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September 30, 2015

William Levitt: The Man Who Built Suburbia

If the American family wanted a chance to prosper, they were going to have to play by his rules. | Mental Floss

Posted by gerardvanderleun at September 30, 2015 8:44 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

Doubtful I'll ever do suburbia again, and seriously regret that I ever did. The neighbors mind their own business out here in the woods and most of them have 4 legs or 2 wings.

Posted by: ghostsniper [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 30, 2015 9:06 AM

The statement that you quote here is entirely false:

"If the American family wanted a chance to prosper, they were going to have to play by his rules."

William Levitt didn't force anybody to buy one of the houses he built. As the article notes, he sold them without any money down, for a reasonable monthly payment. The communities he built are still sound.

The price of $8,000 was fair. According to Zillow, the median home value in Levittown NY is $357,000. The median home value in Levittown PA is $200,000. The medial home value in Belair MD is $276,000.

Most Americans LOVE suburban living. It is a compromise between the wide open spaces and the dense city. That is why the BHO administration wants to kill the suburbs.

I'd say that William Levitt did more good for the housing of the average American than the Federal Government.

Posted by: Punditarian [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 30, 2015 4:08 PM

LITTLE BOXES words and music by Malvina Reynolds;

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.

There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,

And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,

Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,

And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,

And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,

And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,

And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,

Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family

In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,

And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 30, 2015 8:51 PM

Thanks, Chas. I got a laugh from that - I was taught that song by the communist song leaders at the communist summer camp to which I was sent, and I cheerfully sang it, learning to think of myself as so superior to the poor suburbanites.

Now of course if those ticky tacky little boxes had been on the hillsides of Russia rather than California, we would have been taught to extol them as the pleasure palaces of the working class . . . .

Posted by: Punditarian [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 1, 2015 4:18 AM

Pun: I like that "pleasure palaces of the working class".

Living in those little boxes is corrupt capitalism unless the commies thought of it. Then it would be advances to the equality of the workers.

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 1, 2015 6:25 AM

Yes, chas, that's exactly how they do it:

Before the Revolution, the unemployed are heroic victims.

After the Revolution, they are counter-revolutionary parasites.

Posted by: Punditarian [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 1, 2015 8:02 AM

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