Trailer Parks?

[retrogirl1941]

Congratulations Retrogirl!

I'd love to see some photos when you are set up.

In the UK there's a SERIOUS shortage of property, but there's very few alternatives.

There is a traveller community in the UK, but it's not the same thing as the Trailer culture.

I think Modern reto living a la Trailer would be great!

rufus

Thank you Rufus! I figure if I can make a bad 1980s apartment look cute, I can do alot more with a more modern place.

Samantha

 

[MPicciotto]

If I was to live in a mobile home I'd think I would want to live in a Spartan Crescendo:

http://www.spartantrailer.com/crescendo.html

Sam,

No question you can retrofy that trailer!! And soooo much 50's and even early 60's would look awesome in that setting. Just start googling vintage travel trailer and vintage mobile home to get ideas. It's my two cents that you shouldn't hide the fact that it's a trailer but embrace it! I helped a co-worker build a garden around the front of his once. He shaped it around the tongue and let that guide him rather then remove the tongue. Sounds like it would be ugly but probably the best looking garden bed in the park.

Matt

 

[BegintheBeguine]

COOL

As I've stated earlier, my dad lived in a trailer after WWII in a friend's yard. He loved it!!! He also said once that if I ever lived in a trailer mine would have a Twister game permenantly on the floor. Cool. When hubby and I got married we looked into a nice trailer in a nice trailer park, as there are strict laws governing where a trailer can be placed in my county such as not in someone's yard , but I have way too much stuff to part with so we decided to just stay in my dad's house.

 

[Warbaby]

When I was a kid in Arizona back in the 50s, my father was going to college on the GI Bill and we, like a lot of GI families, lived in a trailer. Of course, it was nothing at all like today's mobile homes. It was a 26' Streamlite with a faded dark green Masonite exterior. It is not a time of which I have fond memories, but I don't recall any sense of being considered second-class because so many GI families lived in trailers and the park we were in was full of older ex-GI students.

Prior to the trailer, we lived in a type of post-war pre-fab housing known as a Wingfoot. Now that was truly dreadful...

BTW - For a twisted (and very funny) view of trailer park life, I highly recommend the Canadian TV series 'Trailer Park Boys' and the movie of the same name.

 

[Murph351]

For a fun retro time you need to go to Shady Dell and stay in on of their trailers.
I would stay in the Chris Craft though.
http://www.theshadydell.com/index.html

 

[shortbow]

That Shady Dell joint looks like just the ticket for when it's -30 up here in winter. My pick would be the Airstream. I've always wanted to have a looksee inside of one, having heard so much about their quality and interior appointments.

 

[MPicciotto]

Myself I'm more partial to the "breadbox" design trailers.

Matt

 

[Samsa]

And most importantly, though I know little, I know this. Whether folks live in a mansion or a beat-up old trailer, no human being is, or should be judged as "trash."

Absolutely.:eusa_clap I hate it more than I can say when I hear the phrase "white trash" or "trailer trash."

 

[Story]

Found this..

http://www.ci.escondido.ca.us/depts/cs/mobilehome/rent-control-hist.pdf


THE HISTORY OF THE MOBILEHOME

The first mobilehomes, which were typically homemade and most frequently used for camping, were trailers of a few hundred square feet that could easily be hitched to vehicles. To accommodate these trailers, many municipalities built camps during the 1920’s hoping to encourage tourism. While long-term occupancy of such camps was not uncommon, it was not until the Depression of the 1930’s that use of these trailers, as a form of permanent housing, becamewidespread. During the next decade, numerous additional mobilehome parks were built to meetimmediate and temporary housing needs, particularly near military bases. These origins helpedfoster the early perception of “trailer parks” as a form of “slum” housing inhabited by indigent and rootless members of society. This image, together with hostility from real estate interests, hotelsand tourists camps, initially fostered local land use regulations designed to exclude mobilehomeparks or restrict their development.

Beginning in the 1950’s however, mobilehomes began a gradual transformation to broadly accepted permanent residences. Larger, standardized and sectionalized mobilehomes were manufactured which could be moved only by trucks. As homes of 1,400 square feet or morebecame increasingly common, the larger units permitted more conventional floor plans. Mobilehomes started to become accepted as permanent living quarters. The trend toward physical immobility and permanence coincided with extensive efforts to improvethe quality of mobilehome parks. Parks evolved from small, unplanned facilities to larger, carefully designed communities that often featured amenities such as clubhouses, swimming pools, greenbelts and landscaping, and extensive social programs. Many senior citizens and younger families have been attracted to mobilehome park living by these amenities and by the relatively low housing cost.

