Today's blog is centered on the suburbs of the 1950's and 60's. The post war era that brought home those fighting in World War Two as well as Korea. As these soldiers were coming home, there came about a need to house these people as well as there soon-to-be families with the onset of the baby boom. Another idea that arose at the same time was the idea of everybody having their own "piece of the pie", real estate. It became common place for people to want their own piece of land with their own house and garage for their new car. There was a large push away from renting in the "over crowded" city to the openness and fresh air of the suburbs. As the song "Little Boxes" portrays, there was a huge movement to produce an enormous amount of affordable housing for all of these soldiers who were coming home from the wars with pockets full of money earned fighting overseas. What ended up happening was that a lot of these houses turned out looking the same. Each neighborhood would have one maybe two different type of house that would be erected on every lot of the suburb so every house would look the same, ticky-tacky.
Traveling along Millersport Highway, you can easily see the ticky-tacky little boxes the song is talking about. Almost every house on that stretch of road is the same house. Some have been added on to, like a second floor or a larger garage, but all were built at the same time and look the same. Cape cod style house with a single car attached garage. What I feel is kinda of funny is that my house was built in 1936, pre WWII and here is a picture:
Funny thing huh? The definitive house of the suburbs!! I didn't really put these two together until well after I bought this house. Also, this is not on that stretch of Millersport, this is located in Tonawanda yet the house style is the same and it somewhat acts the same for me. This is my house with my yard in my neighborhood. And yes, there are a large number of capes on my street as well as in the general area.
I think Hayden's argument is pretty close. The suburbs gave the impression that they promised certain things and then they delivered, house yard and neighborhood. Today, however, I think the suburbs do not eliver these three things. I don't feel that the newer suburbs deliver the neighborhood aspect any more. Too many of these newer suburbs lose the concept of neighborhood. The houses are too far apart that people who live next door to each other may find it difficult to actually see each other on a regular basis. Another influence on this lack of interaction to me is the the idea of lawnservices. Back in the 50's and 60's in these new suburbs, people took pride in taking care of their own lawns and landscaping. These days, I can't even count how many landscape businesses are in the phone book. With these homeowners not going out to take care of their own property, they lose the chance to interact and get to know their own neighbors. This is why I feel the suburbs are lacking the idea of neighborhood these days.
I think that's a great point about lawn services, and you can throw snow shoveling ans snowplowing in there as well. These ARE ways neighbors interact. Hayden is not happy with alterations in suburban site plans that crammed more houses into the same area for the sake of profit, but I think you have an important to make about physical proximity.
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