Phil Nelson wrote:
Nobody in Salt Lake ever locked their doors

Don't tell anyone, but in our previous old country-ish house outside Redmond
WA, we never locked the doors. Too far off the path for anyone to bother.
Plus, we had neighbors with guns.

When we left on a longer vacation, I would make a show of locking the front
door, to instruct our kids that locking up is a Good Thing, but a child
could have gotten into the house within a minute or two.

Phil Nelson



Agreed. I lived in West Los Angeles, and we never locked our doors when
we were at home until about 1968 or so. We didn't bother locking the
doors when we were off for just a quick trip to the market or something
like that either.

We DID lock up when leaving overnight.

One should recall, from the old days, that if you were sitting in your
house, and someone knocked on the door, it would go like this:

Visitor: knock, knock
Homeowner: "Who's there?"
Visitor: "Joe Blow"
Homeowner: "Oh, come in!"

and the visitor would enter, finding the homeowner still seated or
otherwise doing what they had been doing before the knock. Only if the
knocker was unknown or much anticipated, or a VIP, or someone who would
be dealt with at the door (postman, or salesperson for example) would
the homeowner get up and answer the door in person. Neighbors, friends,
regularly visiting family, etc. let themselves in.

This was the norm for everyone I knew when I was a child. It all changed
in the late 1960s, and if you look at crime statistics from the period,
you will see why.

I've said it before and I will repeat that this is one of the
fundamental changes as we went from the "I Love Lucy" world to the "All
in the Family" world.

Oh, and for the record, I recall very vividly, watching the first man on
the moon at my friend Charlie's house, on the floor in front of a Zenith
console B&W television. His parents still live in the same house, with
some of the same furniture (now recovered).

I also remember watching Nixon being inaugurated, (1969) in class in 3rd
grade. This was the first time we ever had a television in class.

Best Regards,

David