Retrotalk : Places : "Landmarks" in your neighborhood

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D-Rock Member Since: December 2005 Contributions: 3297 Gold Stars: 107 View User Posts	"Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:47 am Central Time How many here had special "landmarks" in your neighborhood that over time became a part of the uniqueness of the area? Here are a couple of examples of what I'm talking about: On the street out in front of my house, some of the older boys would play baseball, and one day they took some spray paint and painted all the bases on the street! They stayed there for years, until the road was repaved. Ditto for the football field (!) my friend Billy painted on our freshly paved street, just up the hill from our house. He literally painted end zones, yard markers, and the home team football helmet (Vanderbilt University, of all things) in the middle of the field! When WE played street football, we really knew when we had made a touchdown!! One year, a family up the street from us got their driveway repaved in asphalt. As the asphalt truck drove up the street to their house, it accidentally dropped a small amount of asphalt on the street, which stuck and hardened into two small lumps about 4 inches tall. For a couple of years, it remained, and we used to run our bikes off of the lumps to try to get some air. A few years later, the lumps started to break free, and my friend and I kicked them loose. Another landmark was gone. One year, my friends and I were filming our epic Super 8mm horror film "Raisin at Large" (don't ask) out in front of my house. At some point during the filming, one of the kids grabbed a can of spray paint and painted "RASIN" on the telephone pole in front of my house. He didn't know how to spell "RAISIN". To this day, you can still see a faint image of "RASIN" on that pole. We lived on a cul-de-sac, which we referred to as "The Dead End". At the beginning of the street was a sign the city placed there stating "DEAD END". One night, my brother and his friends got out their spray paint and changed it to read "THE DEAD END" to make it more personal. That remained for what seemed like quite a few years until it was finally replaced. An outsider would look at a lot of these examples as pure property defacement (I as an adult probably would, too), but as a kid, these were the kinds of things that gave your neighborhood its own personality and made it special. What kinds of landmarks were in your neighborhood?
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Talkingfox Member Since: February 2006 Contributions: 2499 Gold Stars: 493 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:55 pm Central Time My street had the EXACT same ball field spray painted on it by the older boys in the neighborhood! Exactly how you described it. Only the street was never repaved so it stayed there for decades until it just wore away. I always wondered if they had to ask permission from the town to do it. He also lived on a dead end (until 1985 when they opened it up for a new housing developement) So our street was very popular for ball games (very low traffic) We had a similar street sign defacing as well. In 1990 this kid Erik slapped a bumper sticker on a stop sign at the end of our street that said "Skateboarding is not a crime" and last time my mom and I took my neice for a walk down the street that sticker was STILL there! (17 years later) although very worn, faded and torn. I remember walking by it in the late 90's and saying I remembered when it was put on the sign and my friends brother who was like, 13 was all in awe because I guess all the younger kids in the neighborhood had always wondered who did it and they were always trying to peel it off. People always used to say, "They STILL haven't replaced that stop sign yet? STILL has that sticker on it?" There was a HUGE boulder on the side of the road near my house. It was definitely placed there by someone for some reason, but I never knew why. It was on one of the main streets in my town and it just looked so out of place. It was like...all houses...then this huge boulder...then the row of houses continued. People used to ask me, "You live near that boulder? Why is it there?" The older kids used to hang out on or around it. They also used to spray paint it. It had this girl Tracey's phone number on it forever and it's actually STILL there. Just very faded. I also remember "69 is fine" being spray painted on it until someone covered it up by just spraying a huge red circle over it and that red circle is still there. it was also ran into by a few drunk drivers. Funny story, about 2 years ago I was driving to my parents and you pass the big rock and I saw a brightly colored box sitting on top of it. The box was there all day. I finally just walked on over to it and saw that it was the "Saved by the Bell" Board game. Talk about RANDOM! This kid Jason lived in the HUGE white house that was smack in the middle of town right on the corner of the two most main streets. EVERYONE used his house as a landmark. "Take a right at the huge white house...you'll know it when you see it." Even my relatives from Michigan would always joke, "Those people better never paint that house or else we'll never be able to get here!" they actually DID paint it. But it's a very light gray so it still looks white. I remember thinking I was so cool because I actually knew the kid who lived there and had been inside it.
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edehl Member Since: April 2006 Contributions: 1725 Gold Stars: 385 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:56 pm Central Time The landmark in my neighborhood is a little different from the ones described here. I recently discovered that I grew up 2 doors up from where the first school in my city had been built. It was a huge schoolhouse that was built in the late 1800s called the Buenna School. In the 50's or so, they tore the school down and built a convalescent home in its place, which was there until around 1983 when they tore that down. Now it's a big vacant lot.... But it's kind of cool to think of what must have gone on there a hundred or so years ago.
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Braniff Member Since: December 2006 Contributions: 713 Gold Stars: 61 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:20 pm Central Time The park in my neighborhood has a quarter-pipe, rails and a ramp for skateboarders. Otherwise, the only known landmarks is the nearby junction of Interstates 35, 80 and 235.
