Forums > Social Discussion > 60s museums: what's your opinion?

Login/Join to Participate

LazyAngelGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK


Posted:
Just interested to see the responses to this: as you may know, Winged Avenger is obsessed by the 60s (particularly the Avengers but also the 60s in general)



anyone unsure as to what sort of cultural phenomena might be involved should take a look here https://www.modculture.co.uk/ (I'll wait for WA or other people to se me straight on this)



anyway a 60s museum: fun day out or totally past it?

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi


pkBRONZE Member
Lambretta Fanatic
4,997 posts
Location: United Kingdom


Posted:
This is quite close to home for me.

I'm a third generation scooterist which to me is fantastic, my granddad rode a Lambretta Li150, which he later sold to my dad which became me dads second scooter as he owned an old Vespa 125 back when he was a Mod back in his youth... the era of drink and drugs and the faces.
I grew up listening to the small faces, the jam etc and all other sorts of northern soul classics.

My passion... even more so than poi and juggling is Vespa's the history, the legend and it's following, I currently have 2 a PX 150 and my daily runner for work which is an ET2, I just sold my PK50 frown that was in mint condition too but I'm searching a replacement a 63 Vespa 50 first series.. when I can find one at the right price.

There is just some thing about the 60's generation, the Mod scene the culture, music etc... and nothing beats scooter rallies and Mod fashion stores... I love my Parka and my duffel coat, my duffel is original 60's too ubbrollsmile the only thing is that a tight hand made suit doesn't tailor well on me. frown

Speaking of Mod's, scooters etc... there is a Vespa Rally on sunday morning near Livorno here in Italy for Vintage Vespa's only organised by the Vespa clubs of Livorno, Italy, World Vespa Club and the Piaggio Vespa Foundation/Museum ... which I might go to... but its 8.30am rolleyes

The Vespa Museum in fact is located just 45mins ride from my house and is the second largest collection of Vespa's in the world, the largest being of Georgio Notari, I visited 3 times last year and and over due yet another visit which is currently being occupied by having to go to work.

Would be nice to see how many other people here are in to Mod culture and Scooters.

FireTomStargazer
6,650 posts

Posted:
me ubblol wink

the best smiles are the ones you lead to wink


Winged AvengerSILVER Member
The official Emma Peel wannabe
226 posts
Location: Colchester, England (UK)


Posted:
I would like a definition of obsessed please!!!

Anyways, although for the majority of people in the world its probably not a very interesting topic I have been thinking a bit about this (I will warn you my MA is in Museum Studies!!). The last few sixties fashion exhibitions I have been to have really played up to the Austin Powers idea of the sixties. With lots of flashing lights, loud music and stuff - I guess fair enough cos they were all fashion exhibitions but actually the sixties are REALLY interesting and awful lot more than that. And museums- as institutions of knowledge - should probably offer a more balanced view of what the period was like. I don't want exhibitions to be dry and without humour - especially popular culture based exhibitons - cos the sixties were definately full of humour - but there were some MAJOR things going on at that time which are not discussed as they don't fit in with the happy-go-lucky nostalgia.

I have loadsof books about the sixties in the UK and they pretty much all focus on London or Liverpool. There was so much going on in this country outside of those areas which people don't discuss or aren't thought interesting. But they are! Honest! I'd love to discuss Cornish young peoples closer affinity to Calfiornia than to Carnaby Street on a social level or how the very deddicated followers of fashion on the King's Road were ridiculed and lead to beatings of young men in other more conservative areas of the country.

I'd love people to know about student riots, about Vietnam, about the rise f the folk scene here, about the mods and rockers, about the beginnings of re-classification and blurring of class boundries, of regional accents on TV, of new practices in art and design and literature, about the "red fear", about the rise of popular satire, about travel and about the baby-boomers.


I have to say I do love the sixties. I would love to curate an exhibtion about the politics of the time, the student riots in Paris, the US civil rights movement, the anti-vietnam movement.

The drug-culture thing is interesting but hard to curate. Although it fueled music and the arts it has led to a lot of terrible things too. Its definately worth talking about though. Did you know, for instance, that the BBC held a "happening" in Chelsea and bought everyone acid so they could film what happened just before it was made illegal? I'd also recommend reading the Eletric Kool-Aid Acid Test for people interested in the LSD culture in the US.

But like PK says, the sixties are unique for the music and culture and everything. I too have a some of original and modern copies of sixties clothes, lots of films, TV progrmmes, books, CDs and records and try and absorb as much of the period as I can. It totally sucks you in but you don't mind! Its so much fun escaping into anything - isn't it? I would love to see the NAtional Trust purchase a few building on the King's Road (that would be great to step into Granny takes a Trip or the grimey flat that the Rolling Stones lived in) and just bring it alive. I think that sixties museum would have a place there LazyAngel! They do own John Lennon's childhood home in Liverpool - which I would love to work in!

