• bassman21
    • 2 months 3 days ago
    • Posts: 4553
    		 As most if you know I live in Houston. An unincorporated part of Houston to be exact. This means I have a Houston address, but don't live in the city limits. I grew up on the north side, but now live on the northwest side. While the area I grew up in has changed demographically, it was reaching its peak of development when I was a little kid. Today the area is old and ran down, but back then it was where the middle class wanted to live.

    The area I live in now was considered rural back then. There was only a couple of subdivisions and a few businesses alone the main highway. You can really see the difference looking at websites like Historical Aerials. In the last 10 years most of the vacant lots have been built on with new subdivisions, apartments and businesses. This is in part due to the good economy here and the influx of illegals over the years. To give you an idea the whole school district only had 3 high schools not long ago, now they have 8. Traffic is now so bad you don't dare go out between 4 and 7 pm. Crime is also going up, but its still better than most areas. My fear is the area will end up like the area I grew up in in a few years.

    I also remember the area further north where I grew up in. We used to shop at this club membership store called Gemco. It was sort of like Sam Clubs and Costco. I remember the car ride there. The freeway was only two lanes and it was all woods with only a few businesses along the freeway. In the 80s developers started buying the land and building subdivisions Today that area is developed the whole way. Traffic out there is bad too. Sadly the areas that developed in the 80s are full of crime now. As a teen in the 90s the kids at my school used to call that the rich white peoples side of town. Well now they have moved even further north to a community called the Woodlands. Exxon is building a big complex out there and that area is also very developed now. I remember when it was nothing but cypress trees.

    Do you have any areas where you live that have changed over the year. Do you go to some places and say "hey I remember when it was all woods out here?

    I think I'm going to move in the country some day. I hate traffic and crowds!
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    • eddstarr88
      • 2 months 2 days ago
      • Posts: 6883
      		 What you're saying pretty much describes the area south of Seattle, what we call up here "South King County".

      When I moved to Seattle in 1980, much of the south area was farmland as far as you could see in all directions. Smith Bros. Dairy Farm stretched for miles and I still remember driving through and hitting the car horn occasionally to get the attention of the cows in the field, lol.

      And you could visit with many of the fruit and vegetable farms in the southland, many had U-Pick areas along the two-lane roads that ran throughout the region, all the way to Mt. Rainier National Park.

      But, as you can imagine, that all disappeared in the blink of an eye. By 1986 the housing developments, warehouses and business parks ran over everything.

      Today, some of the best farming soil in the Pacific Northwest is covered by acres of parking lots.
      The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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      • thecrow174
        • 2 months 2 days ago
        • Posts: 9804
        		 For all I know, the property of the apartment complex I live in could've been the site of a famous Civil War battle.
        There is a battle between two wolves inside us all.

        One is evil and the other one is good. Which wolf will win? The one you feed the most.

        http://unbelievableyou.com/a-native-american-cherokee-story-two-wolves/
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        • thecrow174
          • 2 months 2 days ago
          • Posts: 9804
          bassman21 wrote:


          I think I'm going to move in the country some day. I hate traffic and crowds!

          Me too. City life is really getting to me. Murders, drugs, I can't stand it!
          There is a battle between two wolves inside us all.

          One is evil and the other one is good. Which wolf will win? The one you feed the most.

          http://unbelievableyou.com/a-native-american-cherokee-story-two-wolves/
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          • vkimo
            • 2 months 1 day ago
            • Posts: 2321
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            		 I remember they used to hold Renaissances Festivals on this lot right off the freeway. They were pretty regular too which was cool. It's a Costco now.
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            • stake n sheak
              • 2 months 1 day ago
              • Posts: 1769
              thecrow174 wrote:
              For all I know, the property of the apartment complex I live in could've been the site of a famous Civil War battle.


              If it was that famous, you probably would have heard about it by now
              tangspot2 wrote:
              Mrs. stake you say some nasty on my threads. Dirty bitch
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              • eddstarr88
                • 2 months 1 day ago
                • Posts: 6883
                		 Until this topic I never thought about all I've lost, I used to be just a short drive away from farm fresh produce. You guys should've seen all the beautiful strawberries I could buy during the peak of the season. And don't get me started on local sweet corn!

