It's hard to say "than it really was" as I only have my life and my experiences to compare to? There are many things about the 1950's and 1960's (and other eras) that I feel were "better" than today but there are also many things that were not. The cars back then you could work on and fix yourself; one can't do that anymore. I even had a job interview where I was asked if I fixed my own car and was proud to explain to what extent I could do that. Now I can't even change a tire because I have an SUV and the nuts are put on with pneumatic drills so Superman would have a tough time getting them off :-)

One thing I try to remind myself is that when one is living in a certain time/place that's all there is. It's comparing apples and oranges to try and literally compare 1955 and 2010. BUT, my feelings and experiences are all mine and all of a piece and I can enjoy something from 1955 and/or something from 2005 more or less than the other. Feeling cars were better is not the same as their actually "being", physically better. One is comparing how something made one feel, not how it functioned.

One cannot tell if the 1950's/60's were better or worse for a particular homosexual or a person of color, etc. unless one was living that life, then. They did not have now to compare to. Things are what they are and we feel as we feel when we're feeling it :-) I would not have liked to have been my great grandparents without running water, sewers, etc. but I don't have to be them and I imagine they enjoyed their life as I'm enjoying mine; with all the joys and pains (three+ children dying before puberty) inherent in living.