That 70s Exhibit

June 6, 2006 - September 2, 2006

Take a walk down memory lane with HAHS' first original exhibition of the year, That 70s Exhibit:

Groovy!

As we get older, we begin to look back on our childhood with fond memories. We laugh over the things we thought were cool and the clothes we wore. For those of us born between 1965 and 1979, members of what some people call "Generation X," those childhood memories happened in the 1970s.

Take a moment to reflect-polyester, harvest gold, Pet Rocks, diet cola, Happy Days, the Brady Bunch, Big Wheels, Donny and Marie, Stretch Armstrong, Star Wars, Disco, Farrah hair…

In retrospect, it is easy to see how much the media-television, movies, music, magazines, advertisements-influenced our lives. It directed what we wore, played with, and ate for breakfast. We also had more stuff to choose from because of advancements in technology. As you take a trip down memory lane in this exhibit, think about what or who influenced you during the 1970s.

Dy-no-mite!

Our parents may have been the first to have television, but they only had a handful of stations to watch. We got cable! Twice as many channels and shows to watch. We also had all sorts of different types of movies throughout the decade from the campy nostalgia trip of Grease (how did Olivia Newton-John get into those pants anyhow?) to the special effects wizardry of Star Wars (Hello Han Solo!). The music scene was more diverse too-from Black Sabbath, to ABBA, and Carol King. We had more choices, and new technology made our movies and music look and sound better than ever before.

Lookin' Good

The media heavily influenced our fashion sense in the 1970s. It made everything from the hippie movement to disco popular rather than radical and alternative. The hippie style, worn by a small number in the 1960s, became the bohemian look worn by so many in the 1970s. Our psychedelic colors became less acid trips and more a swirling cacophony of bright colors and earth tones.

Think avocado and yellow. Think red, white, and blue stripes.

These clothes were a little looser fitting and made from a variety of fabrics, especially polyester. Disco, on the other hand, had a more polished, modern style with sleek lines, tighter fits, and sequins. For the kids, well, we got a mixture of plaid pants, hand-knitted ponchos, t-shirts with iron-on transfers, and granny dresses. We may cringe now but we were lookin' good back then.

Cool!

We had some seriously cool toys in the 1970s. We wanted them because we saw them on TV or in a magazine or store catalog. The toys had lots of moving parts and pieces (were our parents even concerned about choking hazards then?). We had the first electronic games like Speak and Spell. Some of the games taught strategy and hand-eye coordination, while others allowed us to use our imaginations (yes, I can race my Big Wheel at Indy). New types of plastics made toys like Lite Brite and Legos affordable for most middle class families. These new toys may have held our attention longer than toys of the past, but the best part was…there were tons of other toys to choose from once boredom set in

.

Sit On It!

We were the generation of shag carpet, avocado appliances, wood paneling, and brightly patterned sofas. Did we really sit on THAT??? We lived in either monotone shades of green or a clashing war of different colors and patterns (that supposedly complimented each other).

We had lots of new modern conveniences to make cooking easier-the microwave oven, food processor, fondue pot, and the crock-pot. Food companies began selling "healthy" foods like trail mix, fruit roll-ups, granola bars, and diet soda. Mom also had lots of easy-to-prepare foods ready to serve us like Hamburger Helper, Country Time Lemonade, and, of course, our favorite sugar rush in a box-cereal. Fruity Pebbles and Coco Puffs are still the best ever!

Visitors share their memories of the 70s:

