Just how different was it? Well ..... consider this, and for a moment I'll turn to my own experience. We moved to Santa Fe Springs in the summer of 1956. Dad bought a 4 bedroom "Ranch Style" home over on Siebert St... a stone's throw from the Bell Brand Patato Chip company, and walking distance to Pioneer High School, although it hadn't been built yet. Anyway, that home cost him $13,500. The monthly mortgage was $92. Dad sold that home in 1988 when he moved to Florida. The selling price? $260,000! The new owners have a $2000 per month mortgage.
While we had air raid drills back in 1959, we didn't have rolling black outs or water shortages; and we could see the snow capped mountains from campus. These days that luxury is blocked out by a yellow haze called smog.
Speaking of Bell Brand, many of you earlier Titans may have had family who worked there or may have even worked there yourself. My mom worked there, bagging chips, and I worked there on weekends, during my junior and senior years... on a crew with Willie Lopez. You'll remember Willie was the locker room attendant at Pioneer.
A fairly new service that was replacing home delivery milk back in 1959 was the drive-trough dairy. Remember those? There was a big one over on Pioneer Blvd. Milk was still in bottles back then and it was real convenient for mom or dad to drive in, pay the attendant and have them put the milk in a wire basket on the rear floor of the car. You just had to remember to take back the empties on the next trip.
Ahhh yes... it was a different world, a different time. Click on page three to read more.