Text by Patrick Bell.
The weather is warming in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere so it is time to plan for a picnic. In a world where there were few convenience foods, preparing meals for and on the road was necessary even if you weren’t camping. Let’s take a look and see how it was done.
The folks in the opening picture were prepared, they brought their own picnic table and chairs. This was likely a road trip with provisions for a meal brought along as I don’t see any other gear in this ’60 Chevrolet Parkwood wagon that was equipped with backup lights and the standard hub caps. They have just barely pulled off the road with a small settlement in the distance.
‘Camping on Prince Edward Island in 1956’ is the search result on this one. They had a color coordinated rig with a ’55 Chevrolet Two-Ten 4 door wagon from Massachusetts, a matching boat on top, and a camp trailer with matching trim. It looks like there is a smaller table under the umbrella, likely for the young people, one of whom may be the photographer. I can barely see the food on the table but it sure looks good.
Here we have what appears like three couples at a picnic area alongside a body of water. In the background is a clean ’55 Cadillac Series 60 Special with another car in the lower right corner but there is not enough showing to ID it. It looks like the meal was over and they were enjoying each other’s company.
This lady was busy preparing the meal in a wooded picnic area that was more modern than most as I see a phone booth over to the left. She was working out of a clean and shiny ’57 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Sedan, with perhaps another ’57 Chevrolet sedan across the road.
Taking a break in the shade at a busy campground after a hard day of fishing. In the foreground is a ’57 Dodge, and in the background a ’60 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan.
A family at a roadside picnic area somewhere in Utah with a ’59 Ford Country Sedan. They had a small cook stove on the ground and the quarter panel ledge makes a good spot for small items. Dad was likely the photographer.
This one was probably two couples having a meal at a nice park with a concrete table and a pool close by. They were traveling in a ’59 Ford Country Squire from Illinois with a load on the roof rack.
The beans were warming on the grille while this man was taking a rest at this impromptu picnic spot. The lady was continuing her preparations out of the trunk of a ’61 Chevrolet Impala convertible with blackwalls and standard hub caps. There were some more people off in the distance on the left.
There is a full load of gear and people for this new looking ’60 Chevrolet Parkwood wagon with full wheel covers from California. It is nearly a twin to the one in photo #1. The windows are down and they were taking a meal break in the shade. Wheat Thins and Ritz Crackers were on the table; at least some things don’t change.
It looks like they were packing so they could hit the road in their ’63 Rambler Classic 660 wagon with a six cylinder and a small pop up tent trailer tagging along. Dad is the photographer, Mom is loading the car, older son may be securing the cooler, and younger son is ready to go.
When you can’t find a picnic table, improvise. This lady looks to be dressed for traveling, not camping. Their ’64 Dodge Polara 4 door hardtop is from California, and apparently was purchased at Pioneer Dodge in San Jose, located downtown in the sixties and is now a parking lot. Somebody likes bananas.
Dessert in the desert. It must have been a day of celebration. Some liquid refreshment in the thermos to wash down the cake, and a radio for some tunes, what more do you need? Their picnic table was a TV tray, with the ’64 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe assisting. Off to the right may be a sixties International pickup or Travelall.
Thanks for picnicking with us today and to all good day!
I had a 55 wagon just like the green one. Same color. It had lots of room inside to sleep on our camping trips.
These are wonderful. And they show just how much has changed, from the kind of food most folks eat when on the road to the tradition of just pulling over on the side of the road to have a picnic. I love shot #1, right there on the edge of what I think may well be hwy 101 in CA, as the trees look like redwoods.
Going back a bit further in time, it was a natural thing to just pull off the side of the road on undeveloped/farmed land to camp overnight too. Although with the boom in vanlife, that’s come back somewhat, but it looks a bit less obvious than setting up a tent.
I have one of those shiny aluminum coolers.
“I have one of those shiny aluminum coolers.”
My Dad bought one in 1959, the original purchase had nothing to do with picnics though. My Mother, sister and I flew from the east coast in a propeller plane to our new home in Southern California, but my Dad drove alone in his ’56 Plymouth Plaza. He could have flown as well, selling the ’56 Plymouth before he left, but his new employer, Hoffman Electronics in El Monte wanted him to bring some chemical with him before he left the east coast. I regret not asking him before he passed what the chemical was (and why wasn’t it readily available in Southern California? All I can think of was maybe there was a shortage or something. Anyhow, it was packed in dry ice, I guess it was reactive at room temperature, and you can guess the rest, he ran out of dry ice before he got there. He stopped at a military base, I think in Needles, as he’d previously been in the US Army, when they found out what he was carrying they quickly somehow found some dry ice for him, and he drove the rest of the way. Didn’t even keep the Plymouth long, he’d bought it before he met my Mother, who despite learning to drive on a semi-automatic Chrysler wasn’t comfortable with its manual transmission. He bought a ’61 Rambler Classic wagon in Compton (which we all drove in that year upon him getting another job, back east). He didn’t keep that car long…in 1963 he traded it in on another Rambler Classic wagon. Dad didn’t buy a second car until the mid 60’s, and most of the time that one was a manual.
