Back in time.

I think most people who know me think I'm a modern girl. I love modern technology. I love modern design. I especially love modern architecture. My friends know that when I move into a house, most everything in that house will get ripped out eventually and made modern.

Sometimes, I think if I would have had different opportunities growing up, maybe I would have become an architect. Poor people don't go to architecture school. They find a way to survive. Computers were the way out of poverty for me. It also fed my short attention span. Likey, an architect would need to be more focused than I am.. so maybe it was for the best.

Anyway, I guess it is no co-incidence that ones of my friends is a real estate agent. And since the housing market has become so soft, this friend has not so subtly started pointing me to houses on the market. I oblige by looking at them.

After all... there is something about houses that fascinate me. Especially a house that someone lived in their whole life and didn't seem to love. I never quite understand how people can live in a house and never do anything to it. I don't fault them.. it is just very foreign to me.

A few days ago my friend and I went to look at a house. It wasn't in a great section of town, but not a horrible one either. What I found when I got there was a little pocket in time. A neighborhood I never knew existed, and most people probably don't either. It is a 6 block area that sits in a time warp. Here is an example of some of the houses:







You see, most large scale development in my city probably started in the 1970's. It was the time when track housing became popular. You can drive into any neighborhood and most houses in that neighborhood will look very similar. But this little pocket was surely built in the 50's or earlier. And the people who live there are likely original owners.

The kind of neighborhood where people still don't lock their doors and they wave at you when you pass. No.. really. I'm not romanticising things. This neighborhood was probably where doctors and lawyers lived before McMansions became the norm. Every house is completely individual. A place that would be a shame to modernize.

I'm not sure the house works for us.. but really I wish it did. It was really a delight to see that a neighborhood like this still exists in real life.