Spinoff: How has life changed where you live?

[Tsuga]

Reading the childhood nostalgia thread made me sad, not because I lost something, but because what was my then unusually poor, unusually restricted, unusually unsafe childhood in Southern California in government housing, has now spread to the rest of the US. :( I never wanted to go back to CA because of the poverty and crime. But what I feel like I'm hearing on the nostalgia thread is that it wasn't southern CA... now it's everywhere. Say it ain't so, people!

 

I was born in the outskirts of Portland, Oregon in the 1970s. Mainly the prices have gone up, but much is the same. Even in Seattle, well, there are changes, mainly in price and density, but it's much the same.

 

When I was my kids' age, we lived in a town in WA about as big as where we live now. It was a middle class suburb (remember that?). We walked home from the bus alone. We walked to the neighbors' houses alone, even at four and five. We played in the garden alone, we walked in the woods.

 

My children do that today in our suburban town. It's not perfectly safe but it's safer than it was back then. My sister lives in a small town. Kids there walk to the one grocery store or gas station to buy their parents things for the house. You can easily walk across town yourself. Everyone knows you. Kids get into trouble that way but it's accepted that they are kids. Same in this town. Someone will just tell you to knock it off.

 

We were poor so we bought our clothes at the Goodwill, but so did the teachers' and dentists' kids, except they got new shoes. This was OR and WA in the 1970s and early 1980s. In CA, I remember how people all had new, brand new clothes, except us poor kids. Well in OR and WA even in our posh area, people still shop at Goodwill quite a bit. Why waste? 

 

We had swings at our parks and on the trees. Right now my daughter is outside on a swing hung on a tree, with her friend. (It's dark, yes, but oh well.) Her sister is at a friend's house, playing in a cardboard "race car" that she made herself. Just like we used to do.

 

We used to go into the forest and pick berries. We still do that. We used to pick apples at the neighbor's house. My kids still walk three blocks to do that. And now there is a lady with a little library that is out all summer that they give and take books from!!!

 

The kids still walk together from the bus stops and walk blocks and blocks to their friends' houses.

 

In Seattle, every day in Rainier I see kids walking to school. Maybe not ALL of them can walk but many can. It's not a social safety issue, but traffic, that keeps some in cars. Big kids walk the little kids from the nearby apartments. Same in Greenwood, where I used to work. In Portland, when we visited, we saw many children walking themselves to the parks in the neighborhood where we stayed.

 

Some things have changed. Like now the kids can bring a phone when they go to the 7-11 to get a Slurpee. Or if they are flush with allowance they can walk to Starbucks and get a decaf Frappucino (what a waste!!!! ACK! Whatever, they love it.)

 

We used to have to wait until my mom came home to borrow the old video camera she got from my uncle, and when my mom was a kid, only grandpa was allowed to use his old camera to take home movies. But nowadays, our kids can take their hand-me-down phones and make movies everywhere!

 

We used to get pictures of family once a year. But now if you are on Facebook you can get them every day, and if you aren't, like me, well I get them from my sister when I see her. 

 

Back then, bad parents smoked pot and did cocaine. Now it's pot, heroin and meth. I guess that's worse.

 

The kids still make popsicles from orange juice and suck them on blankets on the lawn while they read Ramona the Pest or Little House on the Prairie. They still try to make their own lemonade for their lemonade stand and two summers in a row can't figure out how they are losing money charging 10 cents a cup for fresh lemonade and free samples for "friends and relatives", even with parent-subsidized paper cups.

 

They still all scream when they hear the ice-cream truck.

 

They go sledding on the local hill and ice-skating, just like my partner did, at the central park's ice rink.

 

They ride bikes through the forest and go to grandma's on the weekend and hang out watching hummingbirds in the backyard.

 

Of course all this is interspersed with modernity: Internet instead of TV, organic food options, and robotics camp.

 

I'm not complaining.

 

Positive or negative, how have things changed where you are?

 

(Adding: I realize not all of SoCal is like my experience. My experience was very much poverty + inequality + Southern California. Not a fun combo, but also not representative of every experience there.)

Edited March 13, 2016 by Tsuga

[Guest]

About this:

We were poor so we bought our clothes at the Goodwill, but so did the teachers' and dentists' kids, except they got new shoes. This was OR and WA in the 1970s and early 1980s. In CA, I remember how people all had new, brand new clothes, except us poor kids. Well in OR and WA even in our posh area, people still shop at Goodwill quite a bit. Why waste?

I find that attitudes about clothing and used goods vary widely where I live. It is not different from when I was a kid. The variation is not where you live. It is more about how posh and elitist of an attitude you embrace. It is one thing I have liked about being part of the homeschooling community; there are fewer people who act posh. There are niches in the same region that act posh. Forgive the term; I can't think of a better description. There are niches, say, a certain ballfield or gym, where everyone seems like they aim to out-do the others - their kids are outfitting in head-to-toe UnderArmour, they talk about their vacations and "name drop" expensive colleges and private schools, they are always renovating or redecorating or updating their perfectly suitable homes.

 

But then there are other niches (where I fit in, and these are often current or former hsers) where the parents are openly frugal. These parents are happy to tell you how they got a steal on those shoes or were Freecycled a perfectly awesome baseball mit, or where they get great consignment deals. It doesn't seem to have much to do with where you live necessarily (though there are some neighborhoods where that competition is palpable) and it doesn't even seem to be connected to level of wealth. There are some people just scrambling to look posh, even if it takes a credit card to do it while others who DO have money are quite happy to keep it and not blow it on a fancy doohickey.

[SKL]

I am not sure how my original neighborhood has changed since I lived there.  I drive through it once in a while, as I don't live very far from there.  We lived in a working-class neighborhood in a large city.  In my youth, the city was "de facto" segregated.  Now, it is much more integrated.  The neighborhood seems poorer, but that could be because I am old enough to recognize such things.  Also, 40 years will do a number on any house.  But hey, it's still there, and our street is even red brick still.  I think the storefronts are more walled-up in general, where there used to be more big windows.  Crime increased when I was a kid, which is why we moved out when I was 12.  I had a free-range childhood, but that was the norm generally in those days, and I don't know if the neighborhood is free range today.  I doubt it, considering how much hype there is about every child being in constant danger.

