Did every public place in America smell like cigarettes in the 60s?
- Thread starter TheGoodTexan
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Chunkocaster
Poster Extraordinaire
No offence taken. I find it unusual and funny to see when watching old videos and celeb interviews too now. A recent interview with Angus Young and Brian from ac/dc gave me a good chuckle as they chain smoked their way through the interview in a luxury hotel. This was only filmed a couple of years ago.
For many nothing has changed since the 60's 70's other than now there are many places you are told not to smoke.
too true on that one , and you just felt dirty after the gig , you dont notice it too much until the equipment starts to fail from tar in the controls from a smoky environment, ( thank gawd for deoxit)
Rumblur
Tele-Meister
I was born several years before you, and grew up in a cloud of smoke thanks to EVERYBODY smoking. I hated it and still do. The only smoke I can stand is a BBQ!
To answer your question, everything did smell the same. And because it did, you didn't notice it as much. When I left home I moved in with a girl that also didn't smoke. Didn't think much about it till I went back home and HOLY SHEET did it STINK! And all my clothes that I had packed from that house stunk to high heaven with nasty cigarette smoke.
As the years went by and it became less and less normal, things have gotten better. But right now with marijuana about to be fully legalized, I cringe at the idea of it being 100 times worse in the very near future... because we will have not only the already disgusting stench of cigarettes, but the dead skunk's butthole of pot everywhere!
To answer your question, everything did smell the same. And because it did, you didn't notice it as much. When I left home I moved in with a girl that also didn't smoke. Didn't think much about it till I went back home and HOLY SHEET did it STINK! And all my clothes that I had packed from that house stunk to high heaven with nasty cigarette smoke.
As the years went by and it became less and less normal, things have gotten better. But right now with marijuana about to be fully legalized, I cringe at the idea of it being 100 times worse in the very near future... because we will have not only the already disgusting stench of cigarettes, but the dead skunk's butthole of pot everywhere!
Chunkocaster
Poster Extraordinaire
What was a big shock to me was when people started getting arrested, put on national tv and heavily fined for smoking in the a car while driving with anyone under 18yo. I thought to myself that I wouldn't think twice about doing that with a 16yo passenger but would wind the window down and have the air vents open. Strange how things change and how even more money is made from cigarettes now per pack than ever before despite the hard line message they kill you.
The car thing was only recently brought in as far as I know. Maybe in the last 10 years?
It has been advised against for ages but the heavy fines or jail time, removal of care etc is only a recent thing. I would not smoke around kids in enclosed spaces.
Goes to show how effective the media is at either encouraging things or demonising them with the mass public. They got me hooked on smoking through the 70's, 80's and early 90's through advertising and product placement in movies etc and then demonised it through the late 90's until now.
The car thing was only recently brought in as far as I know. Maybe in the last 10 years?
It has been advised against for ages but the heavy fines or jail time, removal of care etc is only a recent thing. I would not smoke around kids in enclosed spaces.
Goes to show how effective the media is at either encouraging things or demonising them with the mass public. They got me hooked on smoking through the 70's, 80's and early 90's through advertising and product placement in movies etc and then demonised it through the late 90's until now.
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beyer160
Poster Extraordinaire
I remember this very clearly- it was weird not being able to see the beams from the stage lights in the smoke.
I found that only showering once or twice a week and occasionally opening the wood stove without opening the damper did a pretty good job of masking the nicotine stench from second hand smoke.
when i was in high school...there was a smoking section for students
I grew up overseas in the '60s, everyone smoked. Elevators, restaurants, especially clubs and bars. My doctor smoked while he examined me. They had stewardess on airplanes that had a tray full of cigs, little 4-packs, she would pass them out before we took off; when the fasten seat belt sign went off, so did the no smoking sign, more than half the passengers lit up simultaneously. Every home, office, hotel room, cafe, etc, had ash trays. We had student smoking rooms in high school. Everything smelled like tobacco. I remember coming home from gigs and leaving my stinky clothes on the backporch, once people started admitting that it was gross.
Yeah, we smoked everywhere back then. My mom didn't smoke, she didn't like the smell of it either, and not just while one was burning. Any time she went out where there were a lot of people, she'd do a load of laundry as soon as she got home and take a shower to get the smell out of her hair and clothes.
I smoked Lucky Strikes for twenty years. I quit once, back in '92. We even had a cigarette vending machine in High School and two courtyards where you could smoke at lunch or between classes. Cigarettes were 60 cents a pack in the machine when I was a Freshman, or 45 cents from a store.
We weren't allowed to smoke on school grounds in Junior High, so we all gathered right across the street and smoked in plain sight right up until the bell rang to go in.
I smoked Lucky Strikes for twenty years. I quit once, back in '92. We even had a cigarette vending machine in High School and two courtyards where you could smoke at lunch or between classes. Cigarettes were 60 cents a pack in the machine when I was a Freshman, or 45 cents from a store.
We weren't allowed to smoke on school grounds in Junior High, so we all gathered right across the street and smoked in plain sight right up until the bell rang to go in.
Bloodnut and Toad were two of my senior year teachers...
