Annandale Retrospective
The Year was 1970   
MORE ANNANDALE RETROSPECTIVE & HISTORY

By:  M. Callahan

GOVERNMENT

• US President:  Richard M. Nixon
• Vice President:  Spiro Agnew
• VA Governor:  A. Lynwood Holton, Jr.
• US Senators from VA: Harry F. Byrd, Jr. & William B. Spong, Jr.
• Chief Justice US Supreme Court:  Warren Burger
• Speaker of the House:  John W. McCormack (D)

MAJOR EVENTS

• The US Military invades Cambodia and Laos.
• Paris Peace talks continue into their second year.
• Four Kent State students are shot to death while protestingthe widening war in Southeast  Asia.
• Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Sihanouk is overthrown and the reign of terror by the Khmer Republic begins.
• Protest against the war in Southeast Asia break out all over the US.
• Heads of East and West Germany meet for first time.
• The US voting age is lowered from 21 to 18.
• An explosion aboard Apollo 13 forces emergency action.
• The Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
• Fiji and Tonga gain their independence from Britain.
• The movement for women’s equality in the workplace gains strength.
• The first Earth Day takes place and the EPA is established.

AWARDS & PRIZES

• Pulitzer Prize:  “Collected Stories” by Jean Stafford
• Nobel Prize for Literature:  Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn
• Nobel Peace Prize Winner:  Norman Borlaug
• Miss America:  Pam Eldred (Bloomfield, MI)
• Best Picture of the Year:  Patton
• Best Actor:  George C. Scott, Patton
• Best Actress:  Glenda Jackson, Women in Love

SPORTS

• NCAA Basketball Champion:  UCLA
• Stanley Cup Winner:  Boston Bruins
• College Football Champion:  Nebraska, Texas and Ohio State
• Heisman Trophy Winner:  Jim Plunkett from Stanford
• US Open Winner:  Tony Jacklin
• Pro Football Champions:  Kansas City Chiefs over Minnesota 23-7
• World Series Champion:  Baltimore Orioles over Cincinnati Reds 4-1
• Heavy Weight Boxing Title:  Joe Frazier
• World Cup:  Brazil defeats Italy 4-1

EVERYDAY LIFE

• Monday Night Football premieres on ABC (Browns beat Jets 31-21)
• The Doonesbury comic strip debuts in 28 newspapers.
• Paul McCartney announces the split of the Beatles.
• Diane Crump becomes the first woman jockey in the Kentucky Derby.
• The Flip Wislon Show and Hawaii Five-O air on television.
• Orville Redenbacher’s Popping Corn is introduced.
• The first Kinko’s opens near Santa Barbara.
• The Ford Pinto is introduced.
• Gold prices fall below $35 per ounce.
• Dow Jones Ave:  low 631 - high 838.92.
• Average Income:  $6,469.00 per year
• New Car:  $3,979.00
• Average Rent:  $140.00 per month
• Tuition to Harvard U.:  $2,400.00 per year
• Movie ticket:  $1.50 each
  
  • Life Expectancy 70.8
    
    • Gasoline:   $.36 per gallon
      
      • US Postage Stamp:  $.06
      • Gallon of milk:  $1.32
      • Eggs:  $.42 per dozen
      • Ground Hamburger:  $.60 per pound
      • Coffee:  $.87 per pound
        
        BIRTHS:
        Heather Graham, Ricky Schroder, Jennifer Connelly, Andre Agassi
        
        DEATHS
        Gamal Abdal Nasser, Charles de Gaulle, Brian Piccolo, Vince Lombardi

Annandale in 1970

Annandale Retail Establishments
Special offers...

Smith’s TV and Electric Bradlick Shopping Center:  Zenith Space Command Remote Control (first time completely wireless remote) 

Banks compete for Business:  Most banks are offering merchandise for opening a new account with $100 or adding $25 to an existing account.  (Look at these interest rates.  We would welcome these rates now!)

1^st Federal offers free luxury blanket or robe and interest of 5.25%.

Potomac Bank offers 2 free 5pc place settings of flatware and interest of 5%.

Suburban Savings offers a free 5 pc place setting of International flatware and interest of 7.5% and accounts then insured up to $20,000 by the FSLIC.

United Virginia offers a free 5 pc place setting of flatware and interest rates that ranged from 4.75 to 5.25%.

Arlington-Fairfax Savings Bank offered a 4pc place setting of Staffordshire dinnerware and interest of 5.25-5.50%.

Fidelity Savings offered free china and interest rates of 6%.

Giant Food offered the following:

Chicken                          $.39 per pound
Oranges                         $.49 per dozen
Roast Beef                     $.69 per pound
Bread                             $.59 per two loaves

Grand Opening of Magic Mirror Hair Salon at 7138 Little River.

Perms                           $  25.00
Shampoo Set                $    7.50
Haircut                          $  10.00

LOCAL NEWS:  1970-1975
Population of Annandale in 1970: 47,000

• Repeal of the Blue Laws was being considered. The law prohibits work and transaction of business on Sundays with the exception of household work or other work of necessity or charity.  Ladies, don’t worry, you are still permitted, under law, to cook and clean.

• NVCC has an enrollment of 8, 500 students.

• Emerson Steak House opens with the first salad bar in the area.  Included

• for $4.50 is steak, endless salad bar, potatoes and bread.

• A brick 5 bedroom/3bath home in Canterbury Woods sells for $45,000.

• Virginia enacts the motorcycle helmet law.

• Fairfax schools reduce school term from 195 to 193 days.

• Wakefield Chapel, abandoned in 1963 because it was deemed unsafe and falling into ruins, needs contributions of $40,000 for repairs.

• Construction on Metro Rail to Rosslyn and Pentagon begins.

• April 16, 1970:   An armed man entered the Suburban Savings and Loan Association, 7026 Columbia Pike, Annandale, about 11:30 am, asked for a loan application form, then pulled a gun and ordered the teller to put the money in a brown paper bag.

• April 16, 1970:  The Annandale Chamber called for improvements to the local environment, planted numerous trees and shrubs to beautify Annandale, pressed all levels of government to improve traffic flow, add street lighting, underground utilities, control signage, and establish the 20 year awaited community center at the old Annandale Elementary School.  Then as now, we still wait!  (Fairfax County, isn’t it time to take the needs of Annandale seriously?)

• April 22, 1970:  Heritage Shopping Mall opens.

• Oct. 23, 1970:  Defensive tackle Drexel Hogan blocked a 40-yard field goal attempt with 10 seconds remaining to preserve Stuart's 22-21 upset victory over 14th-ranked Annandale in a Virginia AAA Northern District game.

• July 1, 1971:  Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts opens.

• March 1, 1972:  George Mason University created by Virginia General Assembly.

• March 2, 1973:  Skyline Towers collapse, Baileys Crossroads.

• April 1, 1973:  Tornado touches down three times in Central Fairfax County damaging homes in Middleridge Subdivision and the Zion Drive area and tearing the roof from Pickett Shopping Center.

• April 11, 1973:  Fairfax County’s last operating railroad station, Fairfax Station, closes.

For more photos and the entire story, please see the ENDEAVOR News Magazine, January 2009 on this website.  No reproduction of this article, in whole or in part, is permitted without the written permission of the author.

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Photographs are from the ACC Archives and the National Archives and not available for reproduction.