 

My kids are being brought up in a suburb which is much newer and mid-to-upper middle-class.  This neighborhood did not exist when I was a kid.  There aren't many families with kids around.  You can't walk to anything unless you have a lot of time.  Because my kids didn't have any kid neighbors until they were 7/8, they didn't really do much bumming around the neighborhood before that.  They were driven to school because there was no bus service.  Then I drove them to activities so they would have some exercise after school.  Around age 8/9 they started going around the neighborhood more, but the pattern of after-school and weekend activities was already entrenched, so just hanging out is the exception rather than the norm.

 

They are getting old enough to take themselves to some nearby activities, like the rec center and the library, but these facilities have rules against kids being there without their parents.  So unfortunately, that will have to wait a few more years, unless I can find some way around the rules.

[SKL]

As for second-hand clothes, some of my favorite clothes were bought at thrift stores years ago.  And many are hand-me-downs from people who have gained weight faster than I have.  ;)  The only clothes I buy new are t-shirts from places I travel to, and the occasional pair of jeans to replace a retired pair.  I was not brought up to be materialistic about clothes.  For my kids, I will buy second-hand if I have the opportunity, but often Amazon.com is easier and just as cost-effective.  I guess my kids' activities and afterschooling cost my ability to browse thrift stores, but I don't mind.  :)  Kids' clothes aren't that expensive, and they do last a long time.

[gardenmom5]

seattle has really changed - it used to be this nice little city.   now - it's just hustle and bustle, overcrowded, and it's not remotely as kid friendly as it was when I was growing up.  (despite what they advertise.)    I now actually avoid going into seattle as much as possible.  well - pike place market/1st ave isn't quite as sleezy as it used to be.

 

I remember the "destination" downtown dept store in its heyday, which is out of business.  nordstrom took over the building - and it's not nearly as classy.  of course, I remember when nordstrom's flagship main store (it started in seattle. my grandmother only ever called it 'best' becasue nordstrom the shoestore took over best the clothing store) was a hodgepodge of buildings on the block - they were thrilled to get the F&N building when they went under. and the ONLY 'nordstrom rack' was in the basement of said nordstrom hodgepodge of buildings.  the racks were so close together - and stuffed so tightly - you could barely move and find anything on the racks.  I remember when toddler 1dd took off her shoe . . . . I was crawling around underneath the racks on the floor - other shoppers wondering who the crazy woman was.  I found the shoes though. I didn't have money to just go buy her more shoes.

 

I've missed the old MoHaI building. I took my kids to it  - and it was so different . .. and the dollhouse isn't even in the new one.  had the most wonderful dollhouse, and the dioramas of the settlers at alkai (which I think are in the new building.)  and all the animals are gone.  now - if you want to see stuffed animals - you have to go to cabelas. it used to be much easier to drive around UW campus . . . there are many roads I remember when they were roads - now they're for pedestrians only.

 

as a young child, I used to love feeding nuts to the chipmunks at paradise (they sold them inside the lodge). I even remember the campground at paradise (you have to know where it was, it's very difficult to even see the remenants anymore.)   I understand the reasons those things were ended, but there is still nostalgia.  and the old visitors center (before they added onto it - and have since torn it down)- just isn't the same as the new one.  and now the exhibits are all very PC, and actually less about education of the mt/animals/plants than they originally were.

 

I've been here a long time - I remember when the old-red barn was opened as the museum of flight for boeing.  that WAS the museum. (now, it's a small section.)

 

and a few years ago - when they painted the space needle orange for it's anniversary - the orange they used was WRONG!  it was just - wrong.  and all the fountains they got rid, and the bubbleator at the center house (someone scored.  it was last seen in someone's yard being used as a green house.)

[Elfknitter.#]

I don't really understand your SoCal experience, save new vs used goods, from your post.

 

I've been in SoCal almost 40 years. I'm technically not a native of CA. So the new vs. used, less than popular culture worthy bit I get. We weren't always a Goodwill buying family, but I have distinct memories where Payless Shoes Prowings were less than acceptable by those who made a stink or the moment corduroys were "out" even though that was the back to school thing to buy as it was in all the stores.

[Laura Corin]

I grew up in Clifton in Bristol. It's a Georgian suburb (now central to the city) of beautiful four or five-storey terraced houses.  When we moved in, it was very cheap: most of the houses were divided up into small flats; our neighbours were students, and old ladies with cats.  Now it's a very upmarket place and the houses are worth over a million pounds ( over 1.5 million USD).  We moved out when it started to get 'fancy' and my mum didn't feel as if she fit there any longer.

 

 I'm a bit less disconcerted by 'fancy' than my mother is - I've lived all over the world and seen a lot of different ways of living.

 

As far as freedoms for children: my children have roamed free just as I did.  They catch buses just as I did.  We now live in a small village near a small town in Scotland. 

Edited March 13, 2016 by Laura Corin

[creekland]

Very, very little has changed where I grew up.  The color of some houses - maybe occasionally even a new one or a newly overgrown abandoned one  The names of some stores.  An occasional new store built where an old one once stood.  Everyone having computers and cell phones.  That's about it - well, other than needing passports or enhanced IDs at the border now.  Most of my favorite restaurants are still there.

 

Rural doesn't change often - esp rural and farther away from pretty much everything.

 

A bit more has changed around where we live now in just the 19 years we've been here than in the almost 50 years of where I grew up.

