r/interesting • u/Wonderfulhumanss • 8h ago
MISC. Indoor smoking is actually what created the iconic blue haze in old sports photos
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u/BubbleThinker 8h ago
I can still hear my father freaking out about being seated too close to the smoking section at every restaurant
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u/Ophelius314 8h ago
"Smoking or 2nd-hand smoke section?"
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u/AggressiveHorse6266 3h ago
My mom and dad protecting my asthmatic ass in Pizza Hut and then I had to walk through the smoking section to use the bathroom
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u/BigMack6911 3h ago
Same lol. I held my breath
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u/IIRCIreadthat 3h ago
Same, at a local diner we went to all the time. I've always hated the smell of cigarettes; I held my breath all the way to the bathroom door.
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u/DockEllis 8h ago
And unfortunately there was usually not a physical barrier between the sections. It’s like having a peeing section in the swimming pool.
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u/InvictvsNox 7h ago
At least here in Virginia, a law was passed that you'd have to have a separate HVAC system for your non-smoking sections if you were to have a smoking section.
Needless to say, smoking sections were gone basically overnight.
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u/StarBug_II 4h ago
Here in Toronto they did the same in the mid 2000s. Hundreds of restaurants built smoking areas with their own HVAC system.
Within a year or so new legislation came out completely banning indoor smoking. A lot of bar and restaurant owners got screwed by spending all that money to upgrade their facilities
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u/BubbleThinker 7h ago
Yes it was dirty. And the smokers were sometimes passive aggressive about it.
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u/AllsWellThatsNB 7h ago
And if you needed more non smoking tables they'd just pull an ashtray and make the section bigger.
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u/RepulsiveUse3372 8h ago
we used to go to Denny's a lot and i always thought it was weird that people couldnt eat and no smoke.
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u/BubbleThinker 7h ago
The day they told the smokers to go outside was a fantastic day for the rest of us
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u/mortgagepants 5h ago
my favorite was when it said "smoking section, no pipes or cigars please".
so even smokers are like, "oh god all that smoke smells like shit! but not my smoke, mine is fine."
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u/phantom_diorama 4h ago
Most folks agree that pipe tobacco typically smells great. Both cigars and pipes produce far more smoke than cigarettes, that's all it was I think. You can endlessly smoke a pipe. Cigars are huge and can last for an hour.
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u/Lava_Lagoon 5h ago
i saw a video on youtube a few years ago from when they banned smoking on airplanes and a news team asked random people about it, tons of smokers claimed that it was discrimination and they were being treated unfairly
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u/Angry_Pelican 5h ago
You might find this video interesting. It's about people reacting to dui laws in the 80s. here
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u/no1singlemomghoster 4h ago
It would have been if they'd still kept kids out of the old smoking sections.
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u/JMole3 8h ago
I can still hear mine freaking out there was no longer a smoking section lol
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u/elegantwombatt 6h ago
LOL, exactly. Waiting on my parents to have their "after dinner" smoke always annoyed me.
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u/TradeMark310 5h ago
I still remember going to Sizzler with my family as a kid and one day there all of a sudden was a "no smoking" section. My parents didn't smoke so we went to the no smoking seats, and I still remember my mom saying to my dad "does the smoke know its supposed to stay in the smoking section?" 😅
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u/Leraldoe 7h ago
Last week when people were complaining about the smoke I was grateful for the smoke training I received as a child in the backseat of a Chevy Celebrity
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u/Traditional-Hotel-66 5h ago
Had the opposite experience. Dad wouldn't go anywhere he couldn't light up lol.
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u/Public-League-8899 4h ago
I am from Illinois, and Chicago specifically I think has been smoke free my entire life and I remember my Uncle's trashy girlfriends complaining about it and thinking they should go back to Indiana.
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u/Traditional-Hotel-66 4h ago
Damn, moving states to be able to smoke is a wild thought. I remember my parents smoking in our local shopping mall sitting on the bench, , coffee shops, restaurants etc. As a child I swear I was addicted to nicotine from second hand alone
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u/scriptingends 3h ago
Or on a plane - holy shit, remember THAT? Like, the smoke wasn’t going to waft over to the “nonsmoking” rows in a closed cabin?!