Recognizing the valuable contribution they made to the nation’s stock of affordable housing, the federal government, beginning in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s adopted a number of measuresthat spurred the growth and social acceptability of mobilehomes. Congress, for example, extended insurance for mobilehome park constructions and purchases of mobilehomes. Congress also authorized the adoption of uniform federal standards that both promoted mobilehome safety and preempted diverse and conflicting local design specification standards that had hindered mobilehome production.

By 1982, these efforts and a number of demographic trends hadcombined to make mobilehomes a significant source of affordable housing for American families,particularly first-time homebuyers, the elderly, and low and moderate-income families. The manufactured home has evolved as a single-family house constructed entirely in a controlled factory environment, built to the federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards.These standards regulate the home’s design and construction, strength and durability,transportability, fire resistance, energy efficiency and quality control. There are performance standards for the heating, plumbing, air-conditioning and electrical systems. Construction costs persquare foot for manufactured homes are approximately one-third less than site-built houses. Because moving and installing such homes entails substantial costs, and because spaces inmobilehome parks are often scarce, most mobilehomes make but one trip – from factory or showroom to an installation site. Modern mobilehomes, despite their name, have become a form ofimmobile, prefabricated housing

You're not like the other people, here, in the trailer park.
Oh, don't go get me wrong.
They're fine people, they're good Americans.

 

[Talbot]

Vintage vacations

Love those early trailers. I would have no difficuly in having one of these.

'Its a fine thin when you come home to your home, and your home is gone!' Nicholas Callini - The Long Long Trailer.

http://www.vintage-vacations.com/home.html

 

[Foofoogal]

Fab link Talbot. I saved it. Another dream of mine on my list. lol

 

[Talbot]

Fab link Talbot. I saved it. Another dream of mine on my list. lol

Glad you liked it. There is a thriving community of vintage trailerites in the US. I nearly picked up a bondwood trailer (we call them caravans) at a garage sale for $300 a few years back. It would have looked spectacular behind my 54 chevy, but I had absolutely no where to keep it.

It was a bit rough on the outside, but inside it was 1953 and perfect. Lots of wood, the floor was grey linoleum flecked with primary colors, there was a diamond pattern inset on the floor, the curtains had swordfish, lighthouses and sailboats, and the benchtops had boomerang motifs...sigh.

Still kicking myself...

Talbot

 

[Foofoogal]

the benchtops had boomerang motifs...sigh.

ooh, double sigh. feel for you. :eusa_doh:

 

[KittyT]

Thank you everyone for a really fascinating read!

 

[Inky]

My husband and I live in a mobile home - or now the fancy pants term is "manufactured home" but no matter how you slice it, this baby ain't very mobile, lol.

It's new, a 2001 model, 1200 square feet, 3 bedroom, two bath, laundry room. We don't decorate totally vintage but I have my great grandmother's dressers from when she was a young married (she painted them enamel black in the 40's - someday I'll strip that off) and an 1930's dining room set with needlepoint seats that I love very much, along with some other old family pieces, and - gasp - some ikea too, very eclectic, mostly a plum/black/sage green sort of vibe.

We love our home and never thought we'd be Trailer Americans (our homage to the more insulting Trailer "trash" description). But we wanted to live near the ocean and a traditional home was just out of our price range and we didn't want to rent. There are still many mobile home parks here in the Central Coast of California, some not well cared for, some very nice. A lot of cool 50's trailers still exist, though the oldest in our neighborhood is about only early 70's, and typically they are being replaced as they are sold, with newer models.

So we chose a beautiful community, well taken care of and with many amenities (pools, jacuzzi, exercise room, etc). The trade off is having people look down their nose at us when we say we live in a mobile home. Whatever, it's ours, we like it, it's nice, clean and comfy and suits us just fine and the cat doesn't seem to mind it either.

Best part - the beach is less than 5 minutes away

Here's the layout (we have the optional bath, but not the double door opening to the den, that has a traditional door access from the hallway, and the front door is at the front of the house, with a big covered deck, parking for 3 cars and a storage shed made and painted like the house - which is blue/grey/white)