What happened during the "Roaring Twenties?"

The the so-called Roaring Twenties, from roughly 1920 to late 1929, describes a time of great innovation, societal upheaval, and economic growth in the United States, particularly in big cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, et cetera. This period was characterized by a stock market bubble, fueled by excessive lending and domestic consumption, as well as lax oversight of Wall Street, that made many Americans feel much richer (on paper, at least) than ever before.

Whereas before the 1920s, investing was only for the very rich, the 1920s saw middle and even working class Americans put their savings into the stock market, which seemed as though it could only go up. From an economic standpoint, growth seemed inevitable and after the carnage of the First World War, everyone wanted to believe that the hard times were over.

This upbeat sentiment supported a huge rise in consumer spending, aimed largely at buying automobiles, new home appliances like vacuum cleaners and toasters, as well as clothes bought through mail order catalogues. Department stores became a center of city life, and sold big ticket items to many customers on installment plans, because they could not afford to buy these items outright.

Another driver of economic growth as well as night life culture was the arrival of young women in the workforce. This phenomenon had started during World War One, when women were needed to pick up the slack in the labor force created by the men who had gone off to fight. Yet this trend continued after the war, because social morays had changed and it was now deemed suitable for young single women to work as operators and secretaries, among other jobs. These jobs gave women a chance to be independent for the first time, not relying on parents or husbands for financial support.

Combined with the growing availability of electricity in cities, which allowed for the increasing use of street lamps, this influx of young female workers from small towns into cities set the stage for vibrant entertainment after dark, whereas just ten years earlier, night time had acted as nature's forced curfew.

Also, due to Prohibition, if young men and women wanted to get alcohol after a long day's work, they now had to go to Speak Easies, where Jazz musicians played what was then considered sexy, suggestive music, and young couples could dance, drink and do even more outside of the view of disapproving parents. Cars also played a role in fueling the Roaring Twenties. Their speed and sense of daring (they really were dangerous then) gave young people a thrill, and just as importantly, gave them a place (the darkened backseat) to engage in the kinds of physical intimacy that they could not otherwise engage in at boarding houses, in public, or under their parents' roofs.

Another invention, the radio, piped daring new music and entertainment into homes far away from city centers, allowing for the creation of "youth culture," which older generations frowned upon but could not control. Finally, a sense of fatalism and urgency for living "in the now" prevailed in young people after World War One, which had unleashed a dizzying level of destruction and bloodshed that nobody had before imagined possible. A whole generation of young men had been wiped off the face of the earth, and those who remained had a sense that the world might not last long. A growing sentiment prevailed upon young people to live in the here and now, because there might not be a tomorrow.