Lost in the Neighborhood

[Miss 1929]

Are there gone-but-not-forgotten treasures in your neighborhood?

Like this... my neighborhood used to be an amusement park, Idora Park.

Here's a glimpse...

and more on my Myspace...

How about you?

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

Nah, my suburb is... well... a suburb.

But yours?? It used to BE an Amusement Park? How is a conversion like that even managed? Amazing.

 

[Sweet Leilani]

Not my neighborhood, but there are several developments nearby that have been built on amusement parks. Forest Grove Park in New Britain, PA is one that comes to mind. I had the opportunity to go on an "urban archaeology" tour with the Forest Grove historian several years ago. Even though the park was open into the 60s, things have grown up to the point that it looks like a woods. You'll be walking through thick brush & trees and come on rows and rows of concrete picnic table foundations. It's rather creepy.

 

[CaddyKid21]

My neighborhood used to be a golf course. [huh]

 

[just_me]

The neighborhood I grew up in was a horse race track in the late 1800s and early 1900s. (BTW, I own one of these vintage postcards.)

 

[Fletch]

My neighborhood in Ames, Iowa, is more like Forgotten But Not Gone.

It's a modest, yet inviting, area of several square blocks of old-growth trees and pleasantly undistinguished 1- and 2-story single-family houses, many if not most of which turn out to have been built during the 1930s. I even know of several that date to the nothing-doing years of 1932-'33.

Makes me think we didn't have it quite as bad as a lot of places. There never were piles of money to be made (or lost) here, but life seems to have been relatively stable, if a bit sleepy.

If you read the history books, places like this didn't exist. Which is why I love it so much.

 

[Sunny]

I think my neighborhood, before it was a neighborhood, had been prairie land since the waters of the Flood receded. lol I'm nearly certain it was grazing land most recently. A mile down the road is a small grassy hollow that was a stock tank not so many decades ago.

There's a circa 1960s neighborhood in south Fort Worth. Circa 1960s, that is, with the exception of the original 1910s farmhouse sitting quietly in the middle of one block. It's a little surreal, but also fascinating, to see it and imagine how it was when there were no other houses around, but only a few trees and open land. There was probably an older farmhouse still standing at that time, likely to have been the first built on that land.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

My neighborhood was an onion farm.

I also live a bit north of the Puente Hills. Those of you who are into vintage Sci Fi may remember those hills having been mentioned in a small film titled, War of the Worlds.

And a parcel of property a bit further south of me was once owned by General George Patton's wife's uncle: Most of that property is now known as Orange County, CA.


Lee

 

[Fletch]

I think my neighborhood, before it was a neighborhood, had been prairie land since the waters of the Flood receded. lol I'm nearly certain it was grazing land most recently. A mile down the road is a small grassy hollow that was a stock tank not so many decades ago.

The deed to my house, not built until 1937, shows every transfer since the Feds snatched the land from the Mesquakie and sold it to the first farmsteader in 1850something.

(Iowa was granted statehood in 1846, but didn't gain its present borders till 1851. As for Ames, it entered existence as a railroad tank town in 1864 and a few years later absorbed the Iowa Agricultural College, now Iowa State University and the lifeblood of the community ever since.)

Later a man named Irwin came into ownership of this part of town and it was annexed as "Irwin's Addition to Ames." One proviso was that the street plan not include alleyways. No one north of 10th Street lives on an alley.

 

[Spiffy]

I was told (by a native Wilmingtonite) that my university campus used to be mostly swampland, but in the early 1900s the KKK used to hold rallies in the area. And downtown there was a pretty big race riot in 1898 that ended with a coupe of the local government.

 

[Mike1939]

As I sit here at my computer if I were suddenly whisked back in time to 1934 I imagine I'd be sitting in a fruit orchard wondering which way the closest bar was.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I have been thinking about this since Miss1929 posted this, and came to a conclusion worth posting.

I -live- in the 'lost thing' in my neighbourhood. A bungalow court built in 1910.

Here are a few pictures of it originally

From the Street:

From about halfway back taken from the 'Clubhouse' bungalow

Now...Why is it lost?

It is lost to most people because the front stone walls were raised up to be about 7 feet high, and a gate put in, so that's what you see from the road.

and 100 years of trees growing, means that you cannot see the bungalows for the trees, so to speak. The trees are all in the 50-200 foot range..dwarfing the bungalows.

And those neat walkways in the photo with grassy medians? Planted with even more trees and bushes and flowers.

For the residents, it's lovely, because its like a small woodland feel, with almost completely blocking out the city around us. For me, its like living in a cottage in someplace in the mountains, like Yosemite.

So from the road, 36 houses have -vanished-.


Just to offer a comparison of vegetation levels..a lovely unknown stranger has pictures in her Flickr account...so be nice..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cordelia/341629805/in/set-72157594456384908/

 

[Forgotten Man]

Whoa, those are neat photos of the Villa Court before there were bars all around it! Where did you find those photos?

I live in a forgotten little home. It's the oldest home on the block! Built roughly around 1912, this house originally was a farm house where a small Chinese family farmed potatoes. Reason why it's forgotten is because there are no records in City Hall that this place was ever built. So, when Monrovia had a brilliant idea to tear down the original all granite City Hall from the turn of the Century, they built a mid century single story bore-o-riffic piece of garbage and when they did, the records of this home must have been lost in the move to the new City Hall.