Anyways - this is a very incoherent out-pouring of passion for this period which has been fostered within me since I was tiny but came to the fore when I was about 14 and has grown since then. Now I stalk charity shops and car boots for anything which catches my eye as typical sixties design. I just need somewhere to put it all - then you can come and visit Karen's Sixties Museum!

Ummmm... I think I may have just written that definition of obsessed - haven't I?
redface

"Always keep your bowler on in times of stress and watch out for diabolical masterminds" - Emma Peel


alien_oddityCarpal \'Tunnel
7,193 posts
Location: in the trees


Posted:
i'd love to visit a 60's museum if they had free samples of LSA wink

StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Great idea biggrin

And, a great opportunity for indulgence wink

The 60’s were such a time of change. The Mods were certainly part of the scene, bit I suppose I relate more to the Hippies and alternative culture. Fastback Nortons and T120 Triumphs, rather than Scooters. Though PK, scooters are alive and well in Australia, and I suspect there has also a resurgence in Mod culture in recent years.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolf (The Bonfire of the Vanities) is an interesting read. It tells of Ken Kesey (One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest) and the Merry Pranksters touring the USA with a garbage bin full of Kool Aide (LSD). Supposedly, it gave the Beatles the idea for the Magical Mystery Tour. From memory, Hunter S Thompson (the only man to meet the President of the USA and ride with the Hell’s Angles) also feature in the book.

I thought all this stuff died out in the 60’s, but I got a real surprise when I went to ConFest in the mid 1990s, and found you could get an “Electric Breakfast”. As far as museums go, ConFest is kind of like a living museum with roots back to the 60’s. It came out of the Aquarius Festival in 1971, and has somehow survived to the present day. Its now run by Down to Earth co-operative (DTE), and is the spiritual home of fire twirling in Oz. It also crosses to the more modern festivals.

“In 1995, the emerging trance dance movement first organised overnight outdoor rave or parties or 'doofs' at ConFest following a series of amplified staged music events in the previous years. During 1995-99 there was a period of conflict about appropriate music technologies at ConFest, and amplified music was perceived by many to interrupt other activities at ConFest. ConFest music is now acoustic and campout doofs run independent of ConFests. Typically, there is an open-stage concert at ConFest and large drum-circles play every night with Fire twirling a big feature of ConFest” (from ConFest at Wiki).

Amazingly enough, psytrance was back at this years Easter ConFest. Woot! For more info on ConFest you can’t go past Benders amazing site, ConfestHippy

Cheers smile

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


LazyAngelGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK


Posted:
PK: vespas rock!! biggrin To be honest, I would consider them to come under the umbrella term of 'fashion' in a museum, as they're as much for posing with as riding wink

spanner: Yeah, that's one thing I like about the sixties, the whole attitude that it is possible to change the world, as opposed to the more apathetic attitude people have today

Stone: that's an interesting point about how we still feel the influence of the sixties today: I guess in part, that's my point in starting this thread: often when people think of a museum, they think of it containing items 100+ years old: but its been nearly 50 years, so is it time to start recording what we know about the sixities and presenting it in a museum, while we still remember it? especially given its formative influence on our behaviour today

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi


astar2member
37 posts

Posted:
I would like to see odd and rare consumer products and failed pieces of invention/technology that never made it past the 60's, both ones that had merrit, and those that were absurd. Aswell as politics and history and vintage media.



One thing that always fascinated me about the 50's and 60's was the sentiment that they were edgeing onto a wonderland future of technology and utopia. I guess we do have a world of diffrence in todays technology vs that of the 60's, and societys around the world have made a lot of progress, surely many have made a lot of recession but that's the way of the world I guess.



Id like to see a 60's museum with an entire section dedicated to the "future" as people hoped and predicted it would be in the 60's. I think if someone came out of a coma they have been in since 1963 they would be dissapointed with our lack of glass domed citys and hover cars.



ps-They should make plastic replicas of vespas so pretentious people can just park them infront of their flat for a fashion statement. heh.



Vespas kick ass, and I think it would be a mistake to put them beside a bunch of fashion accesories in a museum.
EDITED_BY: astar2 (1177072721)

pkBRONZE Member
Lambretta Fanatic
4,997 posts
Location: United Kingdom


Posted:
ahMO!! kick ass they do!!

Non-Https Image Link


I'm currently looking for one of these a v30 fero basso from 1950 but my work mate told me today that he's spotted a 70's 50 Special in a field near his house which looks like the owner has left it to die in his garden, so he's gonna ask if he can take it for me ubbrollsmile yay for free vespa (fingers crossed).

