The house where used to live as a child in Los Vegas is now gone and there’s a mega hotel there. It would have been fun to have seen if I remembered anything in it after 73 years. Ah well, life moves on.
I’m lucky, the town that I grew up in has changed very very little. About all that has changed is the central swamp of town turned into a nice little lake. And then there is a few extra houses on their Fringe, but other than that very little has changed. North Central Pennsylvania.
Someone I know moved out of a particular area in 1976. I was there recently and took a picture of his old house and showed it to him. And he got upset because the current owners remodeled it and kept it up. “That’s not how I remember it!!”, he complained. Well, he hasn’t been there in 45 years!!! What’s it supposed to be, a shrine to him?? The old drive-in and grade school in my old neighborhood were demolished years ago and it’s a strip mall now. And so what Good for them! I’m sure that suits their purposes better than some old building I haven’t been in for decades just because I had memories there. “Take paradise and put up a parking lot?” Meh. Joni Mitchell was wrong. Catchy tune, unrealistic lyrics.
I know how they feel. I’ve gone places where old landmarks (such as a mall I used to hang out at as a teen) were but aren’t there anymore but was half expecting them to still be there. sigh
Lynn Johnston is probably making reference to the Cedar Theatre in North Vancouver which opened in 1956 and closed in 1971 and was then demolished a few years after Lynn moved to Ontario from North Vancouver.
As for the school, she is talking about North Vancouver Senior Secondary School, that she and her brother attended. The school was closed June of 1979 and the school building was demolished in 1980, and a provincial court house was built on the site.
As for Elly Patterson, to be making these kinds of statements as if they were new to her would imply that she has not been to visit her mother or father at their home in North Vancouver in a long time. With Lynn Johnston, it makes more sense because her parents moved to Hope, BC, a few years after Lynn Johnston left North Vancouver, so when she visited her parents, she would not see changes to North Vancouver.
My childhood home is still there and the block looks pretty much the same but the house was sold after my mother’s death in 2015. I wonder if the lady who bought it has changed it at all. My mother lived there from 1956 when she and my dad bought the house until her death. The only other change I know of is my former elementary school was torn down at some point and the land lies vacant. Just grass. I wonder if anything will ever be built there again.
Couple of years ago I made a sentimental journey to towns I once lived in. A lot of changes in 40+ years. And I’m at the age (for several years) when someone mentions a new place its followed by “where such-and-such was” and then I know where they are talking about. :)
It is a bit disheartening. There are a lot of places in my old hometown that I don’t recognize anymore…I moved away 35 years ago, I get back there occasionally, and every time I go there’s always some different stuff.
I often drive by my first house I lived in when I was 6. It’s still there, though the garage is a room, now. And the house has more apartments where a vacant lot once was. I imagine the interior is much the same. I went into it several decades ago, when it was empty, and it seemed so small. The difference wasn’t the house as much as it was my height.
I think most of us see our schools torn down – our life expectancy is more than that of a school building – although I went to a high school in 1966 that was 50 years old. However, the best school I went to was Richmond High School in Richmond, California, in 1967/8. The principal had a great understanding of teen nature and made the school a wonderful place for students who made any effort at all. However, the buildings were built with a faux brick facade that was known to shuck off and become a serious hazard. Remediation was too expensive for the aging school and the year I was there was to be its last. I didn’t even know – one of the kindnesses of fate – that I would finish high school in the worst school I could have imagined. Knowing the best made it easier to survive the worst; the future was dark but I knew there was light out there somewhere. That was by far the most important thing I learned at any school.
The small farming town I grew up in hasn’t really changed that much. It’s been 60 years and some of the stores on Main Street are the same ones that were there when I was a teen. My old house is still there (they put siding over the stucco, though, and it seems to have SHRUNK!) The road in front is paved now…it was gravel then. My old high school is still standing, but is the middle school now and there’s a new high school. But all and all, it is still my old home town.
A dead person was found in a car in a parking lot at the toboggan hill walking distance from our home… There was a shoot out last summer two streets over. Just in the spring, a baby was run over on a street behind us,…. etc…
We had neighbors who were renting next door, where the police made regular calls at least twice a week because of them arguing… there is police across the street practically once a week or two, in the house across the street… When two police cars show up, you know it’s “domestic”…. That’s just recent…
In the time we’ve been here: forty years plus, a lot has changed, and we still live a “desirable” neighborhood. We moved to this town when it had a population of about 70,000. Today it is over 700,000…and we’re not moving, no way, no how…
We have great neighbors otherwise, since the renters moved on and the house was sold to a nice family, and great public transit to do our shopping and visit our doctors for the future when we won’t be able to drive, but one never knows what future has in store for us….