                Now I don't think that a single farm remains today.
                The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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                • bklynbren
                  • 2 months 1 day ago
                  • Posts: 866
                  		 There's many parts of Brooklyn that were run down when I was a kid, empty lots, boarded up buildings, drug addicts, etc...Now many of those same areas have been cleaned up, gentrified, unaffordable, infested with yuppies and hipsters, ten coffee bars on every block; I liked it better before, it may have been a little rough, but we all knew each other and had each others' backs, we had real "neighborhoods",.
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                  • thecrow174
                    • 2 months 1 day ago
                    • Posts: 9804
                    		 Oh, those yuppies. Thinking they're better than everyone.
                    There is a battle between two wolves inside us all.

                    One is evil and the other one is good. Which wolf will win? The one you feed the most.

                    http://unbelievableyou.com/a-native-american-cherokee-story-two-wolves/
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                    • bklynbren
                      • 2 months 1 day ago
                      • Posts: 866
                      thecrow174 wrote:
                      Oh, those yuppies. Thinking they're better than everyone.


                      Yeah, they overpay for their apartments like a bunch of dumb asses, because they want to be cool and live in Brooklyn so bad, then complain about every little thing that the old existing tenants do, kids can't even play in their own building anymore. They're so jealous and pissed that the older tenants pay less. I say too f!!!ing bad, if you don't like it than go back to the shitty-ass town you came from!
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                      • eddstarr88
                        • 2 months 1 day ago
                        • Posts: 6883
                        		 The worst part is how everything goes up in price. Even if you can afford the rent, who lives off $10 coffee and $40 sandwiches?
                        The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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                        • thecrow174
                          • 2 months 20 hours ago
                          • Posts: 9804
                          bklynbren wrote:
                          thecrow174 wrote:
                          Oh, those yuppies. Thinking they're better than everyone.


                          Yeah, they overpay for their apartments like a bunch of dumb asses, because they want to be cool and live in Brooklyn so bad, then complain about every little thing that the old existing tenants do, kids can't even play in their own building anymore. They're so jealous and pissed that the older tenants pay less. I say too f!!!ing bad, if you don't like it than go back to the shitty-ass town you came from!

                          They should stay in Manhattan with the other rich snobs.
                          There is a battle between two wolves inside us all.

                          One is evil and the other one is good. Which wolf will win? The one you feed the most.

                          http://unbelievableyou.com/a-native-american-cherokee-story-two-wolves/
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                          • bklynbren
                            • 2 months 18 hours ago
                            • Posts: 866
                            thecrow174 wrote:
                            bklynbren wrote:
                            thecrow174 wrote:
                            Oh, those yuppies. Thinking they're better than everyone.


                            Yeah, they overpay for their apartments like a bunch of dumb asses, because they want to be cool and live in Brooklyn so bad, then complain about every little thing that the old existing tenants do, kids can't even play in their own building anymore. They're so jealous and pissed that the older tenants pay less. I say too f!!!ing bad, if you don't like it than go back to the shitty-ass town you came from!

                            They should stay in Manhattan with the other rich snobs.


                            Yeah, I guess Manhattan isn't enough to satisfy their greed anymore.
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                            • bassman21
                              • 2 months 15 hours ago
                              • Posts: 4553
                              		 Don't get me started on how the yuppies have destroyed the culture in New York. They are actually taking over a lot of the big cities. Developers and investors pay top dollar to landowners and when that doesn't work they seize it with eminent domain. The buildings (many historic) are then demolished and replaced with structures too expensive for most to afford. These actions lowers the crime in the area, but it also causes the crime to move to other communities.

                              The neighborhood I grew up in is full of salvage yards, used car lots, flea markets, taco stands and check cashing stores. You know you're in the hood when you see a DNA testing sign on the front of a tire shop. These buildings used to be well known businesses that were a part of my childhood. Even sadder 80 years ago it was a small town along the railroad with farms. I remember cow pastures in walking distance of my house as late as the 90s. In the 60s through the 80s it developed due in part because of the schools, oil jobs and being only 10 or so miles from downtown. The oil crash of 1986, new homes being built further north and forced busing in the late 70s caused the area to decline rapidly. In the 90s is was a rough area, but it had a lot of diversity and character. Now its just trashy.