[DawnM]

Reading the childhood nostalgia thread made me sad, not because I lost something, but because what was my then unusually poor, unusually restricted, unusually unsafe childhood in Southern California in government housing, has now spread to the rest of the US. :( I never wanted to go back to CA because of the poverty and crime. But what I feel like I'm hearing on the nostalgia thread is that it wasn't southern CA... now it's everywhere. Say it ain't so, people!

 

I was born in the outskirts of Portland, Oregon in the 1970s. Mainly the prices have gone up, but much is the same. Even in Seattle, well, there are changes, mainly in price and density, but it's much the same.

 

When I was my kids' age, we lived in a town in WA about as big as where we live now. It was a middle class suburb (remember that?). We walked home from the bus alone. We walked to the neighbors' houses alone, even at four and five. We played in the garden alone, we walked in the woods.

 

My children do that today in our suburban town. It's not perfectly safe but it's safer than it was back then. My sister lives in a small town. Kids there walk to the one grocery store or gas station to buy their parents things for the house. You can easily walk across town yourself. Everyone knows you. Kids get into trouble that way but it's accepted that they are kids. Same in this town. Someone will just tell you to knock it off.

 

We were poor so we bought our clothes at the Goodwill, but so did the teachers' and dentists' kids, except they got new shoes. This was OR and WA in the 1970s and early 1980s. In CA, I remember how people all had new, brand new clothes, except us poor kids. Well in OR and WA even in our posh area, people still shop at Goodwill quite a bit. Why waste? 

 

We had swings at our parks and on the trees. Right now my daughter is outside on a swing hung on a tree, with her friend. (It's dark, yes, but oh well.) Her sister is at a friend's house, playing in a cardboard "race car" that she made herself. Just like we used to do.

 

We used to go into the forest and pick berries. We still do that. We used to pick apples at the neighbor's house. My kids still walk three blocks to do that. And now there is a lady with a little library that is out all summer that they give and take books from!!!

 

The kids still walk together from the bus stops and walk blocks and blocks to their friends' houses.

 

In Seattle, every day in Rainier I see kids walking to school. Maybe not ALL of them can walk but many can. It's not a social safety issue, but traffic, that keeps some in cars. Big kids walk the little kids from the nearby apartments. Same in Greenwood, where I used to work. In Portland, when we visited, we saw many children walking themselves to the parks in the neighborhood where we stayed.

 

Some things have changed. Like now the kids can bring a phone when they go to the 7-11 to get a Slurpee. Or if they are flush with allowance they can walk to Starbucks and get a decaf Frappucino (what a waste!!!! ACK! Whatever, they love it.)

 

We used to have to wait until my mom came home to borrow the old video camera she got from my uncle, and when my mom was a kid, only grandpa was allowed to use his old camera to take home movies. But nowadays, our kids can take their hand-me-down phones and make movies everywhere!

 

We used to get pictures of family once a year. But now if you are on Facebook you can get them every day, and if you aren't, like me, well I get them from my sister when I see her. 

 

Back then, bad parents smoked pot and did cocaine. Now it's pot, heroin and meth. I guess that's worse.

 

The kids still make popsicles from orange juice and suck them on blankets on the lawn while they read Ramona the Pest or Little House on the Prairie. They still try to make their own lemonade for their lemonade stand and two summers in a row can't figure out how they are losing money charging 10 cents a cup for fresh lemonade and free samples for "friends and relatives", even with parent-subsidized paper cups.

 

They still all scream when they hear the ice-cream truck.

 

They go sledding on the local hill and ice-skating, just like my partner did, at the central park's ice rink.

 

They ride bikes through the forest and go to grandma's on the weekend and hang out watching hummingbirds in the backyard.

 

Of course all this is interspersed with modernity: Internet instead of TV, organic food options, and robotics camp.

 

I'm not complaining.

 

Positive or negative, how have things changed where you are?

 

(Adding: I realize not all of SoCal is like my experience. My experience was very much poverty + inequality + Southern California. Not a fun combo, but also not representative of every experience there.)

 

 

i lived in SoCal from 1988-2006 and the picture you have painted was not my experience, but I worked in the inner city so I know what you are talking about.  I drove into it every day.

 

However, the area where I worked for all those years is seeing a regentrification of sorts and seems to be doing better, not worse.  

 

What was interesting to me was looking at old yearbooks of the high schools in which I worked.  In the 40s and 50s, they were mostly white.  In the 60s and into the 70s, they were largely black.  Then in the late 70s-2000s, they were mostly Latino.   So, demographics do shift widely depending on the time period and location.

 

I did not grow up in this country, so my story won't really be helpful, but I grew up in a weird dichotomy.......we were rich compared to the people my parents worked with, but by US standards we were poor.  My parents are missionaries.  We did a combination of getting used clothing donated and wearing it and feeling fine with it, to buying quality items when we were in the USA to make sure they would last another 4 years in Africa.

[DawnM]

seattle has really changed - it used to be this nice little city.   now - it's just hustle and bustle, overcrowded, and it's not remotely as kid friendly as it was when I was growing up.  (despite what they advertise.)    I now actually avoid going into seattle as much as possible.  well - pike place market/1st ave isn't quite as sleezy as it used to be.

 

I remember the "destination" downtown dept store in its heyday, which is out of business.  nordstrom took over the building - and it's not nearly as classy.  of course, I remember when nordstrom's flagship main store (it started in seattle. my grandmother only ever called it 'best' becasue nordstrom the shoestore took over best the clothing store) was a hodgepodge of buildings on the block - they were thrilled to get the F&N building when they went under. and the ONLY 'nordstrom rack' was in the basement of said nordstrom hodgepodge of buildings.  the racks were so close together - and stuffed so tightly - you could barely move and find anything on the racks.  I remember when toddler 1dd took off her shoe . . . . I was crawling around underneath the racks on the floor - other shoppers wondering who the crazy woman was.  I found the shoes though. I didn't have money to just go buy her more shoes.