I had mentioned before that my MiL sold her house and came to live with us. We went back to Ohio for a visit and rode by her old house two or three times. The new owners had remodeled the house so beautifully, we didn’t recognize it at first. Also, my hometown is like that Lou Rawls’ song, “Tobacco Road”. Where they torn it down and built it up all over again. But, kept the name………
My brother still lives in the house in which we grew up. He bought my half from me after our father died. It used to be a very quiet neighborhood with a lot of children. We would ride our bicycles in the street, explore the woods, and walk to the corner store for candy, gum, and Cokes. If we saw two vehicles on the road within one hour, it was a high traffic day. Now the store isn’t there any longer (it’s just an empty building), the woods (that don’t belong to the National Guard) have been pretty much clear cut for MORE subdivisions, and kids don’t dare ride their bicycles in the street; it’s much, much too dangerous!
Templo S.U.D. over 3 years ago
no easy revisiting your hometown to see so many changes
wjones over 3 years ago
My home town is totally different. Everything been replaced, enclouding the house I grew up in.
Prescott_Philosopher over 3 years ago
The house where used to live as a child in Los Vegas is now gone and there’s a mega hotel there. It would have been fun to have seen if I remembered anything in it after 73 years. Ah well, life moves on.
Leojim over 3 years ago
I’m lucky, the town that I grew up in has changed very very little. About all that has changed is the central swamp of town turned into a nice little lake. And then there is a few extra houses on their Fringe, but other than that very little has changed. North Central Pennsylvania.
BlitzMcD over 3 years ago
Someone I know moved out of a particular area in 1976. I was there recently and took a picture of his old house and showed it to him. And he got upset because the current owners remodeled it and kept it up. “That’s not how I remember it!!”, he complained. Well, he hasn’t been there in 45 years!!! What’s it supposed to be, a shrine to him?? The old drive-in and grade school in my old neighborhood were demolished years ago and it’s a strip mall now. And so what Good for them! I’m sure that suits their purposes better than some old building I haven’t been in for decades just because I had memories there. “Take paradise and put up a parking lot?” Meh. Joni Mitchell was wrong. Catchy tune, unrealistic lyrics.
Baarorso over 3 years ago
I know how they feel. I’ve gone places where old landmarks (such as a mall I used to hang out at as a teen) were but aren’t there anymore but was half expecting them to still be there. sigh
howtheduck over 3 years ago
Lynn Johnston is probably making reference to the Cedar Theatre in North Vancouver which opened in 1956 and closed in 1971 and was then demolished a few years after Lynn moved to Ontario from North Vancouver.
As for the school, she is talking about North Vancouver Senior Secondary School, that she and her brother attended. The school was closed June of 1979 and the school building was demolished in 1980, and a provincial court house was built on the site.
As for Elly Patterson, to be making these kinds of statements as if they were new to her would imply that she has not been to visit her mother or father at their home in North Vancouver in a long time. With Lynn Johnston, it makes more sense because her parents moved to Hope, BC, a few years after Lynn Johnston left North Vancouver, so when she visited her parents, she would not see changes to North Vancouver.
Macushlalondra over 3 years ago
My childhood home is still there and the block looks pretty much the same but the house was sold after my mother’s death in 2015. I wonder if the lady who bought it has changed it at all. My mother lived there from 1956 when she and my dad bought the house until her death. The only other change I know of is my former elementary school was torn down at some point and the land lies vacant. Just grass. I wonder if anything will ever be built there again.
William J. Mackey over 3 years ago
Couple of years ago I made a sentimental journey to towns I once lived in. A lot of changes in 40+ years. And I’m at the age (for several years) when someone mentions a new place its followed by “where such-and-such was” and then I know where they are talking about. :)
Johnnyrico over 3 years ago
It is a bit disheartening. There are a lot of places in my old hometown that I don’t recognize anymore…I moved away 35 years ago, I get back there occasionally, and every time I go there’s always some different stuff.
amanbe3 over 3 years ago
I lived in Orlando, Florida, pre-Disney (1955-1970). Talk about changes! I avoid that town at all costs now.
