Frankly, I do not like the “spare elegant lines” of the furniture of that era, which I found very uncomfortable, and we never had any of it; mostly comfoatable over-stuffed chairs. Our sofa-bed was a design I’ve never seen elsewhere: the seat and back were a single unit that flattened out to make the bed, and the area underneath was a storage box for linens.

As for what was the most significant technological change from the late 19th to 20th century: the washing machine wins hands down. I remember going to grandma and grandpa’s farm, which featured the newest version, with an electric wringer above the tub.

Our Mission Site in Wyoming, where we were the last two summers, had the original ranch wash-house, which contained a variety of clothes washing appliances, beginning with the plain metal tub and progressing through various improvements in function (two tubs connected by a wringer came next) up to three different styles of electric machines. The school kids on field trips were a little dubious when I told them they were looking at high tech, since they only associate the term with computers and phones.

As a former New Yorker my nostalgic tastes go back to pre-WWII Art Deco buildings with charming, yet modern window treatments (casement windows and glass block, anyone?)… they also had groovy geometrical niches and other plasterwork that coexists well with the modernist IKEA aesthetic.

And large closets!! A friend renovated a NY apartment and now has a home office in a huge closet that once housed a Murphy bed.

DC is a cesspit, sho’nuff.

“Nonetheless, in the late 50s/early 60s one had to be pretty clued into elite circles for access to LSD.”

Definitely. As it became more readily available, it was made illegal. The government was concerned about kids flying off tall buildings and potentially interfering with aircraft traffic at SFO

“The governors of Nevada and California each signed bills into law on May 30, 1966, that make them the first two American states to outlaw the manufacture, sale, and possession of the drug. The law went into effect immediately in Nevada, and on October 6, 1966, in California.”

https://www.racket.news/p/why-would-media-report-on-public

Why the corporate press is dead

Seems LSDish

fullmoon:

Thanks for the reading the poem! I can see why you might say that, based on the verse:
______________________

Picking up change, hands like a walrus,
and a face like a barndoor’s,
and a head without any apparent size,
nothing but two eyes—
______________________

Nonetheless, in the late 50s/early 60s one had to be pretty clued into elite circles for access to LSD.

At that time Creeley was just a no-name, knock-around, early thirties Beat poet. However, he was a serious stoner then. Boozer too.

He did write a poem, “On Acid,” in 1969 as part of a longer work. It was such an unremarkable poem that I can’t find it online. I’ll quote the first verse from the Collected Creeley:
______________________

On Acid

And I had no actual
hesitancies, always
(flickering) mind’s
sensations: here, here, here
…
–Robert Creeley (1969)