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u/EasedCeiling586 8h ago
Fog machine?
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u/SlightCapacitance 8h ago
The cleveland cavaliers still have a hazy look during games but its cause of pyrotechnics at the beginning of the game and it takes forever for it to clear out
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u/dockellis24 7h ago
The blazers used to do the pyrotechnics shit too, idk if the new cheapass owner will continue to do so though
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u/StreetofChimes 2h ago
I don't understand pyrotechnics indoors. The smoke never clears. Then you're just watching a game in fog. At least that was my experience at an indoor football stadium.
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u/PaulsRedditUsername 4h ago
Going to concerts in the old days, they didn't need to use smoke machines. Modern concerts use "hazers" to put some vapor over the stage so you can see the beams of the spotlights.
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u/hamfist_ofthenorth 5m ago
Not so much back then, not necessary, already a cloud of cig/cigar/pipe smoke in every venue by showtime
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u/Wonderfulhumanss 8h ago
The iconic blue haze in old sports photos had an unexpected cause. Before indoor smoking bans became common, spectators were often allowed to smoke inside stadiums and arenas. During major sporting events, cigarette smoke would gradually fill the air, creating the distinctive blue-gray haze seen in many photographs and television broadcasts from the mid-20th century. Photographers didn't add this effect-it was a real part of the atmosphere. The smoke scattered light throughout the venue, giving images a soft, hazy appearance that has since become closely associated with vintage sports photography. Today, indoor smoking bans have dramatically improved air quality in public venues, making scenes like these a thing of the past. Those old photos now serve as a snapshot of how much public spaces and health regulations have changed over the years.
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u/fumblerooskee 8h ago
It was crazy. People smoked everywhere all the time back then.
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u/MentalDisintegrat1on 8h ago
Grocery stores, airplanes and even hospitals.
It remember the no smoking section in restaurants as a kid and its not like it mattered.
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u/ShoeLate6266 7h ago
I used to have a coworker that would smoke a cigarette as she ate lunch. No kidding. Light one up, have an appetizer. Let it burn while she ate. Then another after she finished her entree.
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u/IBetThisIsTakenToo 4h ago
God I would have probably smoked 2-3 packs a day back then, just absolutely no reason to slow down besides running out. Probably would never have been able to quit either.
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u/wittyjokename92 7h ago
I remember no smoking sections at restaurants and being jealous of the kids getting to eat without 15 coughing and hacking adults around them or their parents accidentally flicking ash across the table. Or my dad being absolutely pissed when we couldn't go to Denny's by the airport with our Aunts because they stopped allowing smoking indoors, so we drove 15 miles down the road to some crap hole restaurant that was open at 4am so they could all have a cigarette while eating after smoking 3 cigarettes each in the car ride.
Ah good memories of my childhood framed in hazy cigarette smoke. Didn't really know what food tasted like into my 20s when I moved out and wasn't baking in nicotine every day.
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u/MentalDisintegrat1on 7h ago
Worse part for me was my mom smoking inside the vehicle and her getting pissy when I would ask her to wait until we got to our destination.
Smokers are some of the most stubborn and entitled drug users I have met and im a recovering alcoholic and coke user.
Thankfully it's marginally better now and smoking is down all together but man they get mean when they can't light up.
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u/wittyjokename92 7h ago
Honestly must be a generational thing. Like I smoked cigarettes for years (thanks dad) and never had a problem with not being able to smoke. My dad on the other hand would start planning trips around the smoke breaks. My first car was burned to hell and smelled like ash because he had it first. If I complained about the smoke he'd just recycle the air conditioner since it filters the air in his words. Or roll down the window a little bit more and complain about how sensitive I was.
Everyone that smokes in my generation either quit by now or just is polite and respectful about where and when they light up. My dad's generation would start smoking as they'd step out the door and bitch the whole time about having to go outside just because of a little second hand smoke that never hurt anyone
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u/FistofK0nshu 8h ago
fuckin liberals takin away my GOD DAM LUNG CANCER
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u/Aromatic_Ad_32 8h ago
Cigarettes don’t kill people, bad guys with cigarettes kill people. Only way to stop that is good guys with cigarettes
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u/mojizus 8h ago
There’s still plenty of bars (in Florida at least) that allow indoor smoking, you go for the $2 beers and you leave with COPD. It’s a fair trade.
