your childhood

[emily]

how  much of your childhood has disappeared?

I was thinking about this over the past few days, a lot of mine has now

the school I went to burned to the ground, and  most of the childhood cafes and  shops I went too are closed (either empty, or replaced with something else)

most of the radio stations I listened to have closed, (the last one I remember being shut in 2012), and mosd obviously everyone I knew has grown up and moved on (several passed away too)

so, I figured I'd ask. how much of your childhood has vannished?. I honestly don't have a whole lot of it left.

[mostroop]

I moved away, but the last time I visited, it was very different.
My high school, which was one that many parents tried to get their kids into is now overwhelmed by gangs. The store that I worked in after school and where I met my hubs (Alexander's), has gone out of business.

[Sarzy]

The schools I went to look quite different to when I was there. A surprising amount of my old school friends still live in the same area though. The high street shops i used to always go to have mostly vanished, a lot replaced by coffee shops and restaurants.

[inigomontoya]

My high schools are still there, and have expanded. I grew up in a small town about 30-45 mins away from a city. As time has gone by, economic conditions in the city have changed so people are moving to the town in which I grew up and others for schools, etc. and commute to that city for work.

There was a time when the proverbial Main Street was a shadow of its former self, but the town has a foundation dedicated to revitalize, which it has done.

[MsDark]

My Catholic high school (with a long & rich history in my home city) is gone. It was merged with another Catholic school within the diocese which is now also kaput and merged with a couple others. So the ones that are still in existence have had a bit of a bump in attendance.

Less people probably have the money to pay for the tuition these days without scholarships or grants. When my son went I think the tuition went up every single year he was there. The year my son was a senior at his high school we qualified for a tuition discount (thank goodness) partly because I'd become a single parent, but partly because of his grades and the fact that he'd been there for 3 previous years.

Since I was a child? A shitload of stuff has changed. Because I'm old af. I'm honestly ready to move but feel kind of trapped where I am for the moment.

[tulip]

I am the youngest in my family and my sisters are much older than I am. They are 2 years apart and grew up together. After my parents passed away and we were cleaning out our childhood home, I realized that they will always have each other to talk about their childhood experiences, but I was alone with our parents, and they are both gone, so I have no family members to share those experiences with anymore. It made me really sad. The town we grew up in is a big teardown community, so my childhood home is gone as well. My sisters will talk about driving by "the house" but I won't. I have no connection to it and my mother's gorgeous garden is gone.

I now live in the town next to the one I grew up in. We moved here after my dad died to be closer to my mom. My daughter is interning at the high school I attended and where her grandpa taught for many years. I feel like things have come full circle in that regard.

[chemicalhelena]

My elementary school is gone. The middle school and high school I went to are still standing but have been remodeled. I actually teach at the high school I went to, which feels weird sometimes. All the places I would shop at are gone. I do like driving past the apartment building I grew up in. I'd love to walk through it once more.

[notoriousmkg]

My catholic grade school (1-8) is still there. It's annual tuition is a little less than our daughter's college tuition (excludes room & board).

My high school re-located to about 5 miles away and they demolished the old building. When I think about it, that is surprisingly sad, even though it only represents 4 years of my life.

My college is huge now. A lot of buildings have been remodeled. However, the lecture hall where I had my freshman sociology class had not changed one iota in 30+ years when I took our kids through the room.

My parents' home is still doing okay. The schools around it have become horrible, though.

One thing that kind of blows me away is to think about all the stores that have gone away since Mrs Mo and I have been married. Restaurants, video stores, even fast-food chains...

[brookie]

I'm 68 so it's mostly dunzo.

Elementary school torn down years ago to make an assisted living facility. Junior High (7-8 grades) now a "middle school" (6-7-8), high school merged with the rival school across town. The town I grew up in (a suburb of Detroit) has changed from a family-oriented place to a hippy-dippy, overpriced, singles hangout. Trendy restaurants and bars, no parking, most schools I grew up with gone, still a "downtown" area to walk around (if you can locate parking). Facebook friends with people from high school that NEVER gave me the time of day when we were classmates (I was in charge of looking up everyone on FB for the last reunion); it's amazing how 40-50 years makes a school full of snobbish cliquy people change their tunes. Friends from the old 'hood are few and far between; none of the families I grew up with on my old street are there anymore; the parents are all gone and we kids have scattered to the winds. My parents' home is still there, although it was flipped (for the better) a few years back and looks wonderful inside (saw photos on Zillow the last time it was for sale). Also FB friends with my 12th grade English Comp teacher; she's only a few years older than me and is still cute and perky.

[firebrat1229]

My Catholic high school merged with another one but it's the same building. Cincinnati has a large Catholic population so this isn't entirely surprising that it's still at least partially there. I graduated in 1987 and I think the school opened in the 60s. If it was in a less catholic-y city Im sure it would be gone by now.

It's interesting - I have lived in florida for 9 years and hate it and certainly don't feel it's home, but I recently had to go back to Cincy and I don't feel like that's home anymore either. Everything is changed or gone from my old neighborhood and stomping grounds, and I feel weirdly out of place now.

It's very disconcerting to feel that you don't belong in either place, honestly.

