their main status symbol). Kitchens, living rooms, barbeques, babies on bearskin rugs, doilies, knicknacks, turkey dinners, Christmas mornings, nameless relatives with familiar faces posing, mugging for the camera, surprised, jumping into lakes, having picnics, sweaty/working, shopping, loving…I could look at those photos for hours upon hours. I didn’t realize when I was younger what an impact they would have on me, or the power they had in shaping my own adult self-consciousness. Life…life was simpler then.
My grandfather was a carpenter. My grandmother was a stay-at-home-mom. They had 3 children, a nice house in a nice neighborhood, a car, some brilliant living room furniture (which my grandmother hated and I would now give my eyeteeth for; see the top photo). All the neighbors knew each other, all the kids played together, the dads all came home at the same time, etc…you know, the standard suburbia story. In today’s economy, a carpenter would not be able to support a housewife, three kids, a mortgage, and a car payment.
So what changed, and when? When did it become so hard to have an “average” life on an “average” income? When did the American Dream become unattainable for so many?
Scott and I like to think of ourselves as pretty thrifty people. Partly out of need, and partly out of choice. When you visit our modest house, you might think we have a wealth of pricey mid-century modern furniture and collectibles inside. And the truth is, our entire house is outfitted with it…but it came from a combined 20+ years of collecting, and none of it ever carried a high-end price tag; it all came from thrift stores and estate sales. We may go into high-end mid-century stores and drool, but that stuff is way out of our budget! So we do it on a shoestring, gradually, and in a way we can afford that won’t put us in debt. We have two old cars, but one is for sale. We both work full-time and scramble whatever we can on the side. Yet, we still can’t seem to get ahead. We are not extravagant people. We shop at thrift stores, we eat out once a week, and occasionally we’ll splurge on a goodie. And this is how we have always lived, even before the Recession; now we are really feeling the pinch.
There is a wonderful article in the April 2009 issue of Vanity Fair called “Rethinking the American Dream” about this very topic. It is highly recommended reading. A quote:
“What’s striking about the Ozzie and Harriet-style 50s dream is its relative modesty of scale. The dream homes seem downright dowdy to modern eyes.”
Sometime after the 50s (or, maybe even BECAUSE of the 50s), consumerism spun out of control. More, more, more. I grew up in a 2-bedroom house with my mom and grandmother. The single bathroom was challenging at times, but we had a close-knit clan and the smallness of the house never seemed to be an issue, even though I shared a room with my mom, who was more like my sister/best friend. I would visit friends who lived in enormous houses…I don’t think I experienced jealousy, but I would think, “Someday I will have a house this big.” That hasn’t happened yet, and I doubt it ever will. I see huge (2500+ sq ft) houses going up all over my city despite the constant reports I hear on the radio about the dismal housing industry, and I always wonder, “Who is buying these things? And how can they afford them?”
I don’t think people need enormous houses. In the past, old money would pass houses through its generations. Now, younger people are likely to sell or (God forbid) tear down inherited houses because they just aren’t big enough. Seriously…how big a house do you NEED? My thing is storage and closets…old houses aren’t always well-endowed in these areas, but you know what — I can deal. I’d rather have small closets and character than a cloned house in a tightly-packed subdivision with no soul, with about 10,000 square feet more than I need.
I think people are getting desensitized to reality as a by-product of the American fascination with celebrity. I think the beginning was with “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” and culminated with MTV Cribs (my good friend Kim Lenz is a big believer in this theory of conspicuous consumption). In the past, your average person didn’t have access to this world. You were either in it or you weren’t, and you didn’t read about it or see it on TV. Now, you’re seeing how the other half lives, in all its “glory.” Then the tabloids (both print and television) start worshiping the celebs, showing pictures of their cliffside Malibu dwellings…the cars, the outdoor showers, the vacation homes, the dry-cleaners-style closets, the thousand pairs of shoes.
I’m not knocking wealth…that is not the topic here. How people choose to spend their money is up to them. I’m merely talking about a desire to live a certain lifestyle, even if it is outside of your means. I think that very attitude is what has contributed to the downfall of our economy. “Charge it! Finance it! I WANT IT. Who cares if it’s just the two of us…I want a 10,000 square foot house with a jacuzzi a pool a Porsche SUV a granite/stainless kitchen and a closet the size of the house I grew up in.” Greed has Americans by the throat.
I think the American Dream is still attainable. Like everything though, it has to adapt. Scott and I are trying to reach it…we bought a house, we each own a car. I think a lot of us who are “Vintage Lifers” are in the same boat. So give us your thoughts on the topic…what is your idea of the American Dream? Can we still have it? What does it mean to you? Comment away!
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