Today, people look for love on dating apps. In 2023, at least 30% of adults in America said they've used dating apps at least once. But back in the day, you'd have to take out a personal ad in the local paper if you wanted to find love or reach out to a missed connection.
Also called lonely hearts ads, these short messages would often be quirky, romantic, and witty. But they could also be direct, morally questionable, and contain a whiff of casual sexism. Thanks to the Instagram page Long Lost Personals, today we get to see what folks from the '50s might've put in their Tinder bios if they had a chance.
So, what are you waiting for? Scroll down and maybe you'll get some inspiration for your next conversation starter from these vintage Don Juans and Femme Fatales!
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#1
1967. For your Sunday morning This is the closest I could find to the Sister Act soundtrack version. Now I feel like watching Sister Act.
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#2
1983. At least she got around to placing this ad.
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#3
1995. Detroit vampires always trying to glamour you with their long letters.
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The modern newspaper came out around 1690, and it only took a few years for horny folks to start looking for hot singles in their area. At the beginning of the 18th century, matrimonial agencies were a very serious thing. Men would pay these agencies to post ads in the newspaper on their behalf to recruit a good wife for them.
There was little pride in using this service. Unmarried men and women past the age of 21 would be shamed to no end by society, and if your friends found out you used the services of a matrimonial agency, it would signal your own inadequacies as a wanted suitor.
By the early 20th century, personal ads were much more mainstream. There was less pressure and expectations, and some people really were just looking for pen pals or friends.
#4
2004. Fun to throw a missed connection into the mix every now and then.
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#5
Late 1980s-ish. A couple more personals from the bedsheets! I found an awesome set of vintage bedsheets with personal ads from New York magazine printed on them. Unfortunately they are twin size, so I can’t sleep in them unless I get a twin bed.
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#6
1981. Time to face your fears.
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Until around the 1960s, personal ads were used mostly by "lonely soldiers" and people looking for pen pals. According to history lecturer at the University of Nottingham, UK, H.G. C***s, it still wasn't as widely accepted. "At that time, advertising for pals or for lonely soldiers was fashionable and contemporary," he explained. "Something done by those who were, as they put it in their ads, 'bohemian and unconventional.'"
For many years (and perhaps until today, even), people associated personal ads with suspicious and seedy folk. "At least that is what the police tended to think, and they only stopped prosecuting lonely hearts ads in the late 1960s — until then, they often thought that they were mainly placed by [adult workers] and gay men," C***s says.
#7
1976. Finally, someone who sees the virtue in vice.
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#8
1976. According to Wikipedia, the first insulin pump was manufactured two years before this ad, in 1974. I wonder if this nudist colony ever got off the ground.
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#9
1966. I knew there was an answer. RIP Brian, one of the great American composers.
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Today, some people equate internet dating sites to the personal ads column. They attract people who have failed to court a partner in the traditional way and are often used by older people. People over 30 still prefer dating apps or meeting people the old-fashioned way.
When asked whether personal dating ads just boil down to "Loser seeking Winner", C***s has a more nuanced view. "I think those opinions are really those of younger people, [such as] those under 30 who see no need for Internet dating. Or of married people."
#10
1974. You’re getting sleepy. Very sleepy.
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#11
1995. The whole town freaked, even the horse.
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#12
1967. An early sapiosexual.
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We might think that personal dating ads are a thing of the past. You might listen to "The Piña Colada Song" by Rupert Holmes and think: "This is so '70s! Who puts an ad for a hookup in a newspaper?!?" Surprisingly, these types of ads might actually be making a comeback. Lately, experts have noticed a trend where people are craving a slower type of dating – one that Hinge, Tinder, or Bumble can't really provide.
#13
1984. From Bay Windows, New England’s largest gay and lesbian newspaper.
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#14
1984. I am not a dream boy.
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#15
1968. For those who are lonely.
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In 2019, several pages dedicated to posting people's personal dating ads began making the rounds on Instagram. One LGBTQIA+ personal ads page even had 60k followers at that time. A similar page still exists today on Twitter and Bluesky – it's the Red Yenta for socialists. The QPOC Personals for queer and trans people of color was going strong until COVID hit, but is still a testament that we're craving another kind of dating experience.
#16
1972. Time to go see Nosferatu.
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#17
1972. Taking a brief intermission from the personals section to feature some other types of entertaining classifieds. I very badly want to meet the person responding to the description “reliable, sensible freak person.”
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#18
Date unknown. She’s just after your Dalmatians.
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Cincinnati magazine CityBeat also tried bringing back looking for love through personal ads for Valentine's Day 2025. Years ago, the publication ran a section called "CINgles." As co-founder of the magazine Dan Bockwrath explains, they "were kind of the original social media before social media went digital."
"I think there was some authenticity to what it is that we did," he went on. "I think people were very genuinely interested in using the platform for its intended purpose."
#19
1995. Crawl out of that dumpster and find a pen.
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#20
1966. I believe this is the earliest overt lesbian ad I’ve run across in my collection so far.
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#21
1972. Free ASL lessons.
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Why might the idea of old-fashioned looking-for-love ads look so appealing to us today? For starters, we're growing increasingly fed up with anything that has to do with the Internet and the digital world. Relationship expert Georgina Vass explains to Cosmopolitan that we just want to spend less time on apps.
"In the personal ad scenario, a person can spend a fixed amount of time creating and posting an ad, and then (hopefully more successfully as compared with apps) relinquish the compulsion to keep searching," she says.
