Your Old Neighborhood Now and Then..

[Spawn67]

So I made a trip back to my old neighbor hood where I grew up as a kid in the 70's and 80's. Some things are the same but alot of things are different. one being everything seemed so HUGE when I was kid and going back there as a adult everything is so small.
Another is that the woods we used to play in are now MCmansion houses as I call them.
The old shopping center has no original stores except a bowling alley and the movie theatre which had only 2 cinemas is now a bargin clothing store ( I saw some treasures there as a kid)
The main thing I noticed is that I saw no one on the street except one guy walking his dog. When I was a kid the neighborhood was always full of kids playing outside and adults doing there lawns and gardens etc. That is what stuck out the most.
What are some things that have changed about your old neighborhood?

[Mikey]

My old neighborhood got dumpier than it used to be.

Back in the day people mowed their grass once a week.

And when lightning struck a tree they used to clean it up.

Trim the hedges at least once a year.

Ever since the oldies died and new people moved in my neighborhood is turning into the other side of the tracks

[TomStrong]

I got so homesick I found my old house the other night on google earth. My folks passed when I was 19 and I sold the place when I moved to graduate school. I dream about going back some time. Wonder if the current owners would think I'm nuts if I asked to just come in. It was the only house we ever lived in. I thought the sun was not so golden anywhere else. I would play with my super powers guys in the carport when it rained and on pretty days didn't come in till dark.

[HardyGirl]

I Google Earth'd my old neighborhood once. Nothing is the same, and there's a McDonald's around the corner where the discount store used to be. I remember my mom and I had to walk 10 blocks to go to McD's, so it was a treat. They painted a ocean mural in front of my school, and the old mural is still in the back (where I used to enter), thank goodness. And of course they took down all the old playground equipnent in the school yard. And now it's that awful "Pepsi Playpark" style, (like most playgrounds are these days).

[jwyblejr]

Last time I went back in 2010,it was still the same. Was farms when I was a kid and it's still farms. Only thing changed was the house I grew up in. It's now a Bed & Breakfast.

[Shanester]

My old home is scheduled to be torn down and made into a Walgreens, by years end. The woods I played in for years are now an apartment complex.

[SentientApe]

There is a Facebook Group based on growing up in my old Chicago suburb hometown, made up of folks all roughly my age. Some seem to have an exaggerated memory of how "pristine," "peaceful" and "idyllic" life was back in The Old Neighborhood, and those are the same individuals who find sheer horror in the changes that have occurred in storefronts, urban development and changing demographics.

I seem to have a much more realistic memory of how things were, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, I have frequently taken the opportunity to drive past old haunts, former friends' houses, the old church (still the same), old paths and former workplaces (all of those have changed). Some things are the same -- or similar -- and many things have changed. There are less kids playing outside, but that's pretty much the same everywhere -- except the area where I live now (Damned kids! Keep it down out there!).