Ask HN: Was urban life much different before TV?
Did people visit each other much more and socialize more? And if so, what the heck does socialize mean in that context?
"Night was a wonderful time in Brooklyn in the 1930s. Air conditioning was unknown except in movie houses, and so was television. There was nothing to keep one in the house. Furthermore, few people owned automobiles, so there was nothing to carry one away. That left the streets and the stoops. The very fullness served as an inhibition to crime."