Walk

Recently I’ve been doing most of my walking in my own neighborhood.  I live in Levittown, the quintessential suburb, the prototype for suburban development in postwar America.  

When Bill Levitt designed and built these house in 1947 and 1948, there were two models.   The 750 sq. ft. cape featured a kitchen at the front of the house, two bedrooms and a bathroom at the back of the house, and the living room off to the side, with a loft above for expansion.  Slab foundation, so no basement, and no garage.  

At 800 sq, ft., the ranch was slightly larger, with the living room at the back of the house and two bedrooms on the side.

Later models sometimes included a carport or garage. The houses in my current neighborhood, built in 1950, included garages.

Over the years people built out or up, or out and up.  Some people added garages, others converted existing garages to additional living space.  People expanded driveways and added fences and porches and landscaping …what started out as identical, cookie cutter houses (actually built as if they were on a giant assembly line) have morphed into neighborhoods of very individualized houses, no two alike. Throw in the McMansions (the original house torn down and replaced), plus the houses that existed before Levitt came along, and you will see unique neighborhoods, each with its own character and style.

I think that’s what fascinates me.  I’ve lived in four different Levitt houses in four different neighborhoods, and each house and neighborhood was an experience similar but not identical to the others.

On a recent walk I spotted something I’ve never seen before…

  

Van Gogh would be thrilled.

And proof of our existence under a flight path …

 Definitely an interesting neighborhood.