                              Everyone is raving about how great the economy is here. Many of the jobs are oil base. Once there is another oil crash it will be 1986 all over again for these newer developments. One thing I've learned is if "everyone is doing it", it isn't going to last. Everyone was buying gold, prices tanked. Everyone was flipping houses, housing market tanked. When everyone moves to take advantage of a good of an area, it will tank.

                              The problem is unless you have money and don't need to work, country living isn't practical due to the lack of jobs. It's too hard to live working at Walmart or the corner gas station. The good thing for me is I have a few skills to start a business, but even then my customer base is going to be limited with such a small population.
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                              • stake n sheak
                                • 2 months 13 hours ago
                                • Posts: 1769
                                		 Thanks for the reference to Historic Aerials bassman, I have wanted something like that for a long time. Previously I went to the library and looked at the reverse phone directory, but that is very difficult to visualize from.

                                In my neighborhood things are somewhat the opposite. That is, the area was developed, 80 years ago. Now, there are so many vacant lots. Almost 50 percent of lots have no building on them. Many more do have buildings--which are empty and deteriorating. Mrs sheak used to think this was because of riots after MLK was killed, but thinks to Historic Aerials (tm) (I'm going to make a commercial for them) I can see that at least on our block, most of the buildings stood until at least 1988 and were gone by 1998.
                                tangspot2 wrote:
                                Mrs. stake you say some nasty on my threads. Dirty bitch
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                                • vkimo
                                  • 2 months 12 hours ago
                                  • Posts: 2321
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                                  		 Here in Pennsylvania it's pretty amazing how generally dilapidated things are. Tons of abandoned gas stations, some in the middle of busy areas too. Condemned houses abound. It's actually kind of cool.
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                                  • pikachulover
                                    • 2 months 7 hours ago
                                    • Posts: 2932
                                    		 I'm pissed about developers tearing down historical things in Los Angeles to make room for overpriced condos that are near nothing anyway. I mean who wants to live on Sunset? Then the developers complain that people don't want to live there.
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                                    • bassman21
                                      • 1 month 30 days ago
                                      • Posts: 4553
                                      		 Historical Aerials is great. It helped me a lot in research the history of the area I grew up in. Some areas have more maps than other. The compare feature is really cool.

                                      Make sure you check out the topography maps too. Those can help you identify major landmarks as well as things like water towers, radio towers, oil wells, pipelines, bodies of water and much more. You can also see some aerials through the Google earth software. Google has one of Houston from 1944.

                                      Cole's cross directories are also good for researching an area because you can search by the address for both homes and business. There are some websites that sell them in scanned PDF or you can sometimes find the original books sold on Ebay from different years. Your county's appraisal district has useful info too such as previous owners and the year the building was built.

                                      Is true though while some communities are growing, others are getting smaller. Once the factories or mining plants close in an area people start moving away. Not too far where I live there is an reservoir that used to be a small town. The government bought the whole town back in the early 50s. There are still some hidden artifacts still in there that people have found.

                                      BTW Vkimo there are several abandoned towns in the US and Canada. Picher, Oklahoma is one of the more well known. The area was deemed unsafe due to mining and the government bought out the houses. Most have been demolished, but a few people still live there that refuse to leave. Here is a video before the demolition started.
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                                      • eddstarr88
                                        • 1 month 25 days ago
                                        • Posts: 6883
                                        		 The development boom is getting worse in Seattle. Newcomers are paying top dollar for small houses and even smaller apartments. But the population growth is not being matched by infrastructural improvements.

                                        Seattle needs street and bridge upgrades. We need new schools and expanded transit service. But there's never any money for any of that.
                                        The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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                                        • bassman21
                                          • 1 month 25 days ago
                                          • Posts: 4553
                                          		 With more people should come more tax money which can be spent to improve the infrastructural. Unfortunately many cities are wasting the money on the wrong things. They always seem to have money for "going green" projects, some art center or a new stadium, but not for things people really need.

                                          Before the people with money generally lived in the suburbs. There was this mindset that country living was better and that moving outside the city would get you better schools and less crime. Of course while a country/farmer/rural feel was the original intention, the communities ended up being almost as populated as the inner city with its own share of crime. As I said before once everyone starts doing something it means its days are numbered. High gas prices, traffic among other factors have attracted people back to the inner city.

                                          Sadly the poor are being pushed away from the city and because of transportation issues they are finding it harder to find work. In the city you have the transit system. In the suburbs you you don't and the amount of jobs are also limited.
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