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Everything in this world is more and more expensive, and even the simplest of vacations seem like they cost an arm and a leg. Even a day at Disneyland is out of hand. How did the middle class vacation back in the 1950s?
It was actually a lot easier. Take a look at these 17 vintage pictures of middle-class vacations in the 1950s and relive the good times.
Damn, hitching that thing up for a whole road trip? I hope the lake is at the end of the block! I’m not trying to drive between state lines with a huge boat dangling off my car, which is only about a 30 year-old commonly-owned item.
Ah, times were simpler back when only children drank beer and the parents abstained. Oh, wait, that's soda.
That teardrop trailer is damn near the coolest thing I've ever seen. Whoever you are, you've got incredibly cool parents.
I am a big advocate for "justice" and when I see somebody creating an "injustice" it grinds my gears. Take, for instance, this injustice, where people are being made to wait to take their turn on the diving board until this couple in 1950s Florida is done taking having their photo taken. Consider my gears ground.
This man is probably the one renting the cabin, but I'll tell you this: If you are the middle class family renting this cabin, and you pull to the front of the place to find this man sitting on the front lawn, leg crossed, staring into your soul like he's got the devil in him, then maybe don't rent that cabin. There's probably a body in that cabin.
This is a tough break if you've got friends out on tropical vacations with their families. But hey, middle class is middle class, and that inflatable in the front yard is looking mighty cheap this season. It's basically a beach vacation, right?
This is about as James Bond as a Californian can get. Did these two just get here, or are they giving the ocean one last look before they head out?
When Disneyland opened in 1955, it cost a buck for adults and 50 cents for children. Cut to 50 years later, when I was in high school, and a day at the big Dis, even for a southern California resident, was up to $50. Today, expect to spend at least $100.
The '50s were about cool cars and good-looking couples. Plenty of both of that in this photo.
I can't remember the last time I went camping and wasn't incredibly disheartened by how busy my campground was. In the 1950s, camping was still popular, though the amount of dense forests we've got left has significantly changed.
It’s a bummer to know that I’ll never have a photo taken of me that’s as cool as this random person from the internet’s grandpa.
No car in sight? No problem. Pack up the motorcycle and hit the road for your hog-wild vacation.
She’s having a good time, but look at my man right here with his shoes and socks. Those shoes are tied. You’re at the beach, buddy. Loosen up. This man has never, ever had fun before in his entire life. And he isn’t about to start now.
Hawaii has always been considered to be paradise, but in the '50s, the height of tiki culture and tourism, it was probably even more special. What did you do in Hawaii? It was simple. You ate. You drank. You sat. You swam. You repeated.
Boy oh boy, do people have fun in different ways. This kid, with parrots swarming above and all over him, seems to be having fun. Parrots are demons, dude. You wouldn’t catch me this close to a bunch of parrots, let alone with them touching my body. This is the opposite of a vacation. This is torture.
Though it seems like this might be a restaurant cost-cutting measure, if you ask me, this looks like a blast. As long as we’re not sitting by the side of the highway from “Pet Semetary” I think we’re good.
This looks really lovely, but hey, look behind you. There’s a free table. You don’t need to sit on the ground. Looks like quite the feast though, so please invite me to the next one.
I’ve never really understood the deal with these viewfinders. They usually just point out the ocean which is… blue and endless. Maybe we’ve got some whale watching going on here? This has to be hundreds of times less fun than actually going into the water, but hey, it’s the '50s, there really wasn’t that much else to do.
Here’s a fun day at the beach under not-so-fun circumstances. This section of Atlantic City along the Jersey Shore has an extremely embarrassing past; it was racially segregated until the Civil Rights act, and often known by the more derogatory term, “Chicken Bone” Beach.
O.K., so maybe Hawaii is a little bit too pricey or too far to get to. Why not just go to Daytona Beach instead, and then just dress up like you’re in Hawaii? That’s gotta be the next best thing, right? … right?
Hey, Addams family, what is this vacation? Did y’all head out to the cemetery at dusk in the rain? Who took this photo, a ghost?
Sharing one single sled! And it’s not even big enough to hold all the kids! That’s about the most middle-class vacation move there is. Have fun swapping one person out each time, kiddos!
Obviously, nobody in the middle class was zipping around in their tiny little flying saucer controlled by one hand and one pointed finger. Nobody in any class was doing that, I think. But this is what people in the 1950s thought they’d be getting up to soon enough when all that newfangled technology reaches its peak. Unfortunately, the flying saucer is a lot more accurate of a vision for the future than the non-environmentally scorched mountains and still-serene waters.