topic Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse? in Community Chat

If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

HollyDays — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 18:35:48 GMT

Has the neighborhood gone down or are people keeping up the homes or does it look the same?

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

deepwaterdotter — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 18:44:31 GMT

Still there and about the same through the years.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

Preds — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 18:47:34 GMT

Downhill, but there is currently a revitalization project going on. Hopefully, it will bring it up.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

Lipstickdiva — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 18:50:04 GMT

I am living in my childhood home. It is still a nice neighborhood but not as nice as it was when I was growing up. There are a couple of vacant homes now so of course, those aren't maintained well at all. The other houses that are being lived in are all well maintained with the exception of 1.

There is a newer shopping center that backs up to my street. Unfortunately, people steal from those stores and our street is the one they run down so we often see them running full speed up the street trying to make their get away or cops are all over our street chasing them or looking for them. There have been a couple of times they've jumped our fence and run through our backyard. Once we were sitting outside as they ran through....twice!!!

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

loveschocolate — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 18:50:23 GMT

Still there and the neighborhood is the same. House looks well maintained!

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

RainCityGirl — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 18:52:47 GMT

The house my dad built is still standing, but the neighborhood has changed so much thanks to the freeway which cut through the area and took out many homes in the vicinity. What was once a crescent shaped street, became a half crescent, and though the freeway can't be seen or heard from there, it still left its mark. My dad's greenhouse was standing empty, dilapidated and sad, the retaining wall in the back below the garden was crumbling, the red brick raised flower bed was torn out, as was the beautiful blue spruce in the front yard. I don't even want to think about what the inside of the house looks like now. A major highway and all its commerce nearby was basically left a ghost highway after the freeway went in, and most of the businesses there are gone. I guess Tom Wolfe was right when he said "You can't go home again."

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

Blahblahvampemer — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 18:55:53 GMT

I was inside my old home 10 years after we moved, and it looked better due to a renovation after a kitchen fire. When I looked it up recently on Google, the entrance to the neighborhood wasn't being maintained. Surprising as the houses are 600K and up, and the property taxes are around $10,000.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

HollyDays — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 19:02:01 GMT

On 4/7/2015 RainCityGirl said:
The house my dad built is still standing, but the neighborhood has changed so much thanks to the freeway which cut through the area and took out many homes in the vicinity. What was once a crescent shaped street, became a half crescent, and though the freeway can't be seen or heard from there, it still left its mark. My dad's greenhouse was standing empty, dilapidated and sad, the retaining wall in the back below the garden was crumbling, the red brick raised flower bed was torn out, as was the beautiful blue spruce in the front yard. I don't even want to think about what the inside of the house looks like now. A major highway and all its commerce nearby was basically left a ghost highway after the freeway went in, and most of the businesses there are gone. I guess Tom Wolfe was right when he said "You can't go home again."

That's sad.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

shaniquatana — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 19:08:10 GMT

Grew up in several homes. Left almost 40 years ago and have no desire to ever go back.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

terrier3 — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 19:25:01 GMT

My childhood parish church was chosen for a "Mass Mob" - people come from all over and fill the pews (and collection basket). The parishioners give tours...it was a lot of fun.

BUT - the parish school closed about 10 years ago and the building is still empty. The church used to be filled for 5 or 6 Masses every weekend - now they just have 2 and it's 3/4 empty.

The main street has NO businesses, except for a few small places...no restaurants, grocery stores, not much of anything. The neighborhood has definitely gone downhill.

But, on the positive side, home prices and taxes are low and there seemed to be a lot of small children around again.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

qvcfreak — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 19:25:32 GMT

My nephew lives there and he has done a lot of upgrades to Mom's house and the neighborhood is the same.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

Chrystaltree2 — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 19:35:11 GMT

The house I was born in is still there and the house I grew up in is still there. The house I was born is in the city and it's a poor area now and while the main street is run down; the residential streets that run off it aren't so bad. I suppose you could say the neighborhood was middle class 50 years ago and now it's working class. But not a "ghetto" environment. My childhood home and the neighborhood hasn't changed much at all, if anything, it's a little nicer because some of the vacant lots we played in as kids now have really nice town houses on them. It's still working class to middle class and still "nice". When I grew up it was a white neighborhood and now it's mostly African Americans and Hispanics. I like driving around that neighborhood, we moved in when I was 4 and we left when I was 18. All my childhood memories are there.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

hyacinth003 — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 19:39:51 GMT

My childhood of over 20 years in Chicago IS still there.

No, the neighborhood is not in any way as nice as when I lived there.

Hyacinth

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

foundinlv — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 19:40:38 GMT

In the home I lived in during the 60's in Long Beach CA the homes and landscaping have been beautifully kept up, the only thing that has changed are the demographics. I distinctly remember that my elementary school taught basic Spanish back then and it being predominately a white European area at the time, mom's were scratching their head over that; very short sighted of them! A couple people I knew back in the day are living in their parent's home loving it, as they passed and left it to them....it's a very peaceful area and neat as a pin.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

Cranberries — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 20:32:48 GMT

It's still there, the neighborhood mostly looks the same, seems it's more people my age living there (based on who I've seen outside/in their yard when I've gone by) The streets in the area seem much busier now.

Before it was mostly older people (think grandparent age) with some families my parents age and the other kids in the neighborhood who we played together and went to school with.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

Linders Back — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 20:43:57 GMT

Grew up in North Jersey. House looks the same and neighborhood is still thriving. Unfortunately, can't say the same for the lovely street of Victorian Homes that my father's doctor's office was on. They are rundown and surrounded now by chain link fences with razor wire around the tops to keep the drug traffickers out. Funny what a difference a few miles can make between a nice "bedroom community" and a down and out city.

City has a great mayor now who is trying to turn things around and progress is being made. Wish him all the best.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

shoptilyadropagain — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 20:47:48 GMT

My childhood home is still there and the neighborhood has improved a little. I've driven by that house often and some day I may get up the nerve to go to the door and ask to see it.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

naturalfan — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 20:51:48 GMT

The neighborhood I grew up in was a combination of working class Germans, Polish, and Irish people, most very hard working families who kept up their homes as best as they could. The neighborhood went through a decline in the 70's - 80's, but has since gotten much better. Lots of new construction and renovation of the older buildings. New homes now sell in the $1.5 to the $2 million range, and some much higher than that. I would say most of the older buildings have been renovated and the neighborhood is a prime draw for people who want to live in a nice, family friendly area with yards for kids and pets, but want to stay in the city.

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

CardinalGirl — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 20:56:05 GMT

My mom still lives in the same house they were building when I was born (we lost my dad several years ago).....and I live down on the other end of the same street. The neighborhood is still the same!

Re: If you were to return to your childhood home, is it still there and has the neighborhood gotten better or worse?

traveler — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 20:57:24 GMT

I grew up on several Michigan farms. They are all gone, suburbia now reigns.