 

I've missed the old MoHaI building. I took my kids to it  - and it was so different . .. and the dollhouse isn't even in the new one.  had the most wonderful dollhouse, and the dioramas of the settlers at alkai (which I think are in the new building.)  and all the animals are gone.  now - if you want to see stuffed animals - you have to go to cabelas. it used to be much easier to drive around UW campus . . . there are many roads I remember when they were roads - now they're for pedestrians only.

 

as a young child, I used to love feeding nuts to the chipmunks at paradise (they sold them inside the lodge). I even remember the campground at paradise (you have to know where it was, it's very difficult to even see the remenants anymore.)   I understand the reasons those things were ended, but there is still nostalgia.  and the old visitors center (before they added onto it - and have since torn it down)- just isn't the same as the new one.  and now the exhibits are all very PC, and actually less about education of the mt/animals/plants than they originally were.

 

I've been here a long time - I remember when the old-red barn was opened as the museum of flight for boeing.  that WAS the museum. (now, it's a small section.)

 

and a few years ago - when they painted the space needle orange for it's anniversary - the orange they used was WRONG!  it was just - wrong.  and all the fountains they got rid, and the bubbleator at the center house (someone scored.  it was last seen in someone's yard being used as a green house.)

 

 

I admit that last time I was in Seattle (2012 or 2013) I was surprised at how much it had changed.  It was dirtier than I remember, and more run down overall.  

 

I stopped in 3 thrift stores while I was there and I must admit, they were junky.  I think this is largely because Seattle folks like to buy from there to recycle, etc.....so everything was largely picked over.

 

I lived in Seattle from 1984-1988 (college) and it was different.  I felt the difference.  

[G5052]

My home town has changed very little other than the cosmetics. Each time I've been back for a funeral, I'm amazed at how little changes. Even since I left 25+ years ago, nearly the same restaurants and stores.

 

There were two bad forest fires that changed the mountains around the town, and that's the biggest change. I remember stands and stands of pine forest that are mostly gone.

 

My parents' house has been sold twice since I left, and the pictures look exactly the same. My mother left behind a stained glass hanging and a vase that were still in the pictures that the last realtor took!

 

Where I live now? A lot. Lots of new developments, new shopping centers, and road work. Only one of the non-chain restaurants we went to when mine are little is still there. 

Edited March 13, 2016 by G5052

[Closeacademy]

I've only lived in my hometown since I was a teen.  But it's changed a lot over the last 25 plus years.  It still has  much of the small town feel but that's only because the bulk of our population is here to work for a set period of time.  It used to be that you had the locals and then a small group of engineering families from all over the country.  Now there are more engineering families than locals and they come from all over the world but mainly India, China and South America.  We now have sections of town where the people from India settle.  They aren't here long enough to buy so entire apartment complexes are Indian.  We even have two restaurants and a grocery store.  And they celebrate all the holidays so that anyone in town can come.  It's kind of neat to see our little Bible-belt community learn to live side-by-side with such a different culture.  And we've all learned so much. 

 

 

That seems to be the biggest change.  That and that heroin has replaced meth which replaced marijuana as  the drug of choice.  But I think most communities are experiencing that.

[OhanaBee]

I also grew up in SoCal.  We were in a bedroom community of L.A., but, looking back, it was like living in Leave it to Beaver land when I was a kid.  There was no busing in my school district, and if Mom didn't feel like driving us, my brother and I walked to school.  We lived in the foothills where there were no sidewalks so were expected to take our chances with the traffic going up and down the hill.  But in the 70s and 80s there weren't *that* many people who had homes up by us.  Now you take your life in your hands even driving to and from my parents' house.  You can't even see the "hill" part of the hillside - it's covered in huge houses.

 

There weren't any kids in our neighborhood so my brother and I played together - mostly in the canyon next to our street.  For those few of you who also may have lived in SoCal during the 1970s, yes - the Hillside Strangler was a fear.  But my non-helicopter mom decided that Brother and I knew the canyon and hillside like the back of our hand so we could get away from any weirdos [yep - we learned about stranger-danger early on], and we always knew when someone other than us was on our turf.

 

Amazingly, that canyon is still undeveloped, though every year my parents hear rumors that someone has submitted a plan to the city for a housing development in it. 

 

My hometown went from being a fairly sleepy bedroom community near L.A., to now being a huge, overcrowded, overpriced metropolis.  With really really really bad drivers [and I'm including my mother in that count].  My high school graduating class was over 900 people, and most have moved away.  We can't afford to live there. 

 

I used to want to move back to the L.A. area.....until I lived there for a month in 2008, helping out my brother's family during a heath crisis.  30 days convinced me that I no longer had what it takes to live in L.A.  I like a quieter life.  I like not feeling like I had to keep up with the Jones. I know plenty of people who live in SoCal are their own person and don't feel they have to keep up with everyone else - but that wouldn't be me.  I am the type of person who would want to have the latest things and go to the most popular places.  Even in the homeschool group in my brother's town [just outside L.A.], almost everyone was a Yummy Mummy whose husband worked in the Industry in one form or the other.

 

The neighborhood in which I grew up has change dramatically.  My parents' house is one of the last surviving Spanish ranch style houses with a large yard.  All the other homes have been torn down and rebuilt, pretty much taking up all the property space.  We know that when my parents finally sell the house, it will also vanish and the property developed down to the last centimeter.  It's very hard going home and seeing all the changes. 

[kewb]

I grew up in your basic middle class suburban neighborhood.

 

I have lived in our current neighborhood for 18 years, now. It is also your basic middle class neighborhood. It has a slightly more urban feel than where I grew up because it is next door to a small city. Because of this petty crime has always been an issue. Bikes stolen off of your front lawn, cars rifled through if not locked at night. The occasional smash and grab if you were foolish enough to leave your purse or briefcase in plain sight in your car.

 

The changes I have noticed is in the immigrant population. When we moved here the largest group was Russian. Now I would say it is split between the Russians and Indians. There has also been an increase in drug related crime due to the ease of obtaining heroin from that small city I mentioned. Heroin is a huge problem where I live and it terrifies me. Marijuana is also rampant. Ignoring the should it be legal or not question as it is currently illegal. Most of the teens I know have at least tried it. It is as easy to get as the heroin.

