Fascinating -- My Essay on Traveling Back in Time (to the 1930s)

Maybe I'd see Cal play in the 1938 Rose Bowl

Having trouble coming up with a topic to write about for ye olde blogareeno I took a gander at the writing prompts I use with students. Why not, I wondered, address one myself?  I’ve certainly read other’s people thoughts on these topics enough. And so I did.

If you suddenly found a time machine, when and where would you visit in the past? Explain why you would go there and what you would expect to see.

I’d go to Berkeley in the late 1930s, a period I find fascinating for a number of reasons. There’s a lot I’d want to see from that time period. First would be a football game featuring the California Golden Bears in beautiful Memorial Stadium. I’ve been going to games there since I was a kid in the 1960s. It would be fascinating for me on a number of levels. First would be the crowd. The attire would be completely different — men wore jackets, ties and hats (not caps) and women dressed well too. The rooting section was segregated between men and women and all the men wore white shirts. The cheers and chants were more colorful, inventive and interesting. The songs by the band would be the same, but might, for reasons I can’t here imagine, sound different. It would fascinate me to see how fans interacted, if they talked about the same type of things. The game itself would look a lot different with smaller, slower, whiter players wearing far less and and much thinner equipment. There would be far less passing, more punting and a lot more runs straight up the middle. 

After the football game I’d take the ferry into San Francisco to check out the nightlife, I’d be especially curious to go to a nightclub. Who knows, I might see Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller or Duke Ellington. I love nightclub scenes in movies from the thirties and forties and to be in one — so to speak — would be fascinating (a word I’m on the verge of over-using). Would the cocktail hour banter be perfectly charming? (Maybe.) Would the music truly swing? (Surely.) Would the women by glamorous and the men debonair (Probably.) Would it all be so sophisticated and engaging? (Hopefully.) 

Later I’d want to find people with whom I could talk politics. What a time to do it in! The Spanish Civil War would be raging or just finished depending on my arrival time and there would be Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy to discuss. I’m sure I’d counter isolationists and others who thought the fascist threat highly overrated. Still others would extoll certain aspects of the totalitarian regimes and I’d have to deal with anti-semitism that was even more out in the open those days. I’d probably also meet some people who were intrigued by the Soviet Union in particular and Communism in general. I’m curious about how political discourse in the thirties would be compared with today. Hopefully more people would be open-minded and less dogmatic. 

One of the downsides of my visit to the past would be dealing with the casual and often not so causal racism. Homophobia would be pretty blatant and I’d not likely meet many, if any, out gay people. Bringing up transgender issues would be like trying to talk about Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter. Speaking of which, there’d be no social media, no internet, no streaming. But there would be a lot of newspapers and magazines to choose from. Shopping in general would be interesting and prices for consumer goods (and everything else, for that matter) would seem ridiculously cheap. There’d be less variety in dining options, probably no sushi and fewer, if any, Mexican restaurants. I doubt that the quality of food in most eateries would be as good (certainly not as healthy) as today.

Of course I’d stroll around neighborhoods I’m familiar with to see how much and how little certain places have changed. My mother would be around so I’d sneak a peak at her and my aunt and grandparents. It would be weird, maybe even creepy, but to trot that word out again, fascinating. 

Listening to the radio would be interesting. I’m familiar with some old radio shows a few of which morphed into early television fare.

At some point I’d want to take a transcontinental train ride to New York. My 21st century dollars would go far so I’d pay for the best. I’d ride in comfort and dine well. Meanwhile I'd see America as it was then. Though no longer at its peak, there'd be signs of the depression everywhere including what were then called hobos and tramps. 

Once in New York I’d explore yet more of the nightclub world. I’d also go to the classic movie houses of yore. I imagine New York of the thirties as a feast for the eyes, with plenty of art deco and colorfully, elegantly dressed sophisticates enjoying the good life. I’d also slum around and see how the lower classes lived. Hopefully I’d be savvy enough to avoid trouble. Perhaps a baseball game at the Polo Grounds or Yankee Stadium would be fun, or a prize fight at Madison Square Garden. 

A quick trip to Washington D.C. might be fun, especially if I could figure out a way to see President Roosevelt.

Next I’d take a luxury liner to London. They look fabulous in films from that era and what fun to enjoy the ship’s various forms of entertainment and enjoy the briny air. Then I’d, of course, explore London followed by a trip to pre-war Paris. It would — that word again — by at once fascinating and deeply depressing to visit Nazi Germany. As a history buff it’s something I couldn’t pass on seeing.

One other thing I might do while I was visiting the thirties is go on a date or twelve. I’d first have to check with the missus, I’m sure that even if she okayed the idea I’d have to refrain from any hanky-panky. Heavy necking might be off the table as well. I’d at least like to accompany women on some of evening sojourns, no harm there. (Maybe to be safe I should take the wife along.)

I would expect to thoroughly enjoy my visit to the past. It would be an invaluable supplement to my understanding of the time period. I’m sure much would be as I would expect while other things would surprise to one degree of another.  All told it would doubtless be — one more time — fascinating.