#22
1967. Your daily reminder to love yourself.
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#23
1972. Beep beep. This is what the horn plays.
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#24
1968. How are you getting to Mexico? Bike with Craig, aeroplane, or via Las Vegas by car with Al?
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In queer culture, personal ads have a bit of a different history. As homosexuality was illegal, connection ads were one of the few ways gays and lesbians could meet in the old days. That's where the notion that the personal column contains perversities and scams comes from; the police used to assume that. But the contemporary queer community is reclaiming the power of personal ads and bringing them back on Instagram.
#25
1965. These are from a teen beat magazine from 1965 where adolescents and young adults are seeking pen pals (and some flirtation, from the looks of it). We are wishing Joy the best of luck in her collecting endeavors.
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#26
1967. I think this one actually might be CIA code. Published in a New York City counterculture weekly.
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#27
1996. Welp guess I’m gonna get mauled.
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The Instagram dating community Personals was the brainchild of Kelly Rakowski, the creator of Herstory. It's now defunct, but started out as a personal ads page for lesbians. Rakowski would ask people to sit down and think about what they wanted to say and who they were.
"It's a sincere process. You're more vulnerable and people are really responding to that." According to her, people nowadays are craving a more genuine connection, not just a selfie and a cute emoji they can swipe right or left on.
#28
1972. I can dig it.
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#29
1970. The extra “very” is a nice touch.
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#30
1977. Do you ever feel like you’re being watched?
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What do you think about these personal ads, Pandas? Would you ever consider posting such an ad yourself? What would your witty dating CV be? Share your thoughts with us in the comments! And while you're here, be sure to check out some hilarious stories about dates gone horribly wrong!
#31
1989. I feel like this ad is just seeking Oscar Wilde.
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#32
1994. Seeking love in the pages of a weekly in Providence, RI.
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#33
1995. I will forever more think of “shadowy white female” whenever I see SWF.
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#34
1995. I was curious if the corkscrew line was a reference to something so I Googled it. All I found is a multitude of news stories about people being stabbed by corkscrews.
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#35
1975. The less hinged the better.
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#36
1971. Spell time.
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#37
1979. The misadventures of Mouse & Loser.
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#38
1944. Susie wants love during wartime
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#39
1995. Queen of my world.
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#40
1997. I hope my song selection is non-major label enough for them.
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#41
1984. Perfect personal ad. No notes.
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#42
1997. Trent Reznor lookalikes and chicken grease abound in these late 90s Seattle missed connections.
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#43
1998. A little selection from the Girls Seeking Girls section of the Seattle Stranger.
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#44
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#45
1967. Need help ordering husband around.
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#46
1991. Who needs to live near a body of water?
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#47
1967. Hot take for Pride Month.
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#48
1967. I messed up big time not posting her for Friday the 13th. Better late than never.
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#49
1984. File under: highly relatable.
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#50
1970. You’re going down in the first round.
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#51
1999. Back when unplugging the computer would turn it off. Get out of the rat race now. Simplify, man!
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#52
1966. But did he love or hate Amadeus 18 years later?
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#53
1976. There shan’t be any nudism during the week. Now fill out my post-coital survey and be sure to use a #2 pencil.
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#54
1974. A little Catholic guilt never hurt anyone.
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#55
1988. It’s a big “if.”
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#56
1991. Opposites attract.
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#57
1985. I didn’t know flight attendants had these requirements but from what I can find most airlines require you to be 5’2”-5’4” at a minimum (to perform functions like reaching overhead compartments) and have vision that can be corrected to a certain level. I guess that’s the new thing I’m learning today.
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#58
1970. Let’s be lonely together.
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#59
1989. I first read this as “Must love frogs.”
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#60
c. 1970s. Be young. Be slender. Be jealous.
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#61
1994. For those on the sidelines while the lovers kiss on New Years.
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#62
1967. Dying of boredom over here.
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#63
1972. I’m walkin’ here!
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#64
1981. The word of the day is “mystical”
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#65
1983. Starting now I will only answer to “Hambone.”
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#66
1995. At 23, do you think this guy was making mashed potatoes from scratch or using boxed?
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#67
1984. A relatable list of likes and dislikes.
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#68
1968. Any girls into GYL?
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#69
1984. You’ve got to love a guy who is running your natal chart after receiving your first letter.
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#70
1972. From The Transvestite World Directory, an early publication dedicated to the interests of the trans community. It included advice columns, personals, hair, makeup and clothing tips and more. Note that it uses some outdated language like transvestite (TV) and transsexual (TS) and many of the ad authors identify as male.
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#71
1976. The eternal struggle.
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#72
1994. I believe this is the third time I’ve seen this particular ren faire mentioned in the personals. Two in 1994, one in the late 1960s. Now get your costume on. For some context, the ad author doesn’t give any info about themselves other than they seem to like costumed young men, but this is from a gay weekly so it would be a M4M ad.
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#73
1993. Friendship? Priorities first.
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#74
1976. Everyone say hi to Doug.
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#75
1997. Why oh why must my dream woman be trapped in 1997?
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#76
1983. Her husband is dead to her.
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#77
1974. Blessed are the strong swimmers, for theirs is the kingdom of mammary heaven.
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#78
1976. It’s important to have an attention-grabbing headline.
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#79
1998. Get down on some 90s TV. Remember Xena the Warrior Princess??
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#80
1994. I love how wonderfully complex people can be.
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#81
1982. When I spotted the headline I really wasn’t expecting the “juicy”
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#82
1976. The ballad of Barbara A. and the Debbies of Milwaukee.
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#83
1998. Past life regression therapy can get you into all sorts of situations.
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#84
1992. Looks not as important as your belief in ghosts.
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#85
1980. Bringing the dynamite may have been more appropriate for yesterday. Kisses, xoxo
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