The Sixties dominated by the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Protests, the 60s also saw the assassinations of US President John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and finally ended on a good note when the first man landed on the moon.
Sixties Inventions
The Year Invented Inventors and Country or attributed to First Use:
Cash Dispenser —– 1969 Turkey by Luther Simjian
CCDs —– 1969 USA Charge Coupled Device – to capture an image
Communication Satellite —– 1962 USA Telstar
Computer Mouse —– 1964 USA by Douglas Engelbart
Fibre Optics —– 1966 England by Charles Keo and George Hockham
Heart Pacemaker —– 1960 USA by Wilson Greatbatch
Human Space Travel —– 1961 Russia Yuri Gagarin – the first human in space
Hypertext —– 1965 USA for linking text
Internet —– 1969 USA US military
Kevlar —– 1966 USA by Stephanie Kwolek
Laser —– 1960 USA by Theodore Maiman
LEDs —– 1962 USA Light Emitting Diodes – used for displays
Manned Moon Landing —– 1969 USA Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walk on Moon
Moon Landing —– 1966 Russia Luna 9 lands softly on the Moon
Optical Disk —– 1965 USA by James Russell – now Compact Disk CD / DVD History of Hifi and Music Players and Media
Portable Calculator —– 1967 USA Texas Instruments
Space Docking —– 1966 USA Gemini VIII docks with an orbiting satellite
Space Walk —– 1965 Russia Aleksei Leonov – first person outside the space vehicle
Tape Cassette —– 1963 Netherlands
Venus Probe —– 1962 US Mariner 2 – the first planetary probe
Weather Satellite —– 1960 USA Tiros I
Sixties Money and Inflation
If you have $100 Converted from 1950 to 2020 it would be equivalent to $ 872.01 today
In 1960 a new house cost $12,700.00 and by 1969 was $15,500.00
The average income per year was $5,315.00 and by 1969 was $8,540.00
A gallon of gas was 25 cents and by 1969 was 35 cents
The average cost of a new car was $2,600.00 and by 1969 was $3,270.00
A few more prices from the ’60s and how much things cost
Volkswagen Beetle $1,769
Ford Mustang 2 door hardtop $2368
Misses Swinging Shifts Skirts $5.00
Oxford men’s Shoes $12.95
1960 Men’s Pocket Watch $9.44
Automatic Can Opener $8.88
Automatic Electric Blanket $9.94
Oranges 89 cents for 2 dozen
Modern Walnut Bookcase $29.97
Coal $14.95 ton
Sixites Popular Culture
This was the Decade of the Smiley Face found on anything and everything around the world including T-Shirts, it’s popularity was at it’s a peak in the mid to late 1960s
This decade can also be summed up with a few well-chosen phrases which epitomize the decade ” The Space Race “, ” Cuban Missile Crisis”, ” Continuing Cold War”, “Kennedy Assassination”, ” Martin Luther King”, “Vietnam”, “Civil Rights and Riots”, “Hippies and Flower Power”, “The Beatles and Rock and Roll”
This was the start of the skateboarding era which was started by some surfing enthusiasts in California who were frustrated by the weather and put roller skates on the front and back end of wooden planks
Some of the Most Well Known Movie Stars of the Sixties
John Wayne
Elizabeth Taylor
Richard Burton
Paul Newman
Elvis Presley
Julie Andrews
Doris Day
Roch Hudson
Sixties Homes
Example of a home from our Property for sale in the 1960s
1963 New Homes Lowell Massachusetts large tree wooded plots, colored bath and kitchen fixtures, full basement Formica kitchen 3 bedrooms from $15,500.
Furniture design changed as more modern tastes come to the fore and with the increased use of more modern materials allowed including color-coordinated, vinyl-coated wallpaper with tables including durable high-pressure plastic top in a woodgrain pattern.
Sixties Fashion
Early ’60s for women wore mini-skirts and leather boots and men wore Paisley shirts and velvet trousers Later ’60s from 1966 started the introduction of Psychedelic clothes with bright colors for both men and women and the age of the Hippie is born. Men started to wear hair longer and women identified with the hippie look by wearing skirts and dress longer often known as Maxies and anything and everything had color including the body. The examples below are from Our new updated Sixties Fashion Section, with examples of Ladies, Men's and Children’s Fashion Clothes and Accessory examples including dresses, hats, shoes, and much more take a little time to browse through them.
The Sixties Gallery