 

I have watched the standard of living go down. Most people I know have suffered from some sort of job loss, either temporary or long term. There is also the increased prices for groceries coupled with the incredibly shrinking packages. I certainly do not have the same standard of living that I experienced growing up.

[MaeFlowers]

I just went home for the first time in about 7 years. Things didn't seem to have changed that much. The city had grown and there was more traffic. Mom and pop stores have been replaced by chains.

I don't think things change all that much. People are people, kwim? There will always be people who shop at Goodwill because they have to and those who shop there because they are frugal.

I think many of the changes we see now in how people buy comes from the economy crashing and being so slow to recover. The need to live frugally became a trend. If the economy every really recovers, things will shift back again.

[Meriwether]

 But what I feel like I'm hearing on the nostalgia thread is that it wasn't southern CA... now it's everywhere. Say it ain't so, people!

I didn't get this impression at all from that thread. Many people remembered being more carefree because they were children, but I didn't see many (honestly, I don't remember any but there may have been a few) "the world has got to pot" posts.

[J-rap]

I haven't been back to the town I grew up in, in years!  It was a smallish California city on the coast.  Last I heard, my part of town had remained the same (up against farm fields so couldn't really grow beyond that), but the other part of town had grown wildly.  I've also heard that there is much more gang activity and violence than when I lived there.  Sometimes I look up my old neighborhood on google maps, where you can actually see the houses and "walk" down the street.  Brings back so many fond memories!   The neighborhood looks the same.

 

The town I live in now, that we have raised our children in, is in a completely different part of the U.S. and very rural.  It has changed very little since we first moved there. One small business might close, but then another small business opens.  That's about it.

[Farrar]

Interesting question...

 

Where I live now is an inner city neighborhood. I didn't live here growing up, but I know that when I was younger, it was a mess. Our neighborhood's center was a trolley line that shut down in the 50's. The business center was burned down in the '68 riots - our neighborhood was hit worse than any other part of the city. And then it was never rebuilt until after we moved here. When I was a kid, there was a brief resurgence of this neighborhood where it looked like it would get better, safer, etc. but then the crack epidemic began, DC became the murder capital... well, it was basically every stereotype of "inner city" for many years. Now it's a beautiful, thriving, mostly gentrified but also still somewhat diverse neighborhood. It's safe. There is a good bit of crime, but I feel fine sending my kids out and about. A lot of this change has happened in the fifteen plus years we've lived here. When we moved in, there were a lot of drug houses, there was a gang war going on with some of the central American gangs, there were no businesses on our road except one bar... we could see the signs of change, but it has come a long way.

 

Where I grew up as a little kid has changed dramatically as well. I grew up basically homesteading in rural Georgia. There were no grocery stores, we lived on a dirt road off a dirt highway. The land we owned contains a subdivision now. Since GA400 opened, it's become a commuter suburb. When I was a kid, there were no black people living in the county and it was KKK country. There are still massive problems with racism there, but it's gotten better (how could it get worse than lynchings in the 1980s?!?).

 

Where I lived as a teen in NC has experienced suburban sprawl. But it mostly seems pretty similar to me. I mean, new roads, some neighborhoods are better, some worse, but mostly not so different. The magnet program that transformed Wake Co schools and neighborhoods is still in place. It seems much the same overall to me.

 

I don't feel like I've seen the standard of living change so much - it's risen in my current neighborhood, but people have also been pushed out so it's hard to say exactly. I don't feel like I've seen attitudes or safety change so much - our neighborhood is safer now than when my kids were tiny. We couldn't hang out at the corner park when they were little because it was all homeless guys. It's a very different vibe there now - more of a nanny crowd, if you can believe it. But I don't feel like that's part of any sweeping trend (except that inner cities are generally gentrifying) having to do with safety nationwide or anything. Thrift store culture is huge here among both the rich and poor - but it's less in other places I've lived. I think that's place specific to some extent.

[Joker]

I hardly recognize my hometown. I remember when we got our first stop light, library, and fast food place. Those were big deals. Now, it's huge. Homes, businesses, restaurants, and movie theaters are everywhere. We only had one elementary, middle, and high school but now they have several of each. I still have family there so I go back every now and then but I like it less and less due to all the growth. It just doesn't look like the same place.

[MEmama]

My hometown in northern California hasnt really changed in the nearly 25 years since I left. Same place, keeping up with the times.

 

San Francisco, however, has changed tons since I went to school there. I don't even recognize it anymore. It's become much more gentrified and sterile and much less interesting to me.

[Tsuga]

Regarding the previous thread: My feeling is that since all of us as adults can roam freely, that that was something that was lost. That is a huge deal to me in my life, the right to travel and wander and explore and come back home, so I really noticed all the posts. Popsicles, bare feet, are also some of the things that I thought, "How do people miss that?" I perhaps wrongly concluded that people lost those due to cultural changes.

 

Re: Seattle thrift shops picked over: probably. People shop there a lot.

 

 

 

It was dirtier than I remember, and more run down overall.  

 

Huh. I felt that in 2013 it was much nicer than in the 1990s! Way nicer downtown anyway, Rainier getting all cleaned up. The U District has always been dirty.

 

 

 

I lived in Seattle from 1984-1988 (college) and it was different.

 

It has doubled in size in parts. However what I like is that the basic character in the suburbs is very similar. I won't deny things have changed but the basic things... I think basically people are decent, there is not this sense of anything lost. When I see pictures of my kids... they mirror pictures of me. 

 

 

 

 

and now the exhibits are all very PC, and actually less about education of the mt/animals/plants than they originally were.

 

I don't really think we are going to the same museum. You mean because they mention that the things are actually dying and the glaciers are melting? It's not the museum's fault that the climate is changing. The environment is changing. That's not "politically correct", that is just the way things are happening. They can't ignore it as it's a natural history and nature museum.

