I love my Neighborhood! Where do you live? What makes it special?

[loudestchick]

I live in an area of Kansas City, Missouri called "Brookside". It was a planned neighborhood in the 20's. There is a shopping area w/ a neighborhood school and 2 apartment communities surrounded by about 20 blocks radial of single family housing. Most of us have porches. The original intent for this neighborhood was that it be connected to the major downtown via trolley. However, the trolley was dismantled in the 70's. As of about 5 yrs ago the land that had been occupied w/ trolley track now supports a very nice walking and cycling trail. We also have 3 excellent neighborhood parks, including unlighted tennis courts. The neighborhood is also w/in close proximity to a hospital, 2 universities.


I can't imagine living anywhere else.

[livinginphotographs]

1. I live in a crappy house off a dirt road in the middle of a cornfield.

Surrounded by McMansions and McBurbs. I don't know how this place has managed to not turn into a strip mall, but it has.

I like it a lot. Very quiet, and you can do whatever the fuck you want to. And the city is about five-ten minutes away.

[loudestchick]

3. Sorry about the Mc mansions and Mc Burbs. My sister lives in one of those

My husband says its a drunks nightmare 'cause all the houses look alike. I'm glad you have solitude if that's your desire:hi:

[On the Road]

2. I Live in College Park, MD

Right inside the beltway, in the middle of the US Agricultural Research Center. Who would have thought there were plowed fields inside the beltway? And a few minutes down the road, there's a historical sign commemorating Mother Jones.

[loudestchick]

5. Mother Jones? Cool!

[On the Road]

8. It's on Powder Mill Road,

right across from a military research center, no less.

[loudestchick]

11. Haha.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. I live in Seagate, Brooklyn, NY. Right on the beach.

This is what makes it special..
This is the view from my porch. That is the Verrazano Bridge in the background. I get to see this every night.

[loudestchick]

7. Excellent! Did you take that picture? What a view.

[BrklynLiberal]

12. Yes. With my digital camera set to "sunset".

I am 35 minutes from Manhattan,but it is quiet and peaceful. I hear the waves, and the seagulls. There are doves, finches and cardinals at my birdfeeder now. Robins and hummingbirds in the spring and summer. The Monarch butterflies pass thru here on their way to Mexico in the fall.
This is the tip of a peninsula, so ther is no thru traffic. My dogs run on the beach. I cannot imagine living any other place.

[catmandu57]

6. We live in small town America

Actually just hours north of you loudestchick, I like it because even though the area is red, we can leave our house unlocked, the key to my car stays in the ignition.
It's quiet, the neighbors all watch out for each other, and the city is close enough that we can go there when we want.

[loudestchick]

9. Do you get that deep darkness at night, in the summertime? I do miss

that. A little too much light pollution here.

[catmandu57]

18. Oh yeah

the summer sky is great, we have a really good place for the meteor showers.

[loudestchick]

19. Ok, so do I take I-35 or I-29? j/k

[catmandu57]

30. I 29

We're in Savannah, if you're ever in the neighborhood look us up. A DU summer picnic here sounds good.

[Butterflies]

10. My neighborhood was built in the 1950s

They are mostly all 3 bedroom brick ranch houses, but they all look different from eachother. I love that they weren't all built by the same builder with just one or two designs (like they do now.)

[loudestchick]

13. They do gain some character as they age...just like us.

[Wcross]

14. I live about 60 miles south of Nashville

On a one lane country road with no nearby neighbors.This is a picture of my front yard.



This is looking to the north....



The back 40....




I just hope it stays this way. I like people in a general way, but I don't like them too close to me!

[loudestchick]

16. It looks wonderful! Your dogs seem happy, too. I have a redbud

in my tiny backyard not unlike the one in your second photo. I love having lots of folks around, but we are all different.:hi:

[tjwash]

15. Inland San Diego.

My back yard is facing a huge park / wildlife preserve that can't be developed on, and we are a 15 minute drive from the beach, a half hour drive to the desert, and a one hour drive to the ski slopes.

I love it here.

[loudestchick]

17. The best of all possible worlds, eh?

[tjwash]

20. We pretty much have a lot of outdoor activities here.

Although the housing prices have gone through the roof here the last few years. Good if you have been here a while and own a place, bad if you are trying to move here.