I think that fashion and a MOD scooter are ok for a 60's museum but if your like me then scooters need to be in their own museums, the Piaggio Vespa museum/factory is awsome... a recommended place to visit if your ever in Versilia/Tuscany (Italy).

Piaggio Foundation

LazyAngelGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK


Posted:
astar: I like the 'future' idea!

PK: yeah that's the problem: if you've got a museum trying to take in all different aspects of the 60s, it's going to be really hard to represent everything in-depth, you'd be looking more at trying to provide a general overview, with examples.

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi


Winged AvengerSILVER Member
The official Emma Peel wannabe
226 posts
Location: Colchester, England (UK)


Posted:
Astar2 - I know the V&A had a show a few years ago of architectural sumbissions for future cities - including underwater housing and the like. But i think futurism was a whole movement from space-age fashions, to the beginnings of sci-fi on TV, to design of objects and the new matertials coming in. I think the the moon-race and the cold war and the need to reassess how we live and the impact our political and social choices have on the world was significant - as well as a growing need to escape!

"Always keep your bowler on in times of stress and watch out for diabolical masterminds" - Emma Peel


pkBRONZE Member
Lambretta Fanatic
4,997 posts
Location: United Kingdom


Posted:
110721062007092

I just bought this... 60's just!! 68 to be precise.

ubbrollsmile oh the joy!!

FireTomStargazer
6,650 posts

Posted:
You know what I think needs to be on display there?



It's that spirit. That spirit of our mums and dads, who were teens and twens at this time.



Who truly believed that violence and murder has got to end. That war was a disease of mankind and that politics could never prevail over compassion and should never compromise mankind.



I really do feel that sadness inside of me, the disappointment.... why is that?



I got born in June 1968. I always thought that it was the summer of love, but in fact it wasn't. That was one year later.



1968 was the "international year of human rights". It was end of January that the protests of students against (the) war spread all over the world, which initiated the US government to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.



It was in early April, that the coloured man who declared that he had a dream got shot. His name was Martin Luther King. It was some time later that Rudi Dutschke got shot and the students seized the Sorbonne in May. My mum was protesting on the streets of Munich, part of the student revolt there. The police didn't dare to touch her, because of her pregnancy.



It was in early June - just eleven days before I was born - that J.F. Kennedy got shot in Dallas. A crime that remains as much a mystery as it remains a tragedy until today. My oldest friend got born on exactly this day.



*



It was in late August that Soviet troops seized Prague and the West stood aside, watching the Prague Spring end in the the fall of democracy and hope for the Czechoslovakian people - and far more than that.



It was on the second of October, when the massacre of Tlalteloco ended the mexican student revolt.



On the 20st of October, J.F.K.'s widow, Jackie Kennedy married Aristoteles Onassis...



And it was on the fifth of November that the Rep. Richard Nixon became the 37th president of the United States....



In December the same year, Apollo 8 took off to the moon - by this time, back on earth more than 750.000 thousand people have died in this year from the Hong-Kong flu.



And it was on the first of September that a kid was born, who got named "Muhammad Atta"... 33 years and ten days later, he and his companions flew two planes into the Twin Towers...



In a museum of the sixties, I would like to see a commemoration of the spirit of hope and the dream of freedom, shared by millions and peacefully fought for by hundreds of thousands.



I'm afraid almost all failed.

the best smiles are the ones you lead to wink


pkBRONZE Member
Lambretta Fanatic
4,997 posts
Location: United Kingdom


Posted:
Well with you there Tom.

Nice points and feeling indeed.

EeraBRONZE Member
old hand
1,107 posts
Location: In a test pit, Mackay, Australia


Posted:
Why go a museum when I can just go to my mum's lounge.

Bad carpet. Very bad carpet.

There is a slight possibility that I am not actually right all of the time.


Masked52member
83 posts
Location: Kiwi land sounds great!


Posted:
I love the architecture of the 60's. I mean, yes the colors are terribly ugly and of bad taste but they have a je nais se quois to which I'm attracted to. In fact, the whole Modernist era does, filled with banal box buildings and De Stijl-inspired furniture. The 60's in general is just beautiful, it really captures the entire essence of the time, they had a very distinct style architecturally, fashion-wise, and their entire life in general. There's an aroma of people who know what they're doing, doing it, and still taking time to enjoy life.

Fire eaters are the most conceited people. Especially when they're on fire. "Help me, save me, put me out, me, me, me..."

-Paolo the Fire Eater



Similar Topics

Using the keywords [60 * museum * opinion] we found the following existing topics.

  1. Forums > 60s museums: what's your opinion? [16 replies]
  2. Forums > 60s museums: what's your opinion?

      Show more..

HOP Newsletter

Sign up to get the latest on sales, new releases and more...