#skywatchfriday - a walk through the neighborhood

-

 I love walking through my neighborhood.  


I live in the quintessential suburb.  I live in an original Levitt house in a neighborhood designed by Levitt and Sons.

You may be familiar with the Levitt story.  Bill Levitt is credited with the creation of the modern suburb. In the late 1940’s, as veterans were returning from the war and starting families, Levitt purchased huge areas of what was then known as Island Trees, NY for his planned community.  Winding lanes of mass-produced houses, with parks, pools and shopping centers interspersed for residents’ convenience.  Eventually his development spread into parts of neighboring Wantagh and Hicksville, and the original development was renamed Levittown.

I live in a Levitt house in Hicksville, just a few blocks from the house where Billy Joel grew up.  


It’s a great place for a walk.  I love looking at the houses, how they all started out as virtually identical, but how each house has been expanded and altered …


Here are original Levitt houses








And my neighborhood now 


















I like the roof deck on that last house.



The skies above this neighborhood are a bit … crowded… because of our proximity to La Guardia and JFK …






When Levitt bought the land, most of it was potato fields, but since then …




I love that second photo, the clouds are just amazing,


And I was a tad bit jealous of this neighbor’s Halloween decorations.


You know what I think about dragons …


Anyhow, I’m really enjoying this neighborhood.

#skywatchfriday




Comments

  1. AlanaOctober 13, 2023 at 8:48 AM

    I enjoyed seeing the changes to the houses from the original - some have really changed. I was hoping to get back to Long Island this year but it isn't going to happen. We have a lot left to explore. We have what are called EJ Houses in our area (especially Endicott, West Endicott and Johnson City) built by the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Co. (major shoe manufacturer back in the day) which workers could purchase at cost and make small weekly payments on. It's not a style, though; they changed over the years as they were built to what was in style at the time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Liz A.October 13, 2023 at 2:35 PM

    We have a similar town in our area: Lakewood. I believe most of it was built up in the '50s. Not original like your area. The houses were built for returning servicemen, and now many of those houses have been upgraded and renovated and modernized.

    ReplyDelete
  3. peppylady (Dora)October 13, 2023 at 6:57 PM

    I recall house like that. The first house I recall was a brick rancher. Which was my parents.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JocelynOctober 13, 2023 at 9:57 PM

    Sweet transformations.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yogi♪♪♪October 14, 2023 at 1:03 PM

    I've read about Levitt's subdivisions. Apparently it didn't take long for people to customize the appearance. It looks like a really nice neighborhood.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It’s all coming back to me now

-
 So you should know that I am not a “shopper”.  I live in shopping mall heaven — I’m ten minutes from the Broadway Mall,  15 from Roosevelt Field and 25 from Whitman Shoppes — but I seldom go to the mall.  I prefer to shop on line.  And when I do venture into a store, I usually know what I want and buy it as quickly as possible.  I’m not one to browse through stores just to see what’s for sale. There’s a local chain,  Baked By Melissa , that specializes in mini cupcakes.  They’re primarily in Manhattan.  A few years ago Becca introduced me to their product - delicate little cakes, exquisitely decorated, very tasty.  I walk past their shop on 7th Avenue whenever we go to the theater. Well, last week I remembered that they used to have a second shop on 7th, right next to the original shop, but selling gluten-free versions of all their cupcakes. The gluten-free shop closed, but the company continues to make a gluten-free version of their product. So I thought that gluten-free cupcakes wou
Read more

Music Monday

-
Image
Another “your choice” week. How about new music from icons of the 60’s and 70’s? Let’s start with Jimmy Buffett’s posthumous hit, “Bubbles Up”. The Rolling Stones released a new song in 2023, it’s called “Angry”. The surviving Beatles (with some  help from AI) released “Now and Then”. And then Billy Joel …    The AI effects in the video blew me away… A note about the AI effects … the Beatles used it to isolate John’s vocals on an old demo.  Billy Joel had a young man play the piano then superimposed his own face onto the image of the younger man.   
Read more

Ultimate Blog Party!!!!

-
Image
thanks to suzanne , I decided to join the party. I got into blogging last year because of Suzanne. I've known her on message boards for awhile, but I've gotten to know her much better since entering the blogosphere. I've also met several others whose blogs I am starting to love, and look forward to meeting even more bloggers now that I've joined the party. So I guess that means I have to introduce myself. I am a single mom from Long Island. My older daughter, Jen, is a college freshman, going to school in New England. Younger daughter, Becca, is a high school junior. I am also an attorney with an insurance company, with offices in Jersey City, NJ, a really "wonderful" commute. I sit on the board of trustees at my synagogue (which means I do a lot of volunteer work there!), and I am active in various fundraisers for the American Cancer Society, currently planning for this year's Relay for Life. I like ot take photos, so you'll see many of them in
Read more