Also, catty corner from my home is a park... it's very narrow, and ends at Mayflower and Olive! Reason being its old right of way from the Pacific Electric Red Cars. So, back in the 10s 20s 30s 40s and into the 50s there used to be a Red Car line going right by my house! I have to contact the Monrovia Historical Society and see if there are any photos of my house or at least the block I live on back in the 20s or the 30s.

I love my home town, she's the jewel of the foothills!

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Miss N -

Wasn't your court written up in American Bungalow a few years ago? I *love* that magazine. I know over the last five or ten years they've covered several similar "enclaves" in Pasadena. The old photos look familiar...but then again, it could've been a similar area in Pasadena they were writing about.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Miss N -

Wasn't your court written up in American Bungalow a few years ago? I *love* that magazine. I know over the last five or ten years they've covered several similar "enclaves" in Pasadena. The old photos look familiar...but then again, it could've been a similar area in Pasadena they were writing about.

oh...It probably was...It's properly called Bowen Court (not a clue why someone tried to rename it Garden Village)

It is in quite a few books on Bungalow architecture. Normally as an example of what folks 'shouldn't do' with Bungalows.

"California came up with another answer to the problem of density: the bungalow court. In 1909 Sylvanus Marston, a young architect educated at Cornell's school of architecture, was commissioned by a developer to design a group of bungalows in Pasadena. They were to be assembled around a modest court and, although relatively small, provide wealthy visitors to California a place in the sun, far from the rigors of eastern winters. St. Francis Court, as it was called, provided them with all the amenities from Persian rugs and up-to-date kitchens to rooms for servants. It was a successful -- albeit upper-class -- speculation that gave rise to more plebeian efforts. Also in Pasadena, Bowen Court (1910), designed by the firm of Arthur S. Heineman with Alfred Heineman serving as project architect, was much more modest in its intentions and had a greater concentration of bungalows -- and people. Twenty-three tiny bungalows were constructed on a large L-shaped lot. The great Arts and Crafts architect Charles Sumner Greene was aghast at this clever speculative device: "It would seem," he wrote, "to have no other reason for being than that of making money for the investor." And he added, "This is a good example of what not to do.""

From http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?pid=405980&tab=1&agid=2

Compared to something like the Gamble House which is about a mile from here....bungalow courts like mine were the 'projects' of suburban LA.


I could expound more...but since this is about the 'lostness' of things .....i shall leave the rest of my research for another thread or topic.

 

[donCarlos]

There were lots of interesting buildings and faccilities in the part of town I´m from, but nobody remembers them... I have a book abot history of Prague 10 with many pictures from late 1800´s till 1940´s - I´m thinking about scanning the old photos, taking new photos of the same places and putting them together. If I ever do it (this weekend is more than suitable), I´ll post it on the lounge.

There was, for example, a pleasure ground "Eden" (nowadays the site is occupied by Tesco), there is a house where the Capek´s lived (yes, the guys who invented the word robot) and some more interesting places...

 

[John in Covina]

The loss continues.

Much of the area in Southern California that was LA & Orange County was farms and orchards first. Much that was Orange groves is housing now.

In the Chino area the dairy farms are closing and suburbia is filling in all of those open spaces.

In the Rancho Cucamonga area what was once vineyards as far as the eye could see (part of the local wine industry) is being converted to warehouses and shopping malls. Vinters have added "last year" to many of their labels because before the next harvest those lots that produced such lovely wine grapes will be under the cement of another foundation.

The locals get another strip mall with a card shop, low end dept store with several decidedly mediocre chain restaurants on the side. Progress.

 

[Miss 1929]

worthlesswithoutpics

So post some!!!

 

[Sarge]

The Dr. Cowan House

There is a house near my neighborhood that will soon be gone and eventually I'm afraid forgotten. The house was originally built as the residence of a local physician. Until recently it was used as the offices for a car and truck lot. I'm not really sure why, but it is scheduled for demolition pretty soon. There is an auction on 11/09 for anything that can be salvaged from the home.
It's just sad to me that this old house will be gutted of anything of value and then whatever is left will be knocked to the ground and carted off to a landfill. Very sad.

Some interior photos.

More pictures can be seen on the auction site.
http://www.freckerauction.com/auction_detail.php?ID=392270

 

[Adelaide]

That Is Absolutely Insane

The Dr. Cowan House

There is a house near my neighborhood that will soon be gone... ... but it is scheduled for demolition pretty soon. There is an auction on 11/09 for anything that can be salvaged from the home.

It's just sad to me that this old house will be gutted of anything of value and then whatever is left will be knocked to the ground and carted off to a landfill. Very sad.

Some interior photos.

More pictures can be seen on the auction site.
http://www.freckerauction.com/auction_detail.php?ID=392270

What is the point of wiping away what is beautiful, historic, and gracious only to replace it with some modern monstrosity? What short sightedness.

My own home is an old plantation which we are slowly bringing back from ruin. Keeping as much of it as original as possible, the rest is updated to a 1940's era feel. That would be the kitchen and the bathrooms. But I see these old homes just falling apart and neglected all over the south.

Either way, neglect or outright tearing them down it is a terrible waste.

A.

Edited to add: My own neighborhood is mostly corn, cotton, or soy fields. I hope it stays that way!