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Rooney Member Since: January 2007 Contributions: 5217 Gold Stars: 894 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:46 pm Central Time My first year of college I commuted instead of living in the dorm; and on my way I would drive by these phone poles and light poles that had been sray painted in purple: Prince wants us 2 try 2 luv 1 another (This was right after Purple Rain came out)
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D-Rock Member Since: December 2005 Contributions: 3297 Gold Stars: 107 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:21 pm Central Time Talkingfox wrote: My street had the EXACT same ball field spray painted on it by the older boys in the neighborhood! Exactly how you described it. Only the street was never repaved so it stayed there for decades until it just wore away. I always wondered if they had to ask permission from the town to do it. He also lived on a dead end (until 1985 when they opened it up for a new housing developement) So our street was very popular for ball games (very low traffic) We had a similar street sign defacing as well. In 1990 this kid Erik slapped a bumper sticker on a stop sign at the end of our street that said "Skateboarding is not a crime" and last time my mom and I took my neice for a walk down the street that sticker was STILL there! (17 years later) although very worn, faded and torn. I remember walking by it in the late 90's and saying I remembered when it was put on the sign and my friends brother who was like, 13 was all in awe because I guess all the younger kids in the neighborhood had always wondered who did it and they were always trying to peel it off. People always used to say, "They STILL haven't replaced that stop sign yet? STILL has that sticker on it?" There was a HUGE boulder on the side of the road near my house. It was definitely placed there by someone for some reason, but I never knew why. It was on one of the main streets in my town and it just looked so out of place. It was like...all houses...then this huge boulder...then the row of houses continued. People used to ask me, "You live near that boulder? Why is it there?" The older kids used to hang out on or around it. They also used to spray paint it. It had this girl Tracey's phone number on it forever and it's actually STILL there. Just very faded. I also remember "69 is fine" being spray painted on it until someone covered it up by just spraying a huge red circle over it and that red circle is still there. it was also ran into by a few drunk drivers. Funny story, about 2 years ago I was driving to my parents and you pass the big rock and I saw a brightly colored box sitting on top of it. The box was there all day. I finally just walked on over to it and saw that it was the "Saved by the Bell" Board game. Talk about RANDOM! This kid Jason lived in the HUGE white house that was smack in the middle of town right on the corner of the two most main streets. EVERYONE used his house as a landmark. "Take a right at the huge white house...you'll know it when you see it." Even my relatives from Michigan would always joke, "Those people better never paint that house or else we'll never be able to get here!" they actually DID paint it. But it's a very light gray so it still looks white. I remember thinking I was so cool because I actually knew the kid who lived there and had been inside it. view Great memories, TF! I love the "Saved by the Bell" board game thing. That is totally random and right up my alley. I love the idea of doing weird stuff like that which would make other people wonder "Why?"
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HardyGirl66 Member Since: November 2005 Contributions: 4041 Gold Stars: 550 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:14 pm Central Time Here in Oakland, we have a lot of hills. The streets are pretty even, but the sidewalks are pretty lumpy to accomodate the driveways and drain holes. There's this one street, Brooklyn Ave., that was dubbed "Roller Coaster Hill" , b/c the sidewalk along the street was just like a roller coaster going up and down. It was really great for bike riding. _________________ Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
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mhallack Member Since: December 2007 Contributions: 768 Gold Stars: 25 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:38 am Central Time Outside of our neighborhood is this big hill we called footprint mountain cause it has two bigh (naturally occuring) gouges on one side of it that looks like two big feet made an impression in the hillside (similar to the Hang Ten logo)
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SesameSquirrel Member Since: February 2008 Contributions: 23 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:01 pm Central Time When I was only 3, we moved into New Jersey's first planned unit development, just as the first section was, well, not quite finished yet. I would routinely ride my tricycle down the sidewalks and bike paths that ran amongst the townhouses. One day, there was a wooden stick on the sidewalk; I (sort of) pretended it was a highway sign gantry. I noticed that my ride was suddenly not quite the same, but I paid it no mind. Until a tough looking construction worker walked up, and bellowed "hooy, you stooy awooy from that cement", and proceeded to smoothen out some, but not all, of the tire tracks I'd made in the fresh cement. It turns out that section of new sidewalk was ripped up and re-laid for no apparent reason, though that happened on a number of sidewalks in the development. Toxic cement mix? Subsidence? I have no idea why perfectly good concrete sidewalks were ripped up and put down again. But if you ever visit the Twin Rivers development in East Windsor, NJ, don't miss the curve in the sidewalk on the south side of the 70 block of Bennington. The tricycle tracks I made are STILL there, 38 years later.
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historyfreak Member Since: November 2005 Contributions: 819 Gold Stars: 1 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:51 am Central Time I don't remember such landmarks, but I did have one personal landmark when I was in high school, that helped me remember where my bus stop was (I took the city bus home from school every day). It was a blue awning on somebody's house. The awning is still there, and my Catholic godmother told me recently that she knew the lady who lives there, but I forgot her name. I think it's Karen or something like that. Now a major landmark for me when people drive me home (which is about once a week as I go to an International Students' club at the Baptist mission on campus every Friday night) is the Shell gas station across the street from where I live. For all practical purposes my actual address doesn't really exist. The apartment building is on a street called Londonderry, but the mailboxes are on a little court called Kingswood. The only folks who are aware of Kingswood are the mailman, the garbage truck, the UPS folks, and people who live on the court. You can't miss the bright yellow Shell sign. Nobody in town really knows exactly where Kingswood is, so I just say I live on Londonderry.
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brennan Member Since: March 2006 Contributions: 479 Gold Stars: 60 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:58 pm Central Time We have "Jim the Wonder Dog" Park Jim was a psychic dog in the 1930s. He was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not. He was studied by the University of Missouri. According to sources, Jim could "read" in various languages and made predictions that came true. He has a book about him too, but readers be warned. Jim was apparently a bit racist too. We have the Battle of Marshall Civil War Battlefield site. It is now the site of where high school kids drink and make out.
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Allie Fox Member Since: June 2006 Contributions: 3056 Gold Stars: 273 View User Posts	Re: "Landmarks" in your neighborhood Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:33 am Central Time In the schoolyard behind my childhood house was a sump that had a 6'-8' fence around it. We were always having to sneak in to retreive footballs, hockey pucks, baseballs, etc. _________________ People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. - Rogers Hornsby
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