Dad was a semiconductor process engineer, Hoffman was an early producer of solar cells, some of which went up in the Explorer VI satellite in 1959 which took first picture of Earth from outer space (guess they didn’t want nuclear power up there, especially with decaying orbits…Explorer VI didn’t stay up there too long.
He had the cooler for many years, into the 70’s, but it was pretty dented I guess due to sliding boxes/luggage in the back ot the wagon hitting the side. We used it when camping later on. Most of our picnics were not too leisurely, we usually were on the way somewhere…and in the early days we pretty much never ate out (my Mom lived right next door to a restaurant growing up, but didn’t eat there until well after adulthood) we’d stop somewhere (seems like picnic tables might have been more common when I was growing up but maybe that’s my colored recollection). The cooler was around until sometime in the 70’s when it was probably sold at a garage sale before some move (we moved around a lot due my Dad’s job, sometimes a new one, but also being transferred to a different fab by his employer (we had to live near whichever fab he supported). We never lived closer than about a 4 hour drive from where my Grandparents lived. My parents eventually settled in central Texas (where I also am living) where my Dad retired.
Nice to see people looking happy without “tattoos, piercings’ covering every inch of skin.
All that sunshine and a red convertible elevate the mood as well.
These are great photos. And this article hands down wins the award for the greatest number of photos in a single post displaying mayonnaise and/or miracle whip. My compliments.
Speaking of which, these pictures remind me that it really wasn’t all that long ago when all manner of products came in glass jars, and it was entirely commonplace to take those glass jars pretty much everywhere. Nearly every one of those photos feature a jar of pickles, relish, mustard, mayonnaise, etc. I remember when glass jars began to vanish as packaging (the late 1970s/early 1980s) and the given reason often had to do with safety. Plastic was so much less breakable (ok, true that) and obviously the American Condiment Council was looking out after our best interests by preventing millions of pickle-jar related injuries from showing up in emergency rooms around the nation. Right?
Even though all of the folks in these photos seem to be doing just fine, I guess a floating garbage island in the Pacific 3 times the size of France is but a small price to pay to make sure that some of them didn’t get cut if they dropped the picnic basket.
Things were usually decanted from glass to tupperware for camping trips to save weight in the overloaded VW Notchback. Even the rear footwells were packed with stuff and with the heavy load the VW got hot enough that the heater melted the tupperware.
100% also food tastes better out of glass or a can than out of plastic. Over here in the UK pop (soda) bottles were returnable and had a deposit usually 10 pence which was about 20% of the purchase price for a two pint bottle. In my house jars were kept to use for storing home made jam, pickle and chutney. We had a metal dustbin (trash can) that rarely got more than half filled in a week by a family of five. A different world.
Nicely done, but I have one correction. You identify the car in the foreground of the 5th photo as a 1957 Dodge. It actually is a 1958 Dodge. The chrome surrounds on the taillights were plain on the 1957s while the 1958s had the tooth surrounds as shown in this photo.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the tip, Kid! I should have noticed that along with the different nameplate on the deck lid.
Beautiful choice of pics! There are many very attractive shots here. Lots of warmth and nostalgia. Thank you!
Nowadays the police would be right there complaining if you set up picnic at the side of the road. On a trip home with an older car having trouble, if I’d pull well off to the road side to pop the hood, a police car would soon show up and of course, license, registration, insurance, the usual BS. I learned to find a parking lot or residential side street is a way better place to park.
I think almost every family had one of those round “Scotch Coolers” back then, ours did.
Great. Except pop-up ads make it almost impossible to read (at least iPhone). Disappointing.
Great shots, we used to have lunch like this on trips, we have kidded our parents ever since about our traditional family lunch: eating sandwiches off the back of the pop up camper in a cemetery. 🙂
My grandparents took me on so many road trips and picnics on the road side back then there were picnic tables everywhere on the side of the road. I do this with my grandkids and we throw a blanket out beside the river or creek and enjoy lunch.
That first picture of the car very close to the road. Maybe 1 1/2 ft. To close. Good thing a drunk driver wasn’t going by..
We had a 1968.impala wagon..396motored..we lived in that station wagon and a 68 Oldsmobile wagon to in 73..we lived in both of them..rj
Oh, the memories these pictures make. My family did not get to travel much, but we had one grand trip in the summer of 1962. Dad had just bought a new heavy duty, step side Chevy pickup and he built a plywood camper shell for it. Seven of us piled into it and went to Yellowstone. The back was full of kids, coolers and clothes in cardboard boxes. At lunch stops a big ham would be brought out and sliced for sandwiches. The main beverage was instant ice tea mixed in Dixie Cups. It was a wonderful trip.