Mr Hooper "Bloodnut" our English teacher was a tall man with a bald head which used to go bright red when excited/annoyed and used to smoke roll your own ciggies using pipe tobacco, holding them in yellow stained fingers... cool guy overall... high blood pressure from a career as a teacher, I guess...
Mr Moran "Toad" was our maths teacher, he was short and round, fat neck, fat cheeks... sat up the front smoking filter ciggies and looked for all money like a smoking toad...
He was our footy coach in junior years and his kid always had to play halfback (quarterback) and you couldn't tackle him too hard at practice... you know the type...
different times...
Mr Hooper "Bloodnut" our English teacher was a tall man with a bald head which used to go bright red when excited/annoyed and used to smoke roll your own ciggies using pipe tobacco, holding them in yellow stained fingers... cool guy overall... high blood pressure from a career as a teacher, I guess...
Mr Moran "Toad" was our maths teacher, he was short and round, fat neck, fat cheeks... sat up the front smoking filter ciggies and looked for all money like a smoking toad...
He was our footy coach in junior years and his kid always had to play halfback (quarterback) and you couldn't tackle him too hard at practice... you know the type...
different times...
Antmax
Tele-Meister
Smoking and car exhausts used to make everything sooty and somewhat stinky. Like everything, you get used to it and don't notice it after a while. Kind of like if you have dogs, you don't notice their smell when you come home.
I recently watched the TV Show Inspector Morse, it depicts Oxford (UK) in the early 80's. Endeavour is a prequel to that show but filmed today.
The difference between 80's Oxford and Today is quite stark. Black soot streaked historic buildings in the 80's look clean today and largely stay that way thanks to catalytic converters and higher emissions standards etc.
I recently watched the TV Show Inspector Morse, it depicts Oxford (UK) in the early 80's. Endeavour is a prequel to that show but filmed today.
The difference between 80's Oxford and Today is quite stark. Black soot streaked historic buildings in the 80's look clean today and largely stay that way thanks to catalytic converters and higher emissions standards etc.
When I came to America in September of 1983 I smoked two whole packs.
One and a half INSIDE the Boing 747 that carried me there and half a pack awaiting emigration check out....
In NY I used to smoke on the metro platform waiting for the train and of course EVERYBODY smoked EVERYWHERE.
Cigarettes were dirt cheap too.
One and a half INSIDE the Boing 747 that carried me there and half a pack awaiting emigration check out....
In NY I used to smoke on the metro platform waiting for the train and of course EVERYBODY smoked EVERYWHERE.
Cigarettes were dirt cheap too.
rz350
Friend of Leo's
Repeating what others have said, I was born in 1964, never smoked a cigarette ever, when I would come home from a bar I would leave my clothes outside or in the basement, and sometimes take a shower, I cant stand cigarette smoke...
Fearnot
Poster Extraordinaire
I lived in a cloud of smoke till I grew up and moved away from it.
Chunkocaster
Poster Extraordinaire
I flew from Australia to the UK in around 1980 and I think the cigarettes were free and you could smoke for the entire length of the flight. The guy in front of me chain smoked the whole way there and ordered doubles of scotch, brandy etc in the mini bottles drinking one and putting the second in his vinyl british airways travel bag. He was weaving and rattling all the way through customs and past right through without being stopped and with a lit smoke in his mouth.
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AndyPanda
Tele-Holic
I played 6 nights a week in nightclubs all thru the 70's and 80's. We'd stay at the same club for 2-4 weeks and just leave our gear setup on stage. Then off to the next nightclub for a few weeks and so on. Whenever we had a week off (which wasn't very often - we were booked solid for months in advance - those were the days) the gear would be so smelly and brown from sitting in those clubs 24 hours a day week after week that I couldn't even have it in the house. I've never smoked but I spent 6 hours a night, 260 nights a year for 20 years in nightclubs - I wonder how many packs of cigarettes I've smoked second hand.
kingofdogs1950
Tele-Afflicted
I never smoked, but as others have said, it seemed like everyone else did.
My father and both of my brothers smoked pipes. Pipes take a lot of fiddling and not as much actual smoking. Some of the tobacco smells nice. I recall one called 'Flying Dutchman' that was pleasant smelling.
Back in the '50s my dad liked to chew cigars. Not smoke, but chew like chewing tobacco.
And spit nasty, nasty tobacco juice.
Riding in the car was dangerous for the kids sitting it the back seat. He would let loose off a big juice bomb and woe to the left side rear passenger if the rear window is open. Ugh.
My mom said, "No Mas," and he quit. Whew...
Good Dog
My father and both of my brothers smoked pipes. Pipes take a lot of fiddling and not as much actual smoking. Some of the tobacco smells nice. I recall one called 'Flying Dutchman' that was pleasant smelling.
Back in the '50s my dad liked to chew cigars. Not smoke, but chew like chewing tobacco.
And spit nasty, nasty tobacco juice.
Riding in the car was dangerous for the kids sitting it the back seat. He would let loose off a big juice bomb and woe to the left side rear passenger if the rear window is open. Ugh.
My mom said, "No Mas," and he quit. Whew...
Good Dog
