Paris, FRANCE. June, 1999. Vicki and I have American friends who were stationed in France with the U.S. military in the late 1950s. These American friends speak of the good old days in Paris. While admitting they lived in cold apartments with squat toilets downstairs, for them Paris was cheaper, easier, and more exciting back then.
Is it true? Was Paris--and France and Europe in general--better in the old days? Or do our friends suffer from selective memory?
I came across a 1960 edition of Fodor's France that helps answer these questions. This 1960 Fodor's France was hard cover, edited by Eugene Fodor himself, and advertised as one of the "Guides That Pay For Themselves." It cost $4.95, or about $28 in today's dollars.
So what was travel to France like?
France in 1959 had largely recovered from the war, but the great boom years of the 1960s lay ahead. On the other side of the water the U.S. was enjoying fabulous prosperity. Americans were coming to Europe in larger numbers, many for the first time.
One still traveled to Europe by ship, but airplanes were clearly on the way in. If you took one of the new jets, round-trip airfare from New York to Paris cost $530, or a whopping $3,000 in today's dollars. That was for the cheapest ticket in economy class; tourist class and first class cost more. The guide doesn't say how to get to New York from, say, Philadelphia or Chicago, but I suppose you took the train.
To get a passport, if you lived in New York, Chicago, Boston, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco, or Washington, D.C., you could apply in person at the U.S. Passport Agency. Otherwise, you had to go to the local courthouse. You needed to bring a birth certificate, proof of citizenship, and a witness who had known you for more than two years. I can't imagine what "proof of citizenship" might have been. Someone suggested a voter registration card. But, at least today, all you need to get a voter registration card is swear to citizenship, not prove it. And what about that witness who had known you for more than two years? I wonder: would Mom or Dad do?
Fodor's suggests that you travel light, but that meant, if possible, only "two medium suitcases." For men "a dark business suit is adequate for most functions..." but you also need a "lightweight suit, a sport coat, and two or three pairs of slacks..." You should try the "new, wash and wear fabrics," but "you may prefer to pack, say, two wash-and-wear shirts and six cotton shirts." The guide says that "nylons are available generally in France." Also, "English is understood and spoken on every transatlantic airline, regardless of nationality."
Credit cards were unheard of in 1959, but one could "arrange with one of the travel credit organizations for a European charge account that enables you to sign for hotel and restaurant bills, car rentals, purchases, and so forth, and pay the resulting total at one time on a monthly bill... Offering this service are the American Express, with branches in all major cities, The Diners Club, 10 Columbus Circle, New York, Hilton's Carte Blanche, and many others."
Upon arrival in Paris, Fodor's says, you'd find that an inexpensive room for two with a private bath cost about $5, equivalent to an inflation-adjusted $30. Today a cheap Paris hotel room costs twice that. And back then you got more service. Fodor's says to leave your shoes in the hallway, outside the door of your hotel room, and by morning they'd be shined.
To my surprise, eating out cost about the same in 1959, when the guide was written, as in 1999. A three-course meal including tax and tip in a moderate restaurant, in today's francs, would have cost 100 francs (about $18), both then and now, including tax and tip but not wine. Fodor's gives tips on how to order wine, suggesting you stick to three Bordeaux vintages: 1945, 1947, or 1949. These days French restaurants serve their Bordeaux wines much younger.
In 1959 France dropped two zeros from its currency. I'm told the French today still talk in old francs at times, but I've never heard it. France back then had strict currency controls, including limitations on how many francs could be taken out of France. But the black market had already died out, saving one the trouble of changing money on street corners.
The post office offered "a special fast letter service within Paris by pneumatic tube, delivery guaranteed within three hours of mailing. Ask for a pneu form, only a few francs, or use one sheet of ordinary airmail stationery and an airmail envelope." Apparently--I haven't found anyone who can confirm this--there was an underground system of pneumatic tubes connecting Paris post office branches. You'd enter the nearest post branch, fill out the pneu form, and hand over your letter. They'd shoot the letter through the pneu. At the other end a messenger would run the letter to its destination. Certainly the pneu was faster and cheaper than the ubiquitous messenger on horseback in the Balzac novels of 100 years before. But the pneu went out when the telephone came in.
Finally, France had 110 volt current. These days France and most of Europe uses the far-more-dangerous 220 volt current.
Conclusion.
Was France better then or now? Hotels were cheaper, but high airfares meant higher total costs, especially on a short trip. Valets shined shoes for free, but walking shoes these days don't require shining. And today we have credit cards, passports by mail, FedEx, and email, all recent innovations. Not to mention heat and modern bathrooms.
I must say I like the idea of drinking older red wines. Then again, most Americans didn't drink wine at all back then.
Maybe now is the best time to visit France, and Europe, after all.