Here's Levittown Pa., way back in the late 40s or early 50s. It was ground Zero for the postwar housing development mania. It's not my taste, but I can see where it was a big advance for the workers who bought affordable houses there. Folksingers on the other hand, were appalled by it, and one of the catchiest folksongs I know was written to ridicule it (actually it ridiculed Daly City, which was a smaller version of Levittown):
Geez, workers having their own houses, sending their kids to universities, having children who became doctors, lawyers and executives...sounds like a success story to me, but what do I know?
Anyway, I have to admit that the initial uniformity of the houses was a bit off putting. I bring the subject up because I live in one of those post WWII developments myself. Yes, me...I live in one of the dreaded hell holes reviled by folksingers. I thought readers might like to see how one of these places evolved into whatever it is today.
Of course I live on the West Coast where houses tend to be lower and wider than ones in the East Coast example, but I imagine the square footage is roughly the same...and our tract houses are made of stucco, which is as "ticky-tacky" as you can get.
My development was created in the early 50s. These houses are cheery and comfortable, and they're all made of cheap materials available at any Home Depot-type store. They're affordable and easy to repair. So why did they excite such fury in the folksingers?
Er, the telephone pole is actually straight, the lean comes from a camera distortion.
I imagine that these houses looked bleak and arid when they were new, but they didn't stay that way. People planted trees and shrubs, and tinkered together add-ons. I wouldn't be surprised if Levittowners did the same thing.
I'd need more photos to do justice to the subject, but this is all I've got so I'll end for now. No wait, I have a couple more pictures with a different emphasis. I'll put those up......
Okay, how do you like this porch (above) and front door? "What porch? What door?" you say? Good question! Well, you can't see them because they're covered with leaves and branches. I pity the poor mailman who no doubt gets scratched to ribbons every time he delivers a letter.
Actually, lots of doors around here are hidden behind thorns and bramble. The developers in this area were real pranksters, real rubber chicken and joy buzzer types.
How do you like that phony roof trim that leads to nowhere? Variations of that are aaaaall over the place here. I'll take some pictures of it and you won't believe what you see! I only wish I could show you the built-in birdhouse that's out of frame. It dominates the front of the house. You could put an ostrich in it.