 

But yeah, climate change has adversely affected the national parks. :( Very, very sad.

 

I do not think Seattle has gotten less nice. Portland was always nicer, heh. My mom shared the same sentiment. She couldn't drive here 30 years ago and she can't drive here now. They ended up driving the "wrong" way through Pike Place Market... oh, mom.

 

One thing that strikes me is that people are talking about infrastructure.

 

To me if you don't build new museums then the old ones just crumble. That's a GOOD sign. I want more houses, updated houses. Some architectural trends are ugly, sure, but I grew up in the 1980s in houses built in the 1960s and 1970s and I cannot really say that I hearken back to the "good old days". I love those union-built houses though. "Good bones" all the real estate ads say.

 

My mom doesn't miss old buildings. I don't either. It's just a building. Our children deserve something just as new and relevant as their grandparents got.

 

If all you're getting is new buildings, that's a huge positive to me. The population is growing and people have to live and work somewhere. If it's not high rises it's urban sprawl.

 

I am disgustingly progressive.

 

I do think Seattle right now is going through a HUGE change and influx of newcomers but I kind of view myself as a welcome committee. I try to make things friendly. I try to make things nice. I think people respond to that. When you share kindness with them they feel at home. Everyone is so new but it doesn't mean a city can't preserve its character. Also people were way nicer to me when I was a hot young thing in my 20s. I think I could sense the shift when I got my first forehead fine line. 

 

I do remember when I was little everyone smiled at me. Nobody smiles at the nearly-40-year-old lady running to her car yelling into her phone, "I'm on my way, unless there's really bad traffic I'll be there in a half hour!!!" Okay. I can accept that, LOL. They smile at my children and give them lollies.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Tsuga

[Guest]

Hurricanes Meth and Walmart converged over my hometown and decimated it.

[Bluegoat]

I am living now in the same part of the city I grew up in, and actually in the same neighbourhood, within a street, that my dad and mom grew up in.  They both moved in as kids just as it was being coverted from farms that supplied the city with food to post-war suburban housing.

 

This neighbourhood is a mix of white collar and blue collar.  On one side it shares a commercial area with a blue collar/low income area, and on the other with a white collarprofessional area.  That is still true today.

 

Historically, the city has been majority white with a good sized black minority.  The black population tended to be grouped into neighbourhoods, and my area has typically been one, in fact before it was suburban the farming villages were either black or white with mixes in between, based on the original land grants.  You can still see a lot of that distribution now - I'm not sure whether to consider that a bad thing or not, as they are old neighbourhoods with an internal structure and many of the people are living where their ancestors lived for a long time.  Probably more worrying is that the more black part of the neighbourhood continues to be poorer.

 

These days there are also more people here of Arab origin, many first generation immigrants - in some other parts of the city it is becoming quite a large group which I think may be contributing to some tensions in the minority areas.

 

Safety wise, and largely traffic wise, the city is still as safe. (Well, there is some increase in violent crime but it very much tends to be drug related, not random.) More kids are bussed now because of building without adding schools.  But walking to school, even for those who can, is now rare.  Kids ranging is also far more rare, and I am not sure why as not much has changed - I guess it is cultural.  My mom says she noticed this changed between the births of my two sisters, in 1980 and 88 respectively.

 

I don't know that I notice a big difference in attitudes to things like trendy clothes.  In part perhaps because this is just not the most well-off part of the country.  Thrifting is an established part of the culture.  I do see a huge difference in kids being tied to technology - my generation seemed to be fairly free of it except for Saturday morning cartoons - but by the late 80s my sisters friends were getting game consoles and hand held game devices.  Now gaming seems to be taken for granted as a major occupation for kids - so much so that even the library is full of gaming devices.

 

One big difference I have seen is the gentrification of more urban areas - I always wanted to move into the neighbourhood my great-grandparents lived in, which was first built for blue-collar shipyard workers.  Even in high school it was considered low-end.  Now it is far out of my price range and full of young professionals - the houses are charming and within walking distance of the harbor.  The waterfront areas have also changed - they used to be very industrial with harbor related businesses, tar, and fish boats.  Now there are boardwalks with boat tours and many little gourmet food shacks.

[Tsuga]

Hurricanes Meth and Walmart converged over my hometown and decimated it.

 

I'm sorry.  :grouphug:

[Farrar]

I guess I keep thinking that individual places have changed... but it doesn't always mean the world is more dangerous vs. safer. My kids do roam. Not barefoot (I had to chase their cousin down once in the alley because he tried to go walking without shoes, which, omg, no, not in the city!!!), but whatever... they can walk to the zoo, walk to the stores, walk to the strip where the drunks get the jumbo slice, walk to all kinds of things. 

[lynn]

The neighborhood I grew up is hasn't changed much except for the color of the houses and some trees are gone. The beautiful victoria is painted hideous blues, purples what were people thinking. It is not nice, not pretty, just very sad. The elementary school is now a community center. That's all I know has changed I am sure there is more. But when I visit I am mostly visiting family.

[TrixieB]

The big change I see is that there are far fewer kids now.  There was a noticeable movement of families with kids to the suburbs in the late 70's/early 80's.  The neighborhood I grew up in had a lot of kids and a lot of old people.  Now there are some old people,  a few families with young kids, but mostly no-kids couples.  It's expensive here, and you can get more house/land in the surrounding cities, so that's where many families with kids are now.  Plus the schools are perceived to be better than the city schools.  I know there are a lot more kids' activities & services in the surrounding cities. 

 

 

[Laurie]

seattle has really changed - it used to be this nice little city.   now - it's just hustle and bustle, overcrowded, and it's not remotely as kid friendly as it was when I was growing up.  (despite what they advertise.)   

 

 

 

It's also dirty.  And the graffiti problem is getting ridiculous.  One day the city workers come to paint away the graffiti on bus shelters, walls, etc. but the criminals come right back and do it again. 

