7 wild tourist activities from the ’60s that are completely banned today

Statistically speaking, stepping onto a commercial flight in the late 1960s carried a risk of death 39 times higher than it does today, yet travelers were too busy ordering martinis to care.  That wasn’t just bad luck; it was a symptom of a decade defined by “participatory exploitation,” in which common sense often took a back seat to spectacle. The “Golden Age” of travel wasn’t just about legroom; it was a wild, unregulated frontier where highway fatalities were nearly 5x higher than modern standards and environmental protection was virtually nonexistent.    

Believe it or not, we used to treat the world like an infinite resource we could touch, take, and exploit for a good photo op. Back then, safety regulations were suggestions, and wildlife interactions were shockingly hands-on. 

Let’s take a trip down memory lane to see seven wild activities that would land you in jail (or the hospital) today.

Partying with nuclear bombs in Las Vegas

You might know Vegas for gambling, but in the 1950s and early ’60s, the biggest draw was the mushroom cloud. The U.S. government conducted 100 atmospheric nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, just 65 miles from the strip, between 1951 and 1962. Hotels like the Desert Inn hosted “Dawn Bomb Parties” where guests toasted the apocalypse with “Atomic Cocktails” made of vodka, brandy, and champagne.

Did people worry about radiation? Not enough to stop the party. Las Vegas capitalized on the “atomic tourism” craze. According to ScienceDirect, the city’s population exploded by 161% between 1950 and 1960, partly due to this glowing attraction.  The fun ended with the “Little Feller I” shot on July 17, 1962, the last atmospheric test before the Limited Test Ban Treaty drove the explosions underground. You can still visit the testing museum, but the radioactive sunrise parties are legally extinct.   

Hand-feeding grizzly bears at the roadside

If you visit Yellowstone National Park today, rangers will fine you for even thinking about feeding a squirrel. But in the 1960s, feeding apex predators was the main event. Tourists treated the park like a drive-through petting zoo, creating “bear jams” where families fed marshmallows and bacon to grizzlies right through their station wagon windows.

The result was a statistical nightmare. Between 1930 and the late 1960s, bears injured an average of 48 people every year in the park.  The bears became “food-conditioned” beggars, leading to a cycle of violence that peaked in the ’60s. Park management finally dropped the hammer in 1970, closing open-pit garbage dumps and strictly enforcing bans on feeding. Today, the risk of a bear injury is approximately 1 in 59.5 million visits, proving that bears prefer berries to your picnic basket.    

Climbing all over Stonehenge

Ever wondered why you have to stand so far away from the stones at Stonehenge? You can thank the rowdy tourists of the ’60s and ’70s. Back then, there were no ropes and no guards; you could walk right up, climb the lintels, and even picnic on the Altar Stone.

This free-for-all caused massive damage. By the 1970s, 815,000 annual visitors were trampling the grass into a “sea of mud” and wearing away prehistoric carvings with their hands.  Even worse, earlier visitors were often handed chisels to chip off souvenirs! To save the monument from being loved to death, officials banned direct access in 1977. Now, touching the stones is a criminal offense, ensuring the site survives for another 5,000 years.   

Riding giant tortoises in the Galapagos

Before eco-tourism became a buzzword, visitors to the Galapagos Islands treated the wildlife like playground equipment. Photos from the 1960s show tourists (and even scientists) straddling the backs of Giant Tortoises for “hilarious” rides. We viewed these 500-pound reptiles as indestructible tanks rather than living creatures.

We were dead wrong. This harassment, combined with centuries of hunting, decimated the population; by the 1960s, the Española Island tortoise population had crashed to just 14 individuals. Thankfully, conservationists stepped in. A massive repatriation program launched in 1965 saved the species, and park rules now strictly prohibit touching or harassing the animals. IMO, watching them from 2 meters away is plenty cool.

Watching diving horses in Atlantic City

Atlantic City’s Steel Pier was famous for one thing: the Diving Horse. Four times a day, seven days a week, a horse carrying a rider, usually a young woman, would plummet 40 feet into a tank of water. It was the centerpiece of the pier, drawing crowds so large their weight actually caused the pier to settle into the ocean floor.    

While crowds in the ’60s cheered the “bravery” of the act, public sentiment shifted rapidly toward animal welfare in the ’70s. Activists argued that forcing a horse to dive was cruel and unnatural. Under immense pressure, the act was permanently closed in 1978. Developers tried to revive it in 1993 and 2012, but public outcry shut it down instantly.

Pilfering petrified wood in Arizona

“Finders keepers” was the unofficial motto for visitors to Petrified Forest National Park in the 1960s. Tourists didn’t just look at the 200-million-year-old crystallized logs; they filled their pockets and trunks with them. Park officials estimated that visitors stole a staggering 12 tons of wood every year.    

This looting threatened to erase the park entirely. South Dakota’s Fossil Cycad National Monument actually lost its status in 1957 because visitors stole all the fossils. Today, Petrified Forest combats theft with strict vehicle searches and hefty fines. Interestingly, the park now maintains a “conscience pile” of wood returned by mail from guilt-ridden thieves who claim the stolen rocks brought them decades of bad luck.

Smoking cigarettes at 30,000 feet

For the modern traveler, nothing defines the “Golden Age” of flying quite like the haze of cigarette smoke. In the 1960s, over 40% of American adults smoked, and airplanes were their sanctuary.  You could light up a Marlboro anywhere in the cabin, and the non-smoking section was just the back few rows, separated by nothing but a thin antimacassar.   

The air quality was abysmal, but the tobacco industry fought hard to keep the privilege. It wasn’t until widespread health data emerged that the tide turned. Congress banned smoking on domestic flights under six hours in 1990, and by 2000, it was banned globally on almost all carriers. Today, tampering with a smoke detector in the lavatory is a federal crime, not a rebellious hobby.

Key Takeaway

The 1960s were a time of “participatory exploitation,” where we treated the world as a resource to consume rather than protect. We banned these activities not just to stop the fun, but to save the bears, the stones, and ourselves. While you can’t ride a tortoise or watch a nuke today, you can visit a world that still has tortoises and un-irradiated deserts, which, honestly, is a pretty good trade-off.

Read the Original Article on Crafting Your Home.