Area 51

1955: Cal Poly

News of Note:

• Vice President Nixon visits San Luis Obispo
• Home Economics courses are offered, beginning in 1956.
• 1955 Course Catalogue

1955: America

National Events

• U.S. President: Dwight D. Eisenhower⁵
• Rosa Parks is arrested after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery, AL⁵
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads the first major event of the U.S. civil rights movement, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama¹

Cost of Living

• Minimum Wage: $1/hr⁵
• Average Monthly Rent: $87⁵
• Cost of gas: $0.23/gallon⁵

Entertainment News

• Disneyland opens in Anaheim, CA¹
• Guinness Book of World Records, first edition²

Top Songs on the Radio

• Tutti-Frutti – Little Richard⁴
• Why Do Fools Fall In Love – Teenagers⁴
• The Great Pretender – Platters⁴
• Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two⁴

New on TV

• The Honeymooners¹
• Lassie¹
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents²
• The Mickey Mouse Club²

Consumer News

• First McDonald’s restaurant opens³
• Coca-Cola begins to be sold in cans⁵
• Legos are invented (Denmark)⁵
• Velcro is invented (Switzerland)⁵

Born in 1955

• Whoopi Goldberg⁵
• Steve Jobs⁵
• Bill Gates⁵

¹Source: www.babyboomers.com
²Source: www.terramedia.co.uk
³Source: www.fun4birthdays.com
⁴Source: digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com
⁵Source: www.thepeoplehistory.com

Gallery