 

The city is also being taken over by bums.  I'm tired of the panhandlers in front of grocery stores and on the streets holding their cardboard WISH LISTS that even include the specific food they'd like for their next meal. 

 

And I'm angry that bums are allowed to camp under I-5 and keep PROPANE tanks!   If a group of people carrying ISIS flags took a bunch of propane tanks under the freeway it wouldn't take long for the SWAT team to show up.  To me, it doesn't matter if an explosion is accidental or intentional...the potential loss of life/injuries and the complete chaos for traffic is horrible to think about in either case. 

http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/closing-the-jungle-homeless-camp-begins-with-fencing-it/

 

I'm also tired of people blaming the shortage of affordable housing on the home builders.   There are also homeowners who are out to make as much money as possible by doing rentals like airbnb.   They tell me they can make more money that way than from long-term renters.    But it's hard to have a good community spirit/neighborliness when you never know who's coming and going.   Some people like to rent a party house, especially now that pot is legal.

 

When I was a child,  there was no way that a man would be allowed to just walk right in to the women's locker room at the pool  and  say that he had the right to choose whichever room he wanted to use.   When the girls on the swim team complain now.. it's too bad.   But if the pool employees wouldn't throw the guy out when I was young my dad or some other dad would've done it! 

 

I'll stop complaining for now.  Someday I will move.  It was a great place to be a child when I was growing up here but I dread the thought of how much worse it will be by the time I'm a senior citizen. 

[rdj2027]

I grew up in Berlin in the '70s.  Oh my, I don't even know where to begin talking about change.

[gardenmom5]

It's also dirty.  And the graffiti problem is getting ridiculous.  One day the city workers come to paint away the graffiti on bus shelters, walls, etc. but the criminals come right back and do it again. 

 

The city is also being taken over by bums.  I'm tired of the panhandlers in front of grocery stores and on the streets holding their cardboard WISH LISTS that even include the specific food they'd like for their next meal. 

 

And I'm angry that bums are allowed to camp under I-5 and keep PROPANE tanks!   If a group of people carrying ISIS flags took a bunch of propane tanks under the freeway it wouldn't take long for the SWAT team to show up.  To me, it doesn't matter if an explosion is accidental or intentional...the potential loss of life/injuries and the complete chaos for traffic is horrible to think about in either case. 

http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/closing-the-jungle-homeless-camp-begins-with-fencing-it/

 

I'm also tired of people blaming the shortage of affordable housing on the home builders.   There are also homeowners who are out to make as much money as possible by doing rentals like airbnb.   They tell me they can make more money that way than from long-term renters.    But it's hard to have a good community spirit/neighborliness when you never know who's coming and going.   Some people like to rent a party house, especially now that pot is legal.

 

When I was a child,  there was no way that a man would be allowed to just walk right in to the women's locker room at the pool  and  say that he had the right to choose whichever room he wanted to use.   When the girls on the swim team complain now.. it's too bad.   But if the pool employees wouldn't throw the guy out when I was young my dad or some other dad would've done it! 

 

I'll stop complaining for now.  Someday I will move.  It was a great place to be a child when I was growing up here but I dread the thought of how much worse it will be by the time I'm a senior citizen. 

 

I've seen graffiti ON the freeway - they dash across the lanes during the middle of the night.

 

considering it's seattle - I bet the city govt would leave daesh do whatever they wanted under the freeway.  this is the city that has a statue of LENIN on proud display. (some claim it's just art. it's only been 100 years.  maybe in another 500 years someone can claim it's art legitimately.)  the russians got rid of it for a reason.

 

eta: for those not from here - the pool guy -  was staring at women and girls in the dressing room.  the mayor is working to implement "protections" so the state can't make it more difficult for a pervert to claim he identifies with women and can use their room.  (for starters - if he identified with women - he wouldn't have been staring at women and girls in various states of undress.  he'd also have a history of identifying as a woman - which this guy did NOT.)

Edited March 14, 2016 by gardenmom5

[heartlikealion]

I grew up in Southern CA. I don't think my family could afford the house we lived in now because of the housing rates these days. And it wasn't even a big house. For years I'd go back to visit family every couple of years and the area was less and less recognizable. They are always building new things. Changing roads. It's just different. I do not feel connected, really. I was only eleven when I moved away, though. I moved away in 1994. For the most part I was not exposed to poverty until I was older.

 

I spent a good bit of my childhood in Mississippi (where I am now, but not the same part of the state). I go visit that area sometimes and it's actually quite sad because when I was living there it seemed like there was nothing really there and now there's not even a mall! There are a couple of things that weren't there before, like another fast food place and a drug store. There's actually a Wal-Mart that is closer now, too. The skating rink was the big hang out for us in junior high and that hasn't been open for years. Since I used to spend my time at the skating rink and the mall I have to wonder what the kids do there these days. I'm not even talking about things affected by Hurricane Katrina, either. My old house was completely redone by someone else and I think some of the homes in the neighborhood were never rebuilt after the destruction, but many damaged homes were fixed up. I haven't even read the other thread so I should probably do that lol. As for clothing shopping, I just remember my mom would buy us a few things throughout the school year rather than one big haul at the beginning of the year.

[DawnM]

 to live there. 

 

I used to want to move back to the L.A. area.....until I lived there for a month in 2008, helping out my brother's family during a heath crisis.  30 days convinced me that I no longer had what it takes to live in L.A.  I like a quieter life.  I like not feeling like I had to keep up with the Jones. I know plenty of people who live in SoCal are their own person and don't feel they have to keep up with everyone else - but that wouldn't be me.  I am the type of person who would want to have the latest things and go to the most popular places.  Even in the homeschool group in my brother's town [just outside L.A.], almost everyone was a Yummy Mummy whose husband worked in the Industry in one form or the other.

 

 

 

 

I still would like to move back.  Sigh.

