If you had a time machine (and I don't mean a watch), what era...

[Joe Fields]

in American history would be most interested in visiting, and why?

Another question: If you had to choose a different time period to live in permanently, not just for a visit, what era would it be, and why?

[ceile]

1. American history?

huh. not a lot to choose from there, but here goes....
To visit I'd say post Civil War NYC and to live permanently I'd have to pick 1930s and 40s Hollywood. Back when men were men and women were sirens!

[Joe Fields]

3. On edit to my post, I would love to have been able to have

driven across country along route 66, back in the late '20's or early '30's. What an adventure that would have been.

If I had to live in a particular ere, I would like to have been a Rocky Mountain fur trapper, in the 1820's.

[JVS]

2. The French and Indian war in SW PA

[azmouse]

4. I'd like to visit the 1950's.

It's always portrayed as such an idyllic era and I'd like to see what it was REALLY like. Somehow I don't think the reality would live up to the image.

There is no other time I would want to live in but the present.

[meegbear]

5. 1967 in San Francisco ...

let me freak flag fly!

[Joe Fields]

7. '67 would have been great there, but I think I would have

preferred '66, before the great influx of people from around the country.

[meegbear]

10. True ...

just to be there ....

I was in San Fran last June and there was a festival at the Haight. It was pretty wild, but there was an anti-climatic feeling for me when we reached Haight-Ashbury itself and the first thing I see is a GAP store. Holy buzzkill.

[Joe Fields]

11. Sad, but true. The first time I visited S.F. was in 1970.

Artists and craftspeople of all types on the streets. Mimes, musicians, little kids playing the bongos, street characters, just people being allowed to be free and do their own thing. It was magical. I'm sure, though, that even in '70, the scene had gone past the high water mark of the mid-late '60's. Still it was an unforgettable experience.

[LSK]

6. i wouldnt go too far back for too long because medicine really sucked

Probably the 80s. I'd buy a lot of Microsoft stock and bet on Superbowls. :P

Although the 1920s and late 1800s interest me.

[mwooldri]

8. Pre colonialism?

I'd like to find out how the real Americans lived, other than visiting Cherokee and going through the Unto These Hills tour. Real North American life (and probably for that matter Central and South American life) should be more in evidence here but my ancestors have all but killed it off.

Mark.

[jobycom]

9. Pre Civil War South-- and yeah, I'd be an abolitionist.

Growing up in the South (and having never lived anywhere else), I am intrigued by that era. Aside from slavery, the romance of the culture fascinates me, from the ante-bellum homes to the slightly more rustic and active lifestyle (without being completely primitive). I'd want to work on a riverboat and see the whole Mississippi.

I'd want to go back with a Kevlar vest, though, cause I'd probably get shot at a lot.

I guess after that, New York City during the entrepenurial era would be cool, too. I'd love to watch the buildings going up, the subway going in, the fire departments becoming mechanized, the street lights going in. I'd love to be an architect in that era.

[terrya]

12. One can go forward in time, right?

I would choose to go 300 years in the future.

[Joe Fields]

13. What do you think you might find?

[terrya]

14. I'd like to think I'd find a world pretty similar to "Star Trek"

I'd like to be optimistic here. I'd like to think that perhaps we'd solve the problems of war, hunger, the damage to the environment and that we'd be exploring space.

That's what I'd LIKE to see.

[bikebloke]

15. Not amerikan history, but...

Paris in the 1890's and the art scene.

[cracksquirrel]

16. Hmmm...

I think I'd go back a few hundred years here in California... I've always been really curious to see how gorgeous the central valley and large chunks of the bay area were before they were leveled, de-treed, filled with non-native pervasive weeds, and covered in McMansions/industrial wasteland.

[Joe Fields]

17. I've often wondered about that, myself.

Not just California, but the entire country, before every tree was cut down, east of the Mississippi, or 2/3 of the land was dug up and paved over, or my beautiful Redwoods were clearcut.

[cracksquirrel]

18. Had to make way for progress!

What we're progressing towards... I'm not too sure, and I'm not sure I like it. I could totally see myself turning into a tree-dwelling luddite one day when I'm older and crazier. That would also necessitate a cessation of posting on the internet, but hey, in a few decades the internet will be underwater like the rest of the coast!

[Deep13]

19. A time of peace and prosperity when people were optimistic and hopeful.

You know, the 1990s.