My family still does this sometimes, though in decidedly different cars, usually a 2001 BMW 740i. If we are headed across PA to visit family down near Philadelphia, we usually take I-80 , which literally has no where to get lunch east of State College unless you venture 10 miles off the highway. Usually suspects are ham sandwich makings and some fruit stored in Tupperware. Hey, we once ate peach pie, served on the hood of the old 7 series at a wind farm access road in Canada.
Those pictures are the real America. The people who replied about the trash in the ocean from picnics- Good God can you NOT see the good in life and not the negative in everything.
When one drives across British Columbia one would notice that there are still quite a few roadside rest stops that sport picnic tables. We don’t much like fast food, so we always bring our own eats. This is a lot healthier and cheaper, too.
My family didn’t have many roadside picnics. We only had one family trip and we spent most of it in the car. Dad would always have to get somewhere as quickly as possible. That ruled out sightseeing and roadside picnics.
What a fun trip down memory lane! In our Rambler wagon my elders packed cold fried chicken, cold cut sammies on white bread, dried and fresh fruit, crackers (saltines, ritz, grahams), and a big thermos jug of cherry koolaid for road trips and picnics. The old Coleman cooler kept ice for a 3-day road/camp trip. Good times!
Love the pics but the one where they set jup on the side of the road is extremely dangerous. I’m assuming after 50 or 60 years we can assume they were ok but I would advise against setting up a.picnic on the shoulder of the road.
I think you missed what the person was saying about trash in.the ocean. They weren’t referring to the trash comming from picnics back then. If you notice everyone has Glass jars. In years after 1970’s everything went PLASTIC. That’s what the comment was referring too
Correct Randy! All the person was saying is that the world would have been better off if it was more like these times, and plastic had not replaced glass because supposedly plastic is safer. Anyway, thanks for all these photos and your incredible knowledge of cars Patrick! I really hope when I pass, I get to go back to the late 50’s and stay there forever!
The comments on trash island are virtue signals and lectures. Plastic can be recycled as well as glass and is safer. Please save your lectures for a non captive audience. Love the pics and car ID’s!!!!!
Its always interesting to compare photos such as these with the cars of the same vintage seen at car shows or in museums, or their more modern equivalents. I can’t imagine someone today with a 61 Impala convertible sporting base wheel covers and no whitewalls, or someone today with a CRV or RAV4 pulling a camper trailer with substantial boat on the roof as shown with the green base model 55 Chevy wagon.
Anybody else notice the tablecloths? Nearly every picture that had a picnic table had a tablecloth. I remember my mother was the same way. Families set up as if they were eating in their own homes. I believe they were trying to convey that they were a little classy when in reality they were saving money and penny pinching. BTW the young mom standing next to the station wagon has the look of a woman that wishes she was just about anywhere else.
I’ve seen babies diapers being changed on public picnic tables. Tablecloths on a public table add a layer of cleanliness. Nothing else!!!
Thanks for the vintage picnic photos. I am adding one from my collection. They really are sweet times in America. Note: Another Tupperware toter!
I’m 68 and remember doing exactly this with my family as a child. All good memories. I sure do miss those times.
Great reminder Dad drove on annual vacations to visit family. Mama took fried chicken, biscuits potato salad, fruit homemade pound cake, thermos of Kool Aid packed in big cardboard box with, a rag shared to wipe hands and tablecloth to cover up debris on wood picnic tables, or on hood of our Plymouth if pulled off on shoulder of roadside. Not as much traffic then. Real family lifestyle of 50s, 60s. Happy Days… Thanks for sharing a wonderful trip down memory lane…
When I was much younger,my father had a brother who lived in Spring valley, NY. Sometimes when we went to visit him in my dads `53 Roadmaster coupe we would stop at a scenic view area over the Hudson river. This is where the ‘mothball’ or ‘ghost fleet’ was anchored. Many WW ll ships were docked there. Submarines, destroyers, Liberty ships, landing craft, and maybe an older battleship or two, We would find a table and eat some sandwiches and cookies we took from home, and my dad always had a thermos full of coffee. An incedible sight to see all those gray ships just awaiting their fate. In 1971 or 1972 they were all gone.
My dad had a 66 Belair station wagon with the 375 horse 396 in it pulled a 21 foot frolic trailer. Always said that was the best trailer pulling car he ever had! Wish I had that car now!
No pictures, but my childhood roadside snacks were egg jaffles. Dad would light a small fire and make them. Still have the jaffle irons.
For those outside Australia, this explains the term: https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/jaffle-craze/
In Europe, Dad would wire a can of baked beans to the exhaust manifold to heat up a can of something.
Nice ;
I still remember traveling all over New England in pop’s new ’59 IHC Travelal .
I too *instantly* thought ‘! DANGER !’ in that very first picture .
-Nate