Remember When? by Angela At two Seattle-area car shows this summer, one beautiful vintage car had painted on its side a fetching girl carhop, on rollerskates ready to serve up some burgers. Above her was painted the words,"Remember When?" Ah, yes, this image harkens back to the 1950s. Girls wore poodle skirts and saddle shoes, boys sang in doo-wop harmonies, women were stay-at-home mothers, dads were the sole breadwinners. The Post-World War II economy was booming. The American dream became a house in the suburbs and a fancy car in the garage. Car culture flourished, with drive-in movies, drive-in burger joints and freeways built to keep America on the move. And what beautiful cars! The Bel-Airs, Edsels, Corvettes, the first retractible hardtop, giant tailfins are distinctively Fifties cars and features. I listen to the popular music of the time and smile. Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Frank Sinatra were swinging and rocking the airwaves. Things seem so much simpler--no child snipers then, kids just having fun. But actually, no, I don't 'remember when.' It must have been so much fun to hear the Coasters' music when it was new, be served by a carhop, and drive those fabulous cars. At least that's how the "Happy Days" television show and the recent film "Pleasantville" made it seem. What I find interesting about how the Fifties era was portrayed is how a complex era is made banal. The Sixties and the Seventies can be seen as a backlash against the 1950s-era repressions and oppressions that seethed below the good-times surface. Certainly, these issues existed long before the 1950s, but the mainstream culture of the Fifties seemed to make an extra effort to gloss over the problems with "aren't we just wonderful" hype. Sure, let's remember Peggy Lee and Sarah Vaughn songs, but also Remember When...there was a cold war? When we built bomb shelters in the back yard? Remember segregation? The Civil Rights Movement began in the mid-Fifties. Other movements followed, seeking social equality for women, Chicanos, Native Americans, sexual minorities, the poor. These struggles continue into the next millenium, and like the 1950s, we are in a great economy that profits only some, not even most. I wonder whether some future generation will hold onto vintage 1999 Honda Accords saying, "Remember Sega games? Multiplex theaters? Microsoft stock going through the roof again and again?" What does any of this have to do with cars? The carhop and tantalizing "Remember When?" led me to explore the complex reasons we love vintage cars. We may be admiring the design of the cars themselves, or good times past that are represented by the car. Some of us are honoring the memories of beloved people with our cars (like the great story about the 1964 Valiant on this website.) Sometimes cars represent a cherished idea, like freedom, beauty, independence, or safety. As an African-American woman and social worker, I can love vintage cars, but I don't really care to revere the times that produced them. I think too much about the racism my ancestors experienced. However, I can think to myself, "Thank goodness I was born later...and can still own a great vintage car." It's the best of both worlds. Angela, guest writer for GG, is a vintage car lover, opera fan, social worker, and passionate social commentator.