ATGMer over 3 years ago
Every house I lived in as a kid no longer exists. That’s progress?
dwdl21 over 3 years ago
Thankfully my neighbourhood is still very close to what it was, they expanded the mall I used to hang out in but that’s it.
preacherman Premium Member over 3 years ago
I often drive by my first house I lived in when I was 6. It’s still there, though the garage is a room, now. And the house has more apartments where a vacant lot once was. I imagine the interior is much the same. I went into it several decades ago, when it was empty, and it seemed so small. The difference wasn’t the house as much as it was my height.
flagmichael over 3 years ago
I think most of us see our schools torn down – our life expectancy is more than that of a school building – although I went to a high school in 1966 that was 50 years old. However, the best school I went to was Richmond High School in Richmond, California, in 1967/8. The principal had a great understanding of teen nature and made the school a wonderful place for students who made any effort at all. However, the buildings were built with a faux brick facade that was known to shuck off and become a serious hazard. Remediation was too expensive for the aging school and the year I was there was to be its last. I didn’t even know – one of the kindnesses of fate – that I would finish high school in the worst school I could have imagined. Knowing the best made it easier to survive the worst; the future was dark but I knew there was light out there somewhere. That was by far the most important thing I learned at any school.
this is summerdog over 3 years ago
When you go home everything looks so much smaller!
vaughnrl2003 Premium Member over 3 years ago
Yup. It’s mentally painful to go home now. Even the changes I got used to have changed again.
Teto85 Premium Member over 3 years ago
Imagine how beautiful it must have been before the colonizers invaded.
VegaAlopex over 3 years ago
My hometown has been steadily dying, and I have no desire to go back and visit graves after a quarter century.
sbwertz over 3 years ago
The small farming town I grew up in hasn’t really changed that much. It’s been 60 years and some of the stores on Main Street are the same ones that were there when I was a teen. My old house is still there (they put siding over the stucco, though, and it seems to have SHRUNK!) The road in front is paved now…it was gravel then. My old high school is still standing, but is the middle school now and there’s a new high school. But all and all, it is still my old home town.
Robert4170 over 3 years ago
Me and a friend of mine visited our old summer camp when we were adults. We were shocked to see how small everything looked.
christelisbetty over 3 years ago
A couple of days ago, I heard on the news, there had been a shoot out, leaving one dead, at the city park I played in as a kid.
1JennyJenkins over 3 years ago
A dead person was found in a car in a parking lot at the toboggan hill walking distance from our home… There was a shoot out last summer two streets over. Just in the spring, a baby was run over on a street behind us,…. etc…
We had neighbors who were renting next door, where the police made regular calls at least twice a week because of them arguing… there is police across the street practically once a week or two, in the house across the street… When two police cars show up, you know it’s “domestic”…. That’s just recent…
In the time we’ve been here: forty years plus, a lot has changed, and we still live a “desirable” neighborhood. We moved to this town when it had a population of about 70,000. Today it is over 700,000…and we’re not moving, no way, no how…
We have great neighbors otherwise, since the renters moved on and the house was sold to a nice family, and great public transit to do our shopping and visit our doctors for the future when we won’t be able to drive, but one never knows what future has in store for us….
CoreyTaylor1 over 3 years ago
I’m surprised John and the kids haven’t changed the locks on Helly!
samfran6-0 over 3 years ago
I had mentioned before that my MiL sold her house and came to live with us. We went back to Ohio for a visit and rode by her old house two or three times. The new owners had remodeled the house so beautifully, we didn’t recognize it at first. Also, my hometown is like that Lou Rawls’ song, “Tobacco Road”. Where they torn it down and built it up all over again. But, kept the name………
queenoftut over 3 years ago
My brother still lives in the house in which we grew up. He bought my half from me after our father died. It used to be a very quiet neighborhood with a lot of children. We would ride our bicycles in the street, explore the woods, and walk to the corner store for candy, gum, and Cokes. If we saw two vehicles on the road within one hour, it was a high traffic day. Now the store isn’t there any longer (it’s just an empty building), the woods (that don’t belong to the National Guard) have been pretty much clear cut for MORE subdivisions, and kids don’t dare ride their bicycles in the street; it’s much, much too dangerous!
JP Steve Premium Member over 3 years ago
Neat! I used to go to movies at the Cedar-V (on upper Lonsdale, North Vancouver) — a Quonset/Nissan hut converted into a theatre!
STACEY MARSHALL Premium Member over 3 years ago
The Shangri-Las “I Can Never Go Home Anymore” Extended Version!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHvf15juqmY