[Az]

21. I live on the East Side of Detroit

Near Gross Point. Nothing terribly special about my neighborhood except for this pair of stores at the end of our street.

The main property is owned by this local grocer. Nice little store. A bit overpriced. But thats just a factor of being small.

The store is part of a row of stores that have been empty for some time. But just as we were moving in there was a comic book store that leased one of the storefronts. This is where the fun begins.

Right off the bat a local religious nut gets up in arms when they hear that they will also sell some adult magazines in the store. So the protests start. Fortunately it was only one family. Eventually they went away.

So time to ratchet the fun up a level. Already rife with noteriety the proprieter of the comic book store unveils his marketting artwork on the side of the building. Its gigantic mural of a demon skull shooting lazer beams at some distant object. Ok, so its not a great work of art, but it gets your attention. But it gets the communities attention as well.

So the protests start up again. This time the owner of the property (the grocer) gets involved. He demands the mural be taken down. But its allowed in the lease. So the mural remains. Community pressure increases. So the grocer erects a huge white billboard right next to the wall in the parking lot (still his land) and blocks the mural. The mural is still back there but the billboard blocks anyone seeing it. But we all know it is there.

The comic book store responds by commisioning a more mobile sign. A large demonic skull with flaming eyes. Sometimes its in front of the store. Sometimes its above the white billboard (now with advertisement for the grocer). And the comic bookstore now has a sign up in front with Mr T proclaiming that only a fool would pay high prices at the grocery store.

Its a pity I read Manga and not comic books.

[loudestchick]

22. ROFL! I love it! Urban warfare at its finest.

[tjwash]

31. Dude, you got a picture of the mural? It sounds awesome...

nt

[Az]

32. I'll see what I can do

[AlCzervik]

23. I have a couple of neighbors i really like

but aside from that the best thing about my neighborhood is that i'll be moving soon.

[loudestchick]

24. I really hope your new location suits you better.

[AlCzervik]

26. i think it will, i know some people that live there already

the whole vibe is different there.

[fudge stripe cookays]

25. I'm with you.

I love my next door neighbor. He's great.

The neighborhood itself is in a Dallas subrub (and all that entails). Mid 80s developer-built houses. Not bad, but nothing special. It was all we could afford when we were looking, or we would have bought in the great older liberal neighborhood where crispini lives.

We're right down the block from the lake, so we see lots of seagulls and herons and interesting wildlife. That's about the best thing I can say.

I'd give it all up tomorrow if I could get the hell our of here and up to Calgary.

FSC

[AlCzervik]

28. my house is a tract home as well, nothing special

except the stuff we've done to it over the past 5 years.

[fudge stripe cookays]

33. I've done that too. =)

The summer of 2003 all I did was ragging my entire LR, DR, and kitchen (including crawling up on plant ledges to reach the cathedral ceilings!)

Our house had never had a spot of color in the 16 years since it had been built. Everything in it was BEIGE. And I felt truly at peace when I dumped the hideous wallpaper in the guest bath and ragged it with royal blue & periwinkle (with gold accents) and hung all my Shakespeare stuff.

It looks great!

FSC

[AlCzervik]

34. i hear you, when we bought this house it was

builders off white. We painted the whole thing a deep taupe color and then of course the ceilings looked like shit so they got a coat of white. We tiled the bathrooms and put in a pool. The only thing i'll miss is the bosch dishwasher i bought last year-if loving a dishwasher is wrong then i dont wanna be right!!!!

[movie_girl99]

27. i live in the burbs

just north of Dallas.Its kind of cool because everything is so close. I can walk to the bank, grocery store, 3 parks. I hate the small minds though. Its been a great place to raise kids but I'm moving' back to the city when my youngest graduates.

[livetohike]

29. We have the best views of Palomar Mtn, San Jacinto Mtn.

and Greyback.

We are eight miles from the beach and our backyard backs onto an undeveloped area (1000 acres + )that is part county park land.

Our street has about 35 houses on it and we are on the cul de sac. We have great neighbors and this area is really good for my dogs, too.