This is One of Those Things People Do When They Get Old and Actually Believe Others Care....

[Joe Guy]

An old friend that I've known since we were both 12 years old just texted the following photo to me that he snapped in the (probably early) 1970s in South San Francisco. You may be shocked to learn that my friend never became a professional photographer. He turned out to be a successful locksmith though and has lived to talk about it.

Anyway, that's me standing to the right of my father one day many years ago. I've edited quite a bit to remove most of the house, which was my parents' residence.

The funniest thing to me about this photo is the bell bottoms I'm wearing. Also, I'm wondering what was wrong with the lawn. My father always took very good care of it. Maybe that was during another drought. I remember that on my parents block, everybody had a front lawn. During the drought there were a lot of brown lawns around.

It should be obvious to anyone who is viewing this post that my father and I were both very dedicated followers of fashion...

[Big RR]

I think the dark area of the lawn is the garage door shadow. It continues on to the driveway.

[dales]

I WONDER WHAT YOUR LATE FATHER WOULD THINK ABOUT THE BEHEADING ON LAUREL STREET IN SAN CARLOS.

LOTTA ANGRY AND CRAZY PEOPLE OUT THERE.

[Joe Guy]

I WONDER WHAT YOUR LATE FATHER WOULD THINK ABOUT THE BEHEADING ON LAUREL STREET IN SAN CARLOS.

LOTTA ANGRY AND CRAZY PEOPLE OUT THERE.

That was scary. San Carlos is one of the most peaceful places on the peninsula.

Or it appears to be.

The guy (killer) apparently killed her while her (or their) 2 children were in the same house. There’s not a lot of information about it that has been released yet, although I’ve heard he is jail.

[BoSoxGal]

Domestic violence knows no bounds - it happens equally in peaceful law-abiding upper middle class neighborhoods as it does in poor crime ridden communities. Poverty might exacerbate but not necessarily- some very horrific wife and girlfriend killings have happened at the hands of wealthy men.

[Gob]

Nice nostalgia shot mate.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Odd that I saw a pair of bell bottoms out and about here in Louisville a couple of days ago. I don't think I've seen any IRL since the 70s.

[BoSoxGal]

My current hospice client/patient loves to watch this old daytime game show called Match Game - does anyone remember it? The years we watch in reruns on game show network are the 70s, the show’s first revival. The set and outfits worn by cast and contestants is a celebration of 70s fashion and I have to say - I love it! The 70s were IT for fashion. Bell bottoms and crazy colors and wide lapels and bizarre patterns - it was all so very neato keen!

[MajGenl.Meade]

Yes, Match Game '73 and '74 were my introduction to the USA daytime TV world back in those very years. Mostly '73 and Gene Rayburn.

Risque and near the knuckle (for the time) without being crudely rude. The modern version is the latter. Boorish and degenerate are the new flavors

[Long Run]

Nice memory, Joe. Yes, this would be during the first "poo do, pee don't" advisory. Meanwhile, LA people had green lawns and were taking 10 minute rinse-offs at the beach . . . with water pumped in from Northern California.

[Bicycle Bill]

Nice memory, Joe. Yes, this would be during the first "poo do, pee don't" advisory. Meanwhile, LA people had green lawns and were taking 10 minute rinse-offs at the beach . . . with water pumped in from Northern California.

I remember hearing about a little line of doggerel — "If it's yellow, let it mellow, but if it's brown, flush it down" — from back around that same time... and more than one commenter mentioned that the 'brown' in this case could refer to doodie ... or to the low esteem some people held for the then-governor, Jerry Brown.

-"BB"-

[Sue U]

The set and outfits worn by cast and contestants is a celebration of 70s fashion and I have to say - I love it! The 70s were IT for fashion. Bell bottoms and crazy colors and wide lapels and bizarre patterns - it was all so very neato keen!

Oh honey...

Having been there, the '70s were an aesthetic catastrophe. I still want to know why the inventors of Qiana and Smooth Jazz haven't been brought to justice.

[Burning Petard]

It was the male's emergence into the glorious plumage which is the birthright of their sex.

snailgate

[Big RR]

Gorious plumage? In polyester?

[BoSoxGal]

The set and outfits worn by cast and contestants is a celebration of 70s fashion and I have to say - I love it! The 70s were IT for fashion. Bell bottoms and crazy colors and wide lapels and bizarre patterns - it was all so very neato keen!

Oh honey...

Having been there, the '70s were an aesthetic catastrophe. I still want to know why the inventors of Qiana and Smooth Jazz haven't been brought to justice.

I was there too - I still insist the styles of the 70s were far superior to anything since, which is basically all kinds and shades of drab.

Maybe it’s because it was the first decade of my life and thus an innocence and happiness attaches, but even today I love to seek out period films and shows set in the era. So much color! AND disco music to boot! Who could ask for more?

[MajGenl.Meade]

Flares, we called 'em. Not so colorful but then it was 1975 England.

[BoSoxGal]

Look at that fantastic dress! Is that mom? Also love the crop top with the big lapels and pasties on the outside, very cool! Is that sister?

I would love to relive the 70s. I would make sure everyone understood about climate change and big oil if I could take a time machine back.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Look at that fantastic dress! Is that mom? Also love the crop top with the big lapels and pasties on the outside, very cool! Is that sister?

Good luck with the time machine. Yes - that's mum on the left. My wife (first version) on the left. Amazing waist that woman.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I can see you were going for the full Jimmy Connors thing there, Meade.

[Bicycle Bill]

Flares, we called 'em. Not so colorful but then it was 1975 England.

It's a small thing, but since I too was a teen in the late '60s-early '70s (that brief period in time when every male was wearing a Nehru shirt with a turtleneck dicky underneath it, along with a big ol' medallion around his neck — or wanted to), I seem to recall that there was a difference between bell-bottoms and flares.  Bell-bottoms followed the contour of the leg until around mid-calf, then belled out; flares started to — well, flare — at about knee level or slightly above.  In my Catholic HS, males were allowed to wear flares, but not bell-bottoms — I have no idea why.

-"BB"-