Oh Man! Evening at the Club
Clare Briggs
Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930. Poems by Wilbur Nesbitt.
Features
Hot Posts
A Message From Devcat
We have been experiencing some system resource issues. We believe the problem may be resolved, but if it is not please bear with us.
Recent Comments
on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassWhat we need is a West Jerusalem and an East Jerusalem.
on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassEvery conflict should never be allowed to end much less be forgotten. The Jew/Arab conflict is the m…
on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassHeh, what is this? Passages from A Very Berkeley Thanksgiving?
on The Month in Theaters March 2024Field of Dreams is adapted from the novel Shoeless Joe. In the book, Ray kidnaps JD Salinger and bri…on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassTo be clear... your objection to the "right of return" is that it would lead to too many Palestinian…
on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassOne of the things that I don't understand from Pro-Palestinian Westerners is how they keep on insist…
Comics
-
April 24, 2024
-
April 23, 2024
-
Friend Husband At The Ballpark
April 22, 2024
-
Good Morning! Are You An Amateur?
April 21, 2024
More Comments
on The Shifting Politics of Abortion
on The Shifting Politics of Abortion
on Free Speech, But No Freedom to Harass
It’s nice to get out of the house every once in a while.Report
As I understand it, and correct me if I’m wrong, but housing was pretty cramped back in these times and the idea of every apartment having individual bathrooms, let alone kitchens, was technologically and economically unfeasible. So the club and the dining venues essentially served as communal living rooms and kitchens for the more upper middle class masses. The poor, of course, used street vendors, public venues and the like for a similar purpose. Your domicile in the city was where you slept and kept your stuff more than anything.Report
I think Briggs’ subjects are often upper middle class, and while they would have had domiciles that are smaller than today’s standards, they and their SESmates almost always had their own bathrooms and kitchen, plus a salon/living room in order to socialize (and demonstrate social status)
I’d definitely say this is still the era where mixed gendered socializing is still somewhat scandalous, depending on the exact context. i.e. couples meeting couples at their homes is fine, large number of couples gathering for a formal party is fine, but just ‘hanging out’ with mixed groups of men and women was a no no) (and/or a speakeasy thing)Report
A good point.Report
Real Folks At Home tends towards blue collar, but for the most part I think you’re right.Report
I would add “large” in front of city in your last sentence. And possibly “eastern” or “coastal”. The couple of cities that I know enough of the history — Omaha and Denver — simply never built much of the kind of housing you describe. There were boarding houses for single people that fit the description, usually with breakfast and supper included because the person running the house could provide those cheaply. By the time apartments were built in any numbers, separate bathrooms and at least tiny kitchens were a given. An apartment was a scaled-down house, not a scaled-up boarding place. There were some luxury apartments with no kitchens, but that was a status symbol — “I can afford to eat all my meals out.”Report