[Cartermrc]

My parent's home had the entire first floor gutted and modernized, my elementary school was razed and completely rebuilt (so the kids and staff can’t get as easily shot) and San Francisco is apparently a hell hole now and it costs the earth to live anywhere near or around it. We bailed out of there in 1975. I miss the sunny California of my youth.

[charmedhour]

Jan 23, 2022 17:23:00 GMT MsDark said:

My Catholic high school (with a long & rich history in my home city) is gone. It was merged with another Catholic school within the diocese which is now also kaput and merged with a couple others. So the ones that are still in existence have had a bit of a bump in attendance.

Less people probably have the money to pay for the tuition these days without scholarships or grants. When my son went I think the tuition went up every single year he was there. The year my son was a senior at his high school we qualified for a tuition discount (thank goodness) partly because I'd become a single parent, but partly because of his grades and the fact that he'd been there for 3 previous years.

Since I was a child? A shitload of stuff has changed. Because I'm old af. I'm honestly ready to move but feel kind of trapped where I am for the moment.

My all-girls Catholic HS is hanging in there, and enrollment is actually higher than when I attended. We had a class of 95, this year's incoming freshman class was 122.  Not shabby considering tuition is nearly 10K a year.  When I attended- no grants or scholarships were available but now there's several ways to get funding for your kid.  It's outside of the NYC Archdiocese, so considered "private-Catholic".

Sadly, my Archdiocese run grammar school is verging on closing due to low enrollment. It will probably merge with the adjacent parish's school that is facing the same struggle.  When I went we had 4 classes per grade (1-8), half day K and no pre-K.  Now its one class per grade and about 3/4 of the building is closed off cause they don't need the room. Word has it the only thing keeping the doors open right now is the universal pre-K 3/4 program it hosts and is fully funded by government.

Overall, my neighborhood has changed drastically. It was always a modest blue collar middle class area.  Mainly single family homes and a small amount of apartment buildings (I grew up in one of them).  Prices were slightly higher than most other Bronx areas because we are waterfront.  Most parents were some kind of civil servant, generally. Loads of cops, fire, garbage men, corrections, school teachers & the like. Most streets were kept clean by the residents, every corner had a city garbage can and when full someone would dump it (not the frigging city) and place it back.


It's a very leafy suburban feeling community.  Single family homes on larger lots were bought by developers that put up 3-4 2 or 3 family homes for close to $1.5 million each.  Many did not sell due to the Great Recession at the time and the developers became landlords accepting various programs. 


The pride of ownership is gone and it's evident- streets are dirty with litter, lots of porch pirates stealing packages, kids on bicycles/little motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic seriously trying to cause an accident.  Literally, they will cut you off and dare you to hit them.  The NYPD precinct is known as a "do nothing" assignment spot- guys close to retirement or rookies who know someone get placed there.  They still do very little despite the rise in crime- muggings, home invasions, burglaries are all up ticking steadily each year, along with the ever present car theft that has always been an issue.  Some crimes, mainly quality of life related, the NYPD have their hands tied and on others it's just like they don't care. It's a woefully understaffed precinct too. 2 sector cars on the overnight in my parents immediate area, which is bananas considering its the NY fucking PD.

R and I always talk about going home eventually (he grew up in the same hood) but when we go back it makes us sad.  We know we couldn't live there again.  My parents are waiting on my last remaining grandparent to pass- he lives 3 blocks from them- and then they're out too.  My dad has OCD with cleanliness. He literally sweeps the streets in a 7 block radius of his house every day- and it's a private community with it's own maintenance.

[no1novice]

That’s sad Charmed.
I can’t go back as I am out-priced of the market (federal/govt worker) but it’s got nicer & my school which was a “good” but (US: Public) local council school is really hard to get into now so the houses in the catchment area have increased massively.

[dolem]

All my old schools are still standing, apparently my elementary school has become quite sought after. Had my 20 yr HS reunion a few years ago and we got a tour of the school. It was very weird as they have updated a lot of it but then you turn around and there's still a weird mural in the stairwell that's been there since the 70's or 80's. Just a strange juxtaposition of old and new.

My old house is still there, sold a few years ago so I saw the pics on zillow. My town grew from about 60k to well over 100k since I left for college, got married and we moved to a different suburb.

[charmedhour]

Mar 26, 2022 12:16:11 GMT no1novice said:

That’s sad Charmed.
I can’t go back as I am out-priced of the market (federal/govt worker) but it’s got nicer & my school which was a “good” but (US: Public) local council school is really hard to get into now so the houses in the catchment area have increased massively.

It's disheartening to watch the neighborhood decline.

Realistically, we are priced out of our home area unless we too want to become landlords.  He helped his mom for many years when she owned a 2-family home and rented the apartment out.  It's a pain in the ass and NYC is very pro-tenant.  An eviction, pre-pandemic, would take at least 18 plus months all the while the tenant free loads and destroys your property.  I'm reading now housing court is so backed up it's most likely going to be 3-4 years for landlords to get deadbeats out.

We could never afford the surrounding suburbs, which is one of the reasons we had landed out in Pennsylvania to start with.