It's 1924 on Mulberry Street, so it's time to reflect on what happened that year and what to expect for the upcoming holidays.

First of all, life expectancy was around 54 years old, versus today's 80. This is largely due to modern-day medicine. Even over-the-counter medicine you reach for when you have a headache like Tylenol or Ibuprofen, wasn’t even invented yet. In fact, back then they would reach for over-the-counter heroin or mercury.

The 19th Amendment had just been ratified, giving women the right to vote. Still, many women didn’t because of their husband’s opinions about women in powerful positions.

In 1924, the average yearly income was $2,196, with the average house costing $7,700. The 1924 dollar was worth nearly $18 today. A dozen eggs were 2¢. A new car cost just $265 and gas was 13-25¢ a gallon --and to keep it clean, two cars at a time could run through the Auto Wash Bowl to clean the mud and dirt from the wheels and axles.

The country had 48 states and the Statue of Liberty was designated as a National Monument.

That year, Wheaties cereal was just introduced, as well as the Bit-O-Honey candy bar, Butter Brickle, Dum Dums, iodized table salt, Kleenex facial tissues, locking pliers, and Marlboro cigarettes. Woefully, alcohol had been illegal for four years.

November saw the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It started in Harlem and ended at Macy's Herald Square store, featuring floats, live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo, marching bands, and employees dressed in costumes.

In 1924's the world witnessed the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, and the Summer Olympics in Paris. The Boston Bruins became the first USA-based hockey team to join the National Hockey League. The first round-the-world flight was completed by four U.S. Army Air Service planes.

In politics, Calvin Coolidge was elected President, Vladimir Lenin died, and J. Edgar Hoover became the first director of the FBI, while Adolf Hitler was sentenced for the Beer Hall Putsch. In December, he was released from Landsberg Prison as part of a general amnesty for political prisoners. He returned to his small Munich apartment where his friends threw him a party.

1924 was the year the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was renamed International Business Machines (IBM), and both the Mercedes-Benz company and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) were founded.

In case any one is about to hit the stores for Christmas gifts, newspapers published suggestions that year: for women, silk and wool hosiery ($1.50 to $5), feather fans ($1.98 to $10.50) and handkerchiefs (15 cents to $1); for men,  silk shirts ($5 to $7.95), leather belts (50 cents to $1.00) and sweater vests ($5.95 to $6.95; and for children, dolls ($1 to $12.50), beauty pins (50 cents to $2.50) and ribbon boxes ($1.50), as well as footballs, toy trucks and trains.