100 Things From 1970s America We'll Never See Again

Summary

The video recalls everyday life in 1970s America through household routines, school experiences, technology, toys, shopping, and the effects of the energy crisis.

Gas and travel

The 1973 and 1979 oil shocks brought long gas lines, odd-or-even license-plate rationing, station flags showing fuel availability, and Sunday closures. The national speed limit fell to 55 mph, free gas-station road maps became less common, and some older pumps needed “multiply by two” instructions because they could not display prices above $1 per gallon. CB radios, backward-facing station-wagon seats, and drive-in theaters were familiar parts of travel.

Home and family routines

Kitchen phones were typically rented from the phone company, and families often saved long-distance calls for cheaper late-night hours. Phone books served as kitchen references or booster seats. Families hung laundry outdoors, and some children let themselves into empty homes as “latchkey kids.” Late-night television ended with the national anthem, a test pattern, and static.

School and childhood

Students covered loaned textbooks with grocery bags, smelled fresh purple Ditto copies, used card catalogs and filmstrips, and helped clap chalk erasers outside. Popular toys and pastimes included Big Wheels, Spirograph, Lite-Brite, Simon, Shrinky Dinks, clackers, lawn darts, roller skates, and the Pet Rock.

Food and kitchens

New conveniences included the Crock-Pot for meals cooked while the household was away, Mr. Coffee drip machines, microwave ovens, and packaged dinners such as Hamburger Helper and TV dinners. Other familiar food routines included mixing Kool-Aid with sugar, shaking Jiffy Pop over a burner, and buying meat wrapped in paper at the supermarket counter.

Technology and shopping

Eight-track tapes changed programs with a clunk, cassette tapes could be rewound with a pencil, and people often shook Polaroid pictures even though it was unnecessary. Grocery scanners made their first landmark sale with Juicy Fruit gum in Ohio. Families also relied on paper phone books, library checkout cards, carbon paper, correction fluid, mail-order catalogs, and layaway.

Energy, safety, and changing rules

Year-round daylight saving time in 1974 meant some children waited for school buses in darkness. President Jimmy Carter urged Americans to conserve energy by keeping thermostats low. The era also saw a short-lived car seat-belt ignition interlock and the shift to unleaded gas for cars with catalytic converters. Safety concerns led to the removal or restriction of items such as clackers and lawn darts. The period also brought public scares over saccharin, red dye No. 2, and Pop Rocks.

Other cultural snapshots

Avocado-green and harvest-gold appliances, shag-carpet rakes, wood-paneled dens, leisure suits, platform shoes, mood rings, and Bicentennial-painted fire hydrants capture the era’s style. In 1976–77, drought in California left some backyard pools empty, and skateboarders began riding their steep concrete walls.

Notable locations, products, and people

Locations: Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio; Sierra Vista, Arizona; Interstate 19 between Tucson and Nogales; Fort Huachuca; California, including Los Angeles and Burbank; and Western Australia.

Products and institutions: Bell System phones, Ditto machines, eight-track tapes, Mr. Coffee, Crock-Pot, Trapper Keeper, Pet Rock, Pop Rocks, Juicy Fruit, Simon, Sears Tele-Games Pong, Skylab, and the Smithsonian.

People mentioned: President Gerald Ford, President Jimmy Carter, Pet Rock creator Gary Dahl, and an unnamed Australian teenager who collected Skylab debris and claimed a newspaper’s prize.