Sports Tickets

I’m a huge fan of the New York Yankees and go to roughly 40 games each year. Depending on where you sit, the price of tickets today can range from affordable to exorbitant. It’s not uncommon to pay as little as $10 for seats in the upper deck or bleachers, though luxury seats behind home plate may come with a face value exceeding $1,000 depending on the day of the week and opponent. Personally, I like to sit in the lower level toward the outfield, where seats tend to range between $50 to $100, depending on demand.

Back in 1950, on the other hand, the idea of paying $1,000 or even $100 to attend a Yankees game was unheard of. Admission to the bleachers for the 1950 season cost 60 cents (the equivalent of around $8 today), and seats in the grandstand were around $1.25 (equal to about $16.74 today). And the cost didn’t balloon much higher for the prime seats closer to home plate. For instance, a ticket stub from July 16, 1950, shows a price of $2.50 (around $33.48 adjusted for inflation) for box seats in section 10 of the old stadium. Similar tickets in the current stadium would cost around $250 in today’s dollars. 

Even World Series tickets were relatively reasonable back in the day. Just look at this stub from Game 3 of the 1950 World Series, which cost $6.00 (equal to around $80 today) for a reserved lower-level seat. When the Yankees made it to Game 3 of the World Series in 2024, I paid around $250 for my seat in a similar location. (That game and the rest of the series turned out to be among the most soul-crushing sporting experiences I've had — but that's a story for another day.)

Groceries

It’s not all bad news for denizens of the 21st century, however. In 1950, many grocery staples cost more than they do today if you account for inflation. One example is dairy products. According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, a gallon of fresh milk at the grocery store cost roughly 77 cents in 1950 (around $10 adjusted for inflation). Today, the average price for a standard gallon of milk is just under $4. Basic eggs were also costlier, as the price for a dozen averaged roughly 53 cents (equal to around $7.10 today). But at my local grocery, I can get a dozen eggs for around $2.86, assuming I stick to basic brands instead of organic or cage-free.

Another food that has gotten cheaper is beef: A pound of hamburger meat was priced around 51 cents in 1950 (roughly $6.83 adjusted for inflation), whereas if I run to my local Trader Joe’s the cost for a pound of ground beef is about $6.49. A pound of white bread was also more of a relative financial burden 75 years ago, albeit only slightly. In 1950, you would have paid 14 cents (around $1.87 adjusted for inflation), while at my Trader Joe’s it’s $1.81. 

And a pound of basic coffee would have run you an average cost of 75 cents (around $10 adjusted), compared to the $9.26 people pay on average today. However, I do like to splurge on specialty brews from a company called Joshua Tree Coffee, but even then I’m only paying $16 per pound for a high-quality artisanal product. A pound of white sugar — a necessity for those occasions where I’ve baked banana bread or carrot cake — cost roughly 48 cents (around $6.43 adjusted for inflation) in 1950, but is priced around 99 cents today. A pound of bananas was priced around 17 cents in 1950 (equal to roughly $2.28 in today’s dollars), while the average cost today is just 66 cents. 

When I fill up my grocery cart, it can feel like I’m breaking the bank with just the basics. But when you dig into the numbers, it turns out that the relative price would have been even steeper in 1950. While you could fill up a cart for $10 back then, $10 was a hefty chunk of most people’s household income. 

Dining Out

One of the things I enjoy most about living in New York is taking advantage of the city’s excellent food scene, but dining out comes at a cost — and unlike groceries, it’s a higher relative cost than it would have been if I lived here in 1950.  

For example, 75 years ago, it would’ve cost me no more than 15 cents for a slice of classic New York pizza — around $2 adjusted for inflation. But the median price of an average plain slice is now around $3.81, including at my neighborhood slice shop Libretto’s. The difference is even more stark when eating at a fancy restaurant. Let’s look at my favorite steakhouse, Keens Steakhouse on 36th Street. While I don’t exactly frequent the establishment, it’s always nice to go for a special occasion — and it would have been less of a splurge in the mid-20th century.

This local institution is known for its famous mutton chop, which was priced at $3.45 back in 1950 (around $46.20 when adjusted for inflation). I like to order an appetizer and dessert as well, so let’s add in a shrimp cocktail, priced at $0.85 in 1950 (equal to around $11.38 in today’s dollars) and an order of ice cream at $0.35 (equal to around $4.69 today). Also, 1950 was before New York state instituted any sales tax, and people commonly tipped around 10% on their bill, bringing the total cost of the full meal at Keens to around $5.12 (around $68.56 adjusted for inflation). But if I order those same exact menu items today, the mutton chop will run me $73, the shrimp cocktail $29, and the ice cream $11. Add in tax and tip and I end up with a total bill of around $145.49 for my fancy dinner.

Travel

I love road trips and try to take at least one a year — I recently drove across the country from NYC to the Pacific Northwest, down into northern California, across to Utah, and back. If I were driving across the country back in 1950, I could expect to see a gallon of gas cost about $0.27 (around $3.62 adjusted for inflation) — making it total about $4.05 (around $54.23 adjusted for inflation) to fill up a typical 15-gallon tank. Today, the national average for a tank of gasoline hovers around $2.85, meaning if I were to fill up the 15-gallon tank of the Mazda I often drive, it would only run me $42.75 — cheaper in terms of relative cost.

