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Flashback: Hating On Suburbia, 1965 Style
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 28, 2011
Modified Jun 28, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 28, 2011
Modified Jun 28, 2011
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"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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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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