Leisure and Travel
Increased Leisure Time
1917-30
-growing prosperity and reductions in work hours in 1919 led to Americans having more time for leisure
-1919, $2.5 billion spent on leisure
-1929, $4.3 billion
Prohibition
-1920s alcohol was banned
-18th Amendment banned the sale, manufacture or transport
-rich and immigrant working class saw the prohibition as an infringement of freedom
-speakeasies and night clubs flourished
-in 1929, there were 32,000 speakeasies in NY
1945-80
-media commercialised leisure activity
-movie, recording, sport and travel flourished
-1955, Disneyland opened
-1971 Disney World opened in Orlando Florida
-introduction of jet aircraft, foreign travel became more accessible
Growth of Spectator Sports
Development of cars
Improved Air Travel
Influence
-changed lifestyles in 1950s
-Americans living in suburbs were completely dependent on cars
-allowed people to tour America
-could watch films from comfort of their cars (drive-ins)
-symbolised freedom
-motels, restaurants, stores, parking lots etc covered America
1960s
-jet air travel led to foreign travel becoming more accessible to more Americans
-reduction in air line fares led to the reduction in people using the bus and trains
-mid 1960s, 50% of airline passengers were travelling for pleasure rather than business
-160 million passengers in 1969
-air service rose in smaller areas
1917-45
-sport became big buisness after 1917
-millions of Americans packed stadiums to watch sporting events
-most were racially segregated
-black people banned from white sporting leagues
1945-80
Boxing
-1920 Boxing was legalised in NY
-NY became centre of sport
-attracted huge crowds
American Football- college
-large stadiums built at many colleges
-1928, Uni of Michigan built a stadium to seat 87,000
-produced major stars/icons
Professional Football
-1920, the NFL was formed
-initially had to compete against college football for support
Baseball
-most popular spectator sport
-Babe Ruths ability to hit home runs for NY boosted baseball
-1921 World Series was attended by 300,000
-millions watched local teams
-many listened to professional games on the radio
American Football
-1945, Football became more popular than baseball
-American Football League in 1960 encouraged the NFL to expand
-1966 AFL and NFL merged
-1967 was the first Super Bowl
Baseball
-1947, first black major player
-1960 every major league club had black players
-1970s clubs found a new source of talent in Latin American players
About
-many watched sport events in person
-many watched on TV
-by late 1950s, sports were no longer segregated
-by 1970s most of sporting stars were black
-watched by both men and women
About
-by 1960 80% of the population owned a car
-14% of the population owned 2 or more cars
-nearly all owned cars were manufactured in the USA
-designed to go out of fashion in a year to promote future purchases
-petrol prices low so driving was cheap
1970s and 80s
-oil crisis 1973-74 quadrupled airline prices
-stagflation led to the decline in the airline industry
-Airline Deregulation Act 1978 ended govt control over plane industries, businesses upped the price
-1979-83 domestic airline industry suffered a net loss of $1.2 billion
1950s
-rapid expansion
-more than 38 million used American domestic airlines in 1955
-1958 international airlines took more people to Europe than steamships
Leisure restrictions 1940-45
-Depression and WW2 meant that some Americans had less money and time to spend on leisure
-however, many still enjoyed going to the movies, listening to the radio, watching sport