North Shore Towers Courier n 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION n June 2015 7 40 NORT H S HORE TO WERS • 40TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE • TRANSITIONS Twenty years after it began, the Vietnam War finally ends after the North Vietnamese forces stormed the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon. Not that many Americans took noticed. Most had long since turned their backs on the Vietnam conflict, and at the start of 1975, the nation was glued to the TV, watching the Watergate trials. On January 1, Nixon Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, Presidential Aide John D. Ehrlichman and Senior Campaign Official John N. Mitchell were found guilty of a cover-up and sentenced to 30 months to 8 years in jail, less than 6 months after President Nixon’s resignation. Before the end of 1975, Nixon’s successor, former Vice President Gerald Ford, will face two assassination attempts. by former Charles Manson cult figure, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme on September 5 and Sara Jane Moore, less than two weeks later, on September 22. By year’s-end on December 8, New York City, suffering a severe fiscal problem, is approved for bailout of 2.3 billion each year through to 1978 (6.9 billion total). Three weeks later, 1975 ends with a bang— literally—when a bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 people and seriously injuring 74 others. The bombing was never solved. Free and Easy By the mid 1970s, the hippie look has completely disappeared, although casual looks continued with everything from loose peasant garments to tailored blazer suits. Layering becomes in vogue with double blouses, multiple sweaters, pants under tunic dresses, jumpers over dresses, hoods under hats and shawls over everything. Add a triangular scarf and you’re set to go. And the jumpsuit explodes onto the scene in a variety of resilient fabrics. Denim moves into fashion respectability as young and old alike don it in a variety of ways. Vintage clothing, once the exclusivity of the Bohemian or eccentric, catches the younger generations fancy, as they descend upon antique shops, swooping up hand-me-down evening bags, Art Deco jewelry, smudgy-pink georgette dresses and wispy undergarments of the 1930s. In the Mood When New Yorker Josh Reynolds combines biofeedback with fashion accessorizing, the Mood Ring is born! Using a thermochromic element that changes colors based upon the temperature of the wearer’s finger, the rings are packaged with a color chart and initially retail for $45 for a “silvery setting” and $250 for gold. Reynolds makes a killing but within a couple of years, the color-changing accouterments are passé. It takes nearly two decades for Reynolds’s next major success: The Thighmaster! She Loves Me Like a Rock Listening to friends complain about their pets in a bar one night gives copywriter and ad exec Gary Dahl the idea for the perfect pet: a rock, which doesn’t need feeding, walking, bathing or grooming; nor will it die, become sick, or be disobedient. Dahl drafts a pet rock instruction manual; purchases a few million smooth, round Mexican Rosarita Beach stones for penny apiece; and packages each rock in a small box— complete with air holes and a bed of straw. Selling his “pets” for $3.95 a pop, Dahl becomes an instant millionaire. DID YOU KNOW? The land on which North Shore Towers is constructed on the highest point of land in Queens, a hill located 258 feet above sea level and part of the terminal moraine (maximum advance) of the last glacial period. 1975 HOME AND AWAY 1975 FASHION & FADS ► United Nations adopts resolution that equates Zionism with racism ► The British Conservative Party chooses its first women leader, Margaret Thatcher ► Ex teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa disappears ► Patti Hearst becomes “Most Wanted” and is arrested for armed robbery ► Both the Matsushita/JVC VHS and Sony Betamax home video recording systems first appear in America ► Oil goes over $13.00 per barrel ► Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline begins ► Motorolla obtains patent for the first portable mobile phone ► U.S. Apollo and Soviet Soyuz 9 spacecraft link up in space, and Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts shake hands ► Computer hobbyists Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs begin working on computer designs and together they develop the Apple 1 prototype ► BIC launches first disposable Razor 1975 BY THE NUMBERS World Population: 4.066 billion Life Expectancy: 61.63 years U.S. Population: 215,973,199 Average annual income: $4, 818 Minimum Wage: $2.10 Unemployment: 5.6% Cost of first-class stamp: $.10 Quart of milk: $.46 Loaf of bread: $.33 Gallon of gas: $.57 1975 IN OTHER NEWS
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