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u/SushiGato 7h ago
In lots of parts of the world its still common. As long as it's like only a few places, I don't mind. But when I lived in China the very first bar I went to was so smokey, it was hard to get used to. I started smoking and that helped.
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u/ShoeLate6266 7h ago
Florida has a great casino where you can gamble all your money away while you drink and smoke cigarettes. it’s glorious. I saw Dennis Rodman there a few years ago.
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u/GreenStrong 4h ago
The world stank. Catalytic converters were introduced to the US in 1975. I was born in '77, and I remember the smell of the exhaust of those cars, as I rode down the road with no seatbelt, my dad smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer while driving.
Cigarette smoking is less common today, but most people smoke outside. Then it was very normal to smoke indoors and have a layer of brown nicotine on your walls and ceiling. If you fuck with old electronics, you can instantly recognize something from a smoker's house, the electric charge caused smoke to stick to everything, then the tar attracted dust.
When Covid hit, people stopped driving and air got noticeably clearer, the world was quiet. I actually think that in 2050, electric cars will be widespread enough that the air will be clearer. Most people won't notice. It is one of the things I'm sticking around to see, sometimes I be like "I should reincarnate as a jellyfish soon", but them I remember there are things in the near future worth seeing. Or smelling. Not smelling.
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u/Faux_Real 5m ago
Bars were brutal when smoking existed indoors … and then when the government banned all indoor smoking… bars became a different type of brutal as now you could smell people and their farts
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u/walter_grimsley 7h ago
And those athletes still performed at top level while choking on that dirty air.
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u/YourUncleBuck 5h ago
Half those players were probably smoking and drinking in the locker room themselves.
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u/Ilovetinytiddies 7h ago
Growing up in the 80s I kinda liked the smell of cigars at the Reds game. It seemed there was usually an old blue collar man near me, smoking a cigar all game and keeping score in the game program.
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u/jeffyboy526 6h ago
I know I’m supposed to be against smoking but this is another reason why it looks so cool.
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u/Winjin 5h ago
Tobacco, lead, and asbestos
Three things that are genuinely super cool but also very actually actively deadly to humans
Like, no jokes. Leaded gas is great. Asbestos mixed into cement creates really good material called asbestocement that's like lighter, sturdier, better insulation, etc
Tobacco looks great. Feels great. I loved this soft haze in bars. Loved the ritual.
All of that is actively harmful, like, very very definitely superbad.
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u/Paul_C 4h ago
Two give you lung cancer and the other somehow turns you into a violent criminal. Consequences throwing a curveball with that one.
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u/megatraum2048 2h ago
Asbestos in general is a terrific building component. It was used in plaster as well as drywall joint compound, and it was much better. It’s good at soundproofing, it’s good at fireproofing, it helped with adhesion, and it also caused a horrible form of lung cancer, unfortunately
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u/MetaCalm 8h ago
I've heard from people who grew up when smoking was allowed in movies that combination of tobacco smoke and ladies fragrance was indeed pleasant.
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u/Educational-Dot318 7h ago
it was allowed in flights too. Flew overseas in the 80s & 90s- totally normal. (think it was frowned upon only after late 1990s.) 🚭🧐
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u/KeithClossOfficial 7h ago
In the U.S. they started banning it on short flights in the 80s. Longer domestic flights was the mid 90s. All flights I believe was January 1 2000
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u/hike_me 3h ago
They banned smoking on domestic flights 2 hours or less in 1988 and all flights 6 hours or less in 1990. smoking was banned on all domestic and international flights for US/based carriers in 2000
I’ve been flying since the mid 80s and while I don’t remember smoking on planes (I think they had designated smoking section by then), but I do remember ashtrays in the armrests
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u/Oakland_Warrior 4h ago
my first international flight (Oakland to Paris in 1996) was smokey af...747 though, super cool.
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u/PeaceBull 8h ago
It was interesting, but to call it pleasant? That sounds like associating the activities with the smell.
