Diners, Bowling Alleys, and Trailer Parks

by Andrew Hurley

"The years immediately following World War II witnessed a dramatic transformation of America's working class suburbs, driven by unprecedented postwar prosperity and a burgeoning consumer culture. Chrome and neon were the currency in this newly vital consumer culture, and no postwar consumer institutions figured larger in this currency than diners, bowling alleys, and trailer parks. In tracing the rise of these three distinctively American institutions, Andrew Hurley examines the struggle of Americans with modest means to attain the good life after two long decades of depression and war.". "Shiny stainless-steel diners, clean, mechanized bowling alleys, and box-like trailer coaches arranged in neat rows were products of the new culture of abundance that grew in the late 1940s and '50s. These three quintessentially American institutions, each possessing a long and colorful pre-war history, underwent profound transformations in the postwar years as working-class families sought to assert