• It was fun learning about all the old days!!!
• We loved it, but please don't bring back those clothes and appliance colors!
• I really enjoyed re-living the "games" and clothing from the 70's. Lots of memories
• Hip, real hip man!!!
• It was groovy and I really loved it all.
• Urgh! Serious flashbacks. Mustard yellow! Booger green! Unmentionable brown! AIEEEE!!!
• I thought it was very interesting and amusing. It's funny I just recv'd an email W/ pictures of things from the 70's. DYNOMITE!!
• A walk down memory lane, of beautiful times. I remember playing Simon with my kids and my daughter's prom! Very sweet and wonderful! Thanks so much.
• I enjoyed the stroll down memory lane! Good concept for an exhibit, well thought out. You included a lot of pop culture, I felt like I was at my Great Grandma's house because the 70's was the last time she bought any technology! Cheers!
• I remember the 70s our children had graduated from Tennyson High School. Things were so much easier then. Now we are in our "Golden Years" We're still waiting for them to start.
• Like the hands-on part - changes the concept of a history museum. Awesome!
• Well I'm 59 and I have seen a lot. War in the 60s then the drugs in the 70s all I can say its been a very cool ride except for this… very bad clothes. But the music made up for it. You have captured it.
• Awesome, though scary to think my mom might have worn those clothes! - Sara born 1989
• I loved your 70s exhibit - it was so much fun to see the old yearbooks, clothes, and 8-tracks - I didn't get to live through the 70s - I loved it!
• I thought the exhibit was great, great to see all the things I grew up with Disco era for me. Andy Gibb, Dobbies, Brady Bunch, Bee Gees. - what fun, graduate "1978" high school, born Dec. 1959!
• I remember moon landings, the bicentennial, graduating high-school and getting my first car. Oh ya girls! I remember that guy Nixon and the Watergate hearing.
• My favorite memory is driving with my brother & my best friend to L.A. after I graduated high school. We drove my brothers maroon Chevy Malibu with the 8 track going Brothers Johnson, Ohio Players, Earth Wind & Fire and a little Beatles.
• My parents bought a house in 1978 and the walls ceilings and doors were avocado! They even had an old 1950's Chrysler that was green inside and out!
• Wearing platform shoes to the prom…
• Going to Winterland in S.F. to see the Dead and also in Golden Gate Park !!
• Green kitchen of course. Orange themed bedroom with big colorful flowers on the bedspread.
• 8 tracks!
• 1974 Capri - my first car!
• Plaid pants - and those were my dressy pants.
• Fewer people in the East Bay, we still had traffic jams though, just in different places from now.
• Dittos pants - none ever fit as well.
• Refusing to buy a TV with a remote because if I couldn't get up off the couch to change the channel I thought that was, "too Bad".
• Going to the drive-in (Union City) to see Grease in our Pea Green and wood paneled Station Wagon!
• The Raiders had a good team!
• A high lottery number for the draft!
• Dean Martin - Thanks For the Memories, Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes
• The Union City Drive-In in feet PJ's.
• Star Wars Rocks!
• Pink smiley face rug in my bedroom and shag carpeting.
• 1978 - The 14 year old neighbor girl Amy Anderson stubbing out her cigarette with her high heeled rubber wedge soled shoes.
• TWO WORDS: STAR WARS
• Fomalare Shoes (bumpy wedges)
• Angel Flight pants
• Cruising E14th - from Bayfair to McDonalds
• Oak A's Charlie O
• Kind of trippy to see my highschool yearbook sitting here! (HHS 1976) we've got our 30 year reunion coming up this October and it was great to recapture some memories. Also that prom dress is scary - pretty close to what I wore!
• I was in junior high & elementary school, 8-16 years old - Hayward Unified School District, Eureka Elementary School District, Calarooga Jr. High School, Mt. Eden High School. I wasn't too clothes trendy but I enjoyed the platform shoes and the Brady Bunch and Al Green's music - avocado green, burnt orange and harvest gold kitchen appliances - we waiting in line for hours to see "Star Wars" at the coronet in SF!
• Can't ever forget that infamous Robert Plant poster - in those skin tight jeans!!
• Drawing pictures of guitars on my PeeChee folders. Writing all the words to Aerosmith songs on the desk at school
• Jan B Bias class of "1973" Mt. Eden High. "Fremont Drags" Hayward Moter movies on Mission Blvd. fast food under a dollar! First BART ride 1972 25¢
• My best friend Jane bought two necklaces, one was an outlet, one was a plug - she wore one, and mailed the other one to Shaun Cassidy, every week we watched "The Hardy Boys" to see if he was wearing it. He never did. L
• Listening to my older sister play the Carole King album, over and over, and over! To this day I know all the words to every song.
• I had "Woodstock" jeans
• All the movie posters in my bedroom. - Romeo & Juliet, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, etc… I even glued a Butch Cassidy poster onto the hanging lamp.
• In the 70s I was interested in the UFO Documentary's
• Just out of college, worked for Annabelle's Candy Co. I was their first receptionist. They had moved from SF and would carpool their SF employees back & forth every day. They were a very dedicated company. A thrill to me was getting to drive my boss's GTO for errands. Went to SUNSET high from a catholic elementary school. Boy! That was a culture shock!!
• My Mom made a lot of my clothes - very groovy. But one blouse she made the holes to big and it was a windy day &… Also, I'll never forget - there were 4 of us kids & my mom's best friend had 5 - to get us together & looking back at the old photos was - wow - far out man!
• The 70s were the best. This exhibit brings back so many memories. I want to take everything home! I graduated from grammar school in 1976 and we wore bicentennial gowns
• 1. I got my first computer (Apple II Plus) with 48 K of memory & 1 floppy disc drive in 1979. 2. The explosive growth of areas like Fremont - Fremont Blvd was mostly a 2-lane road in the early 1970s. 3. The VCR first came out in the early 1970s & I got my first one in 1978. Pre-recorded movies in 1979. 4. Porn theaters - Hayward had 2 within a block of one another! Hayward Theater - 1972-1976 (burned down), Ritz Theater - 1973-1985 (torn down in 2004). 5. PONG & Video Pinball! 6. A toy replica of a "McDonalds" restaurant that I had in 1973. 7. Fisher-Price "Little People" toy sets. 8. Tang powdered orange (& grape) drinks. 9. Kellogg's Pop-Tarts came out in the 1970s (Milton the Toaster!). 10. The Galloping Gourmet (Graham Kerr). 11. The early days of "Saturday Night Live." 12. National Lampoon's Animal House. 13. Boone's Farm Wine! 14. Bobby Sherman. 15. The "Wings Over America" tour at the Cow Palace. 16. Days on the Green at the Coliseum. 17. 3 A's world championships in a row. I could go on & on. - Scott Favareille, Pinole, CA
• David Cassidy, Peechee Folders, Wallpaper with big flowers - great exhibit!!
• Being 10 yrs old & listening to KFRC on my transistor radio
• I'm named after Jaclyn Smith
• I loved Grease and Grease 2
• Davy Jones the Monkees music was the Best in the 70 Motown and all I also graduate 1970
• I miss bubblegum cigarettes & those wax bottles of that mysterious stuff
• I miss folk music!
• My sister and I were raising our kids in the 70s Our daughters had granny dresses and lots of Holly Hobby things. My sister got her 7 & 12 yr old H-H outfits to start school. The 12yr-old was starting 7th grade, so was made "fun of." My niece was rather upset with her mom.
• May 4, 1970 - the shooting of students at Kent State University in Ohio. I was 15 and that event opened my eyes to the world outside my small town in New Jersey. The major anti-war protests, the signing of the peace accord in Paris - church bells rang in town when it went into effect. Then the air lift evacuation and fall of Saigon - the VietNam war was the biggest influence of the early 70s And then Watergate!
• My first Star Wars viewing, and listening to 8-tracks of KISS! Joe b. 1970
• Me gusto la exposition ya que me recordo cuando yo naci. 05-05-70 estoy con mi pareja y mis hijas