Older Adults Are Sharing How They Could Tell Someone Was Rich Back In The Day, And As A 30-Something, A Lot Of These Surprised Me

Megan Liscomb

21 December 2024 at 3:21 pm·2-min read

I've always been fascinated by stories from my elders about what life was like before I was born. It's incredible to see how much has changed (and the things that somehow remain the same). Recently, u/helpmegetthrough1 asked older adults on Reddit to share the signs that someone was well off back in the '50s, '60s, and '70s, and a lot of their responses surprised me. Here's what they had to say:

1."Two cars in the driveway."

Two classic cars parked outside a brick building with a zigzag pattern on the window — —u/maleficent_scale_296
"Born in 1961, lived in a suburban neighborhood in the Denver area all through the '70s.
When I was growing up, most families only had one car. Even though my mom worked when I was a kid and in school, we never had more than one car, and that was true of most of our neighbors as well.
We were solid middle class. Dad was a Federal government employee, Mom and Dad both had college degrees, and most of our neighbors were professional/white-collar families with both parents at home.
Two cars in the driveway were just starting to become more common by the mid-1970s, although even then, we never had two cars."
—u/ujmrider1961
Leila Grossman / Getty Images

2."Meat with dinner every night."

A man, woman, and young boy stand in a kitchen. The woman is taking a cooked turkey out of the oven while the man and boy watch. The scene appears to be from the mid-20th century — —u/particular_youth7381
H. Armstrong Roberts / H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock

3."A color TV. A 27" color TV. I remember seeing my first 30" … then a 36" … believe me — childhood me would think people of the future must live in movie theaters if they own and watch movies on an 85" television. Which is larger than the pull-down-screen the grade school movies of my youth were projected on. The magic of The Jetsons came to life, siiiiigh."

A family of five, including a man, a woman, two girls, and a boy, sits on a couch and floor in a living room, watching a television together — —u/mannymostl
"My family bought our first color TV to watch the 1972 Olympics. It had a whopping 9" screen, and we piled on my parents' bed to watch it."
—u/mosselyn
Picture Alliance / picture alliance via Getty Images

4."An extra living room for guests."

Living room with brick fireplace, green chairs, a wooden side table, a couch, and a black desk with a lamp and book. Picture of a woman on the wall — —u/bean-swellington
H. Armstrong Roberts

5."A dishwasher."

A woman is smiling as she loads dishes into a top-loading dishwasher — —u/sororitysue
Pa Images / PA Images via Getty Images

6."Children with...[CLICK TO CONTINUE READING]