The unsanitary world of old-time Phoenix

Since I collect and share photos of old-time Phoenix, I often see comments that say that a particular person did just fine without some type of sanitary condition that we now take for granted. I'm not old enough to have ever seen cracker barrels, or food that was sold without much thought to sanitation, but I know that it happened. And I know that there are a lot of people who survived that, and can comment on it.

And for those people, I simply smile indulgently and move on, as they have made a basic flaw in their logic, but they don't know it. Of course the people who are still alive and can say that they survived - the people who died can't say anything today, they died. I'm inclined to think that everyone who ever fought a grizzly bear with their bare hands and is alive today can say that they did just fine. Those who weren't quite so lucky really can't comment nowadays.

I gotta admit that that pic of a meat delivery at the top of this post kinda blew my mind. The photo is from the 1940s, and of course there are plenty of people walking around Phoenix who ate meat that had been handled like this, and are just fine today. Of course the people who died of food poisoning can't make that same claim.

So of course now I'm thinking about the appallingly unsanitary world of old-time Phoenix. And just to be clear, I'm not picking on Phoenix, it's just that times have changed. Foods are inspected, wrapped in plastic, kept refrigerated if that's what they need, stuff like that.

I grew up in Minneapolis, and I remember my mom being very careful to keep things very clean. The house would always smell like Lysol, and she insisted that I wash my hands before I ate. She was a believer in germs, and contamination. I suppose that she had seen things, like open barrels in the stores with food that you just reached in and took.

When you look at old photos of Phoenix, you probably don't think how horrifically dirty everything would be by 21st Century standards. Yes, there were people who believed in germs (although they're invisible) and even invested in Dr. Lister's product (Listerine). That ad up there is from 1941, and I can't help but think that these people would have been laughed at. Germs? Ha!

I was a kid in the 1960s, and I now know that my mom was very modern, and progressive. She read about things, and learned, and it made her worry, and do things about it - like making me wash my hands! And who knows, maybe that's why I'm alive today?

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