 

But not only does the rest of the family not want to, I really don't want to stress about house costs.  Granted, if DH and I both worked full time we would probably be ok because the salaries are so much higher there, it would be much smaller than what we have and it would be a struggle.

 

But we never felt the need to keep up.  We found like minded folks to befriend and we were fine.  DH did work in the industry of sorts, but not directly (he is a CPA and all of his clients were big names that I am not allowed to talk about....ha!)  

 

We are pretty down to earth people.  

 

Our salaries are half here in NC.  Literally.  People keep arguing that housing is cheaper, and it is, but clothing, cars, upkeep, eating out, and groceries are all the same.

[Carrie12345]

I'm not from the area I'm in now, but I find it's history, distant and recent, to be incredibly interesting.  Scary in some ways, but interesting.

 

It's a very old area, with former stagecoach stops, one-room schoolhouses that were used into the 1950s, and farms that have been in families for generations.  Between the 1980s and 2010, there was enormous population growth.  Just between 2000 and 2010 (we moved here in 2005.) our township went from just under 5,000 people to almost 6,800 people.  Our zipcode went from 103 people to 202.  Three decades brought our county from 95,000 people to 138,000 people to almost 170,000 people.  So lots of building, lots of growth, lots of change.

 

But now people are leaving.  We're closing schools, our real estate isn't recovering from the bubble burst, small businesses are struggling or closing.

We used to be a honeymoon destination. Now we've chopped everything down to make a million water parks.

 

On the bright side, the area has become much more diverse, and I love it that way.

[Lanny]

Where we live (Cali, Colombia) in the 21 years I've lived here it has become much safer.  Lots of crime, but the country is much safer. Much less corruption here  now.  The growth just astonishes me.  When I first moved to a rural section of Cali, the street I lived on wasn't paved. Many years ago, it was paved and they installed a traffic signal on the corner.  Years ago, there were cattle grazing in open pastures across the street from where we lived. Now, that land is full of apartment buildings approximately 8 or 10 stories tall. That area is so congested now that we are very thankful that we could not afford to buy a lot there (to say nothing of the taxes and utility costs there).  Where we live now (12 years in this house later this month) there is a lot of growth and that too is somewhat astonishing, but now I see that as "normal" progress over the years.  Some things that involved dealing with bureaucracy many years ago are easy to do now. Most of the changes here have been very positive.  When I first moved to Cali (February 1995) the employees in the U.S. Embassy needed special permission to travel here. Then, in December 1995, the reckless incompetent pilots of an American Airlines  Boeing 757 flew their aircraft into one of our local mountains. People from the Embassy came here after the accident and have been here frequently since then. The U.S. Ambassador to Colombia goes to all areas of the country. 21 years ago, someone at that level had their travel very restricted. Mail delivery to our house has become much slower during the past year. Horrible. I noticed one envelope from the states that took about 3 1/2 months. Mail can take from several weeks, to an unbelievable 3 months.  If I assume, I assume that is because of the post office here, but I'm not positive about where the delay is.  When I first moved to Colombia, for employees of the U.S. State Department, Colombia might have been seen as a High Risk area. Now, the people are extremely happy to come here to work. Those who were here years ago report that it is like coming to a different country.  Much progress and a long way to go...

[gardenmom5]

Where we live (Cali, Colombia) in the 21 years I've lived here it has become much safer.  Lots of crime, but the country is much safer. Much less corruption here  now.  The growth just astonishes me.  When I first moved to a rural section of Cali, the street I lived on wasn't paved. Many years ago, it was paved and they installed a traffic signal on the corner.  Years ago, there were cattle grazing in open pastures across the street from where we lived. Now, that land is full of apartment buildings approximately 8 or 10 stories tall. That area is so congested now that we are very thankful that we could not afford to buy a lot there (to say nothing of the taxes and utility costs there).  Where we live now (12 years in this house later this month) there is a lot of growth and that too is somewhat astonishing, but now I see that as "normal" progress over the years.  Some things that involved dealing with bureaucracy many years ago are easy to do now. Most of the changes here have been very positive.  When I first moved to Cali (February 1995) the employees in the U.S. Embassy needed special permission to travel here. Then, in December 1995, the reckless incompetent pilots of an American Airlines  Boeing 757 flew their aircraft into one of our local mountains. People from the Embassy came here after the accident and have been here frequently since then. The U.S. Ambassador to Colombia goes to all areas of the country. 21 years ago, someone at that level had their travel very restricted. Mail delivery to our house has become much slower during the past year. Horrible. I noticed one envelope from the states that took about 3 1/2 months. Mail can take from several weeks, to an unbelievable 3 months.  If I assume, I assume that is because of the post office here, but I'm not positive about where the delay is.  When I first moved to Colombia, for employees of the U.S. State Department, Colombia might have been seen as a High Risk area. Now, the people are extremely happy to come here to work. Those who were here years ago report that it is like coming to a different country.  Much progress and a long way to go...

 

glad to hear things are better.  my ex-sil is from bogota.  brother adopted her nephew to get him out.  the lectures they'd give that kid 15 years ago when he went to bogota to visit grandparents . . . . don't speak english, don't let anyone know you live in the US, don't show greenbacks, etc.

only one of her three siblings still lives in columbia.  (his employer has wanted to trasnfer him to the US - but his wife is freaked out by english. apparently she had some professor tell her she'd never learn it.)

 

[indigomama]

I grew up in a sleep little beach community on the central coast of California. We wandered our neighborhood. It didn't have a lot to do, but there were shops and a college 20 minutes away. It wasn't perfect, but pretty dang great. 

 

I moved away as an adult for 10 years and have only just returned. It's very, very different than when I grew up here. There has been a huge population growth and housing prices are astronomical!!! Traffic and tourists are way worse. It's way more fast paced. The joke is that everyone from L.A. wants to retire here for peace and quiet, but now with all these new people it's not near as peaceful or quiet.