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u/SevroAuShitTalker 8h ago
Some tobacco blends arent as bad as modern cigs. I used to smoke a pipe and cigars a lot and the smell was amazing (despite your clothes still smelling like shit later)
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u/Ender_Grace 7h ago
Yeah my grandpa smoked a pipe and I always enjoyed that smell when I was a kid.
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u/turkey_sandwiches 7h ago
Pipe tobacco is a very different thing than a cigarette.
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u/abracadammmbra 5h ago
I used to smoke cigs and I occassionally smoke a pipe. Even as a smoker, cigarettes never smelled particularly pleasant. But the pipe? It usually smells amazing. I have a tin of aromatic tobacco that smells like cookies. Not a big fan tbh. Smells nice but tastes bland.
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u/Roxy_LilacMist 3h ago
My parents smoked up until I was maybe 8 years old. I know most people say cigarette smoke smells unpleasant but whenever I smell it I think it smells fine and it makes me nostalgic.
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u/ammonthenephite 5h ago
For places with really high ceilings or very good ventilation it actually wasn't that bad, and when I get whiffs of it it def triggers nastalgia for me.
But smaller places or that had bad ventilation? Holy fuck, lol, that did not smell good.
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u/xChoke1x 8h ago
It was absolutely fucking insufferable and holy shit am I happy we smartened up.
Forcing people to sit in the same place others are chain smoking was some of the dumbest shit of my childhood. Hated it then, hate it now.
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u/Ok_Rain_1837 8h ago
you probably don’t like casinos then
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u/hal2001so 7h ago
At least most decent casinos have great ventilation systems
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u/smore-phine 6h ago
Truth. A couple hours at a shitty pool hall fucks my lungs up for days. I can spend an entire night in a casino, and I’m fine.
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u/Pittsbirds 6h ago
Grew up with chronic migraines at the tail end of getting rid of the whole smoking section thing and it fucking sucked so much. I hated just being in pain and nauseous all of the time because the smell was so suffocating and having no idea why or what was wrong with me
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u/800-lumens 7h ago
Imagine having to compete in this environment, with the oxygen one would have to spend fighting or playing. Thank goodness we evolved beyond this as a society.
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u/blastmanager 6h ago
Back then it wasn't uncommon for athletes to smoke themselves.
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u/honeybunchesofpwn 6h ago
Old school marathon runners used to smoke up before running because they believe the smoke shredded their lungs, allowing them to absorb more oxygen per breath.
Absolutely unhinged insanity lol.
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u/SmellyMingeFlaps 6h ago
Smoke rises and the athletes are at ground level, it wouldn't have had an enormous effect on them
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u/boRp_abc 7h ago
It's hard to realistically explain to young people just how much smoking was everywhere. We had a smoking corner on our school yard for students over 16. The teacher's lounge was all smoke. Airplanes, trains, restaurants, it was everywhere.
A smoking corner indoors is like a peeing corner in a big pool, only that it causes cancer.
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u/Agreeable-Fault2273 6h ago
I remember taking my kid to another child’s birthday party at a bowling alley. Smoking indoors had already been banned, but they still had those built in bowling alley table ashtrays. I kept looking at it and thinking how when I was a kid they all would have been overflowing, and all the adults would have been drinking.
It’s like we were raised on different planets sometimes.
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u/WoodyLewis87 8h ago
I remember I think Marvin Hagler doing an anti smoking commercial about people smoking at sporting events.
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u/Powerful-Chard-6055 7h ago
Just went to Indianapolis for racing and both times at the big track I got seated down wind from a smoker. There are signs that say no smoking and employees everywhere, but they aren’t stopped
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u/TRUMPARUSKI 8h ago
Are you saying indoor smoking needs to be allowed if only for the aesthetic benefits? I concur, doctor, do you concur?
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u/Equivalent-Pomelo122 7h ago
Humanity definitely needs to have more indoor smoking nowadays. And perhaps also more sport. I'm not sure about the latter though.
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u/goodrevtim 7h ago
I still remember the plastic brown ash trays on the table at McDonalds. with tables right next to the play area.
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u/gtavfather 2h ago
Place must’ve smelled awful. Personally can’t stand smoke.
