In June 1954, LIFE magazine published an article titled “The Luckiest Generation” that, revisited 60 years later, feels like an almost perfect snapshot of a certain segment of American society at a particular moment in the nation's history...
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In aura of fun and well-being, students dance in gym of Carlsbad's high school at weekly 'Sock Hop' to music of a 12-piece student band. |
Cars of Carlsbad High students fill own parking lot. |
Electrician, Jack Harris, 16, still in school, picks up $40 to $50 in part-time repair jobs. |
A teenage sales girl holds a blouse up to a customer in a store, 1954. |
Young investor, David Lenske, 17, having bought four AT&T shares, talks with banker, 1954. |
Outtake from "Luckiest Generation" feature in LIFE magazine, 1954. |
Teenage mechanic, 1954. |
Bookkeeper Rada Alexander, 19, gets $200 a month in auto firm job she got after graduation. |
Sonny Thayer, 19, packs for hunting trip. |
Utility worker, Jack Krueger, 19, who finished high school in 1952, earns $2.24 an hour. |
Prosperous pay-off of after-school jobs brings Mike Sweeney and Harold Riley (right) with Pat Marsh (left), Nita Wheeler, all 17, to Carlsbad's Red Barn restaurant, a favorite party spot. |
Young couples at formal dance dreamily sway on crowded floor of dim, chandelier-lit ballroom, 1954. |
Outtake from "Luckiest Generation" feature in LIFE magazine, 1954. |
Outtake from "Luckiest Generation" feature in LIFE magazine, 1954. |
Outtake from "Luckiest Generation" feature in LIFE magazine, 1954. |
Pay in trade is taken by Margaret High, 17, who works in music store, spends salary on records. |
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Breeder of chinchillas, Jere Reid Jr., 17, holds $3,000 animal, has paid off note father co-signed. |
(Photos by Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)