Flying is also relatively cheaper today than it was in 1950. At the end of 2025, I took my first flight to Europe, which cost me $1,000 for round-trip airfare. But back to 1950, we were still in the nascent days of commercial aviation, and flying was more of a luxury than commonplace. This meant that ticket prices were sky high — the cost of air travel didn’t come down until the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. The average round-trip ticket for a transatlantic flight from New York City cost roughly $675 in 1950 (around $9,038 when adjusted for inflation). That’s more than nine times higher in terms of relative cost than what I paid to cross the ocean two months ago, bringing into question whether I could’ve even afforded the trip back in 1950. 

Clothing

The 1950 Sears catalog provides some great insight into what I might have paid for clothes in 1950, and in this particular area of life, the difference isn’t significant. Back then, formal button-down collared shirts ranged between $1.69 and $3.85 (around $22.63 to $51.55 when adjusted for inflation). Casual cotton button-down tops went for $1.57 (equal to roughly $21.02 today), while nicer wool tops were priced around $7.50 (equal to around $100.43 today). Socks hovered between 39 cents to $1.49 for a package of four to five (around $5.22 to $19.95 in today’s dollars), and tees cost $1.75 to $2.75 (around $23.43 to $36.82 adjusted for inflation). Your typical pair of Levi’s jeans — a staple of my wardrobe — cost $3.50 in 1950 (around $46.87 adjusted for inflation).

All in all, the prices were largely in line with what I spend on clothing today. The exception may be socks and tees — which are slightly costlier now — but otherwise I rack up similar bills when shopping at places such as Uniqlo or Kohl’s.

Public Transit 

While I don’t take the subway or bus daily, I do take it regularly, and it’s quite surprising to learn that I’m paying double the relative cost that transit riders would have paid in 1950. Earlier this month, standard New York City subway and bus fares increased from $2.90 to $3.00 a ride. But back in 1950, the fare was just 10 cents, or around $1.34 when adjusted for inflation. It’s a small difference, but one that adds up if you take public transit regularly, making this aspect of city life slightly more affordable for the New Yorkers of yesteryear.

Bile Beans

Digestive issues were once thought to be the root of countless everyday problems, and midcentury America had no shortage of treatments to improve digestion. Many of these, curiously, targeted the liver, including the popular Bile Beans. The product was primarily marketed to homemakers as a way to stay “fit, bright, and attractive” by stimulating the liver, improving digestion, and relieving constipation. 

Most liver pills of the era — Bile Beans included — were essentially laxatives, and typically relied on herbal ingredients such as cascara, rhubarb, and licorice to force bowel movement. Bile Beans were the target of fraud claims around 1904, but their presence in medicine cabinets persisted throughout the 1950s and beyond; they remained available on store shelves until the 1980s.

Paregoric

It wasn’t uncommon for everyday foods and remedies to contain narcotics in the not-too-distant past. Early versions of Coca-Cola famously contained cocaine, and early cough syrups commonly relied on morphine. And paregoric — a tincture containing opium — was a fixture in many medicine cabinets in the 1950s. 

The liquid was kept on hand in glass bottles and was used by adults for stomach and gastrointestinal issues and given to babies for everything from stubborn coughs to teething pain. Up until 1970, paregoric was available at pharmacies without a prescription; after that point, it became a regulated drug in an attempt to curb misuse or dependence on the opiate. Paregoric is memorable for more than one of its ingredients: Thanks to the addition of anise oil, it had a distinctive flavor not unlike licorice.

Dr. Miles’ Nervine

Tonics were a staple of midcentury medicine cabinets. One of the most popular was Dr. Miles’ Nervine, a product that had been around in various forms since the late 19th century. By the 1950s, however, it had shifted away from earlier claims of treating hysteria or epilepsy and instead taken the form of a widely available liquid and effervescent tablet that promised relief from “sleeplessness and restlessness, nervous tension headaches, and nervous irritability.” 

Dr. Miles’ Nervine affected the nervous system through its bromide compounds, chemicals once commonly used in sedatives. While indeed effective, bromides can accumulate in the body and become toxic, sometimes causing bromism and leading to hallucinations, skin rashes, and neurological symptoms. By 1975, bromide salts were banned as an ingredient in over-the-counter products.

Miltown

Before modern antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, there was a brief moment when a single pill promised to take the edge off postwar life. Introduced in the mid-1950s, Miltown — chemically known as meprobamate — was discovered by Czech scientist Frank Berger while researching ways to preserve penicillin. Instead, he stumbled onto a compound that relaxed muscles and calmed the mind without putting users to sleep. When Miltown reached the market in 1955, it barely registered at first; within a year, it was everywhere.

Hollywood embraced it (comedian and television host Milton Berle joked about changing his name to Miltown Berle), and millions of Americans tried the tranquilizer. The product promised something new: calm, but not total sedation; a way to stay functional while smoothing life’s anxieties. Miltown’s success, though short-lived, sparked a pharmaceutical gold rush, and newer medications such as Valium soon eclipsed it.

Lysol

Lysol is, of course, still one of the most familiar names in American households, disinfecting countertops with a lemony scent. But in the early-to-mid-20th century, it was also marketed for a very different purpose: feminine hygiene. ALysol advertisements from the 1920s through the 1960s told women that using Lysol as a feminine wash was an essential part of marital harmony. This language, however, is believed by some historians to have actually been a vague way of encouraging the use of the product as a contraceptive. 

What those ads downplayed was that Lysol was a powerful chemical disinfectant, not a gentle personal-care product. Its ingredients could irritate or burn sensitive tissue; as early as 1911, Lysol exposure had led to nearly 200 poisonings by those using it for hygiene, and several deaths were linked to using the product internally. As the formula evolved, Lysol was increasingly promoted as a versatile disinfectant — even as it remained a top-selling feminine hygiene product through the 1960s.