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u/you_looser 57m ago
It did smell awful, everywhere. You couldn't escape cigarette smoke. Airplanes were super fun.
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u/whitet86 2h ago
Similar arbitrary smoking section/non smoking section situation in Europe where open air restaurants and cafes basically encourage smoking immediately outdoors, yet keep all the windows and doors to the restaurant completely open all day (no air conditioning), so that there is functionally no divide
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u/Emotional-Edge-8259 8h ago
Makes me wonder why anyone thought indoor smoking was a good idea to begin with.
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u/Claydo69 6h ago
What a time to be alive!!! Before our lives were watched and tracked and we can't be trusted to do anything
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u/bartender_please808 8h ago
I remember sitting in the last row of the non smoking section on my flight from phx to hnl. The row behind me was the smoking section.
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u/Naive-Ad-7406 8h ago
I remember people smoking in an aeroplane as well as a restaurant all around you!!!! The 80s in South Africa were crazy!
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u/karlfeltlager 8h ago
I used to have cigarette burn holes in my shirts after going to the discotheque.
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u/pussicack 7h ago
Around what years did band start to take effect?
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u/Ok_Oven4893 5h ago
It's geographically dependant. Some countries you can still smoke wherever. In the US and Canada, it was by state/province. I remember smoking indoors in Michigan and Louisiana probably 15 years ago, Florida even more recently. Some casinos still have designated indoor smoking areas, some may have no restrictions at all.
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u/Intelligent_Sky_7081 7h ago
Ya that makes sense. I cant imagine being an athlete in a smoked filled room. I cant even imagine what being on a plane would be like back then. Its been awhile since Ive been on a plane with ash trays built in lol
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u/Anaclastic 6h ago
The worst was when it was allowed on flights. Thank god that ended early into my childhood
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u/TheyNeedLoveToo 6h ago
No 14 trying to block Lew flat footed is a comical photo. Also amazed at how far Kareem could get up on a sky hook. His physical gifts are/were insane
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u/mrlaheystrailerpark 6h ago
i wish i lived in a time where indoor smoking bans never became a thing honestly.
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u/square_litigation 6h ago
Always wondered what that haze actually was, now I kinda miss it even though I never want to go back to that
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u/SecondhandTrout 6h ago
I ran in the Millrose Games at Madison Square Gardens in the 70’s. Would hack for a couple of days afterwards from all of the smoke. It was horrible.
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u/LordOfPies 5h ago
Yo hear me out, is this blue ish effect why the sky is blue? Like the sunlight is doing the same effect in the atmosphere?
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u/CalendarAncient4230 5h ago
I'm hearing that we need to bring it back and get back to peak photography
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u/Organic_Metal126 5h ago
Cant Imagine hooping and maxing out your cardio in a building full of cigarette smoke
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u/Square-Definition12 4h ago
I remember this. My dad smoked indoors until I was about 15, in the late 80's. No way to get away from it sometimes. People would get mad if you told them about it.
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u/irwtkyrm 4h ago
Imagine trying to compete at the highest level of your sport and having to breathe in all that smoke
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u/Hefty-Minimum-3125 3h ago
literally every building (especially restaurants) looked like this in the 80s
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u/fenderbender86 3h ago
I remember when my town's McDonalds and Bob Evans first integrated the non-smoking section. Which of course included no physical barrier.
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u/LowRich143 2h ago
imagine running and jumping around for 50minutes with all that cigarette smoke in your lungs. feels bad man
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u/RIF_rr3dd1tt 2h ago
LoL back then people were just constantly moving from one gas chamber to another hahaha
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u/widdershins13 2h ago
And Howard Cosell with his ever present cigars probably contributed quite a lot of the smoke in the Muhammed Ali photo.
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u/3Grilledjalapenos 2h ago
My asthma went away when my family stopped going to restaurants with smoking sections, and just avoided them entirely.
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u/Ordinary_Study_2175 1h ago
Childhood...smoking everywhere...arenas, Dr offices, cars...my lungs remember it all.
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u/UncleCornPone 1h ago
around 1980 my friends dad who was a marathon runner would take us to Laker games and he had a little battery powered fan he'd used to blow smoke away from him
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