1970s AU setting bachelor pad & jobs
I am writing an AU setting which is vaguely set in the 1970s, say 1975-1977ish. I am being deliberately vague when it comes to the details of the setting, but the main character lives in a small coastal city with a large number of well-to-do residents and several up scale vacation homes in the countryside. I do want some verisimilitude though, rather than just making things up wholesale. I’ve googled the obvious search phrases “sales 1970s”, “electronics 1970s”, “women in sales 1970s”, “apartment buildings underground garage,” etc, but it’s hard to find useful information.
1. I was thinking of making the main character a car salesperson. However one of the other characters is a female co-worker who needs to be an equal, or at least not just a secretary or a coffee fetcher with a fancy title. Would a female salesperson be believable for the period? If not are there any alternative jobs that would be believable for a woman? Note if necessary I could make her a relative of the sales manager and / or the franchise owner.
2. Given the setting and the fact that the dealership has to provide a fairly high income to the two lead characters, just how big would it have to be? I know that is rather vague, but I need some sort of ballpark figure and even finding modern numbers is hard not to mention 1970s.
3. What would be a good set of toys and gadget for a single male with a nice chunk of disposable income (e.g. top ranked salesman)? He’s not a movie or music nerd, so he wouldn’t go out of his way to find the latest greatest thing. I once had a website that had tons of ads for upscale electronics, but I can’t find it anymore.
4. Would an upscale apartment building with an underground garage be out of place for the era and setting? It’s hard to discover when this sort of thing began to be common.
5. Just what kind of security would such an apartment building have? I am assuming a doorman, but would there be an actual security guard? Also what kind of staff would be at hand in terms of janitors, maids, whatever?
1. I was thinking of making the main character a car salesperson. However one of the other characters is a female co-worker who needs to be an equal, or at least not just a secretary or a coffee fetcher with a fancy title. Would a female salesperson be believable for the period? If not are there any alternative jobs that would be believable for a woman? Note if necessary I could make her a relative of the sales manager and / or the franchise owner.
2. Given the setting and the fact that the dealership has to provide a fairly high income to the two lead characters, just how big would it have to be? I know that is rather vague, but I need some sort of ballpark figure and even finding modern numbers is hard not to mention 1970s.
3. What would be a good set of toys and gadget for a single male with a nice chunk of disposable income (e.g. top ranked salesman)? He’s not a movie or music nerd, so he wouldn’t go out of his way to find the latest greatest thing. I once had a website that had tons of ads for upscale electronics, but I can’t find it anymore.
4. Would an upscale apartment building with an underground garage be out of place for the era and setting? It’s hard to discover when this sort of thing began to be common.
5. Just what kind of security would such an apartment building have? I am assuming a doorman, but would there be an actual security guard? Also what kind of staff would be at hand in terms of janitors, maids, whatever?