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Where am I?
Old 06-19-2009, 09:45 AM   #1
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Where am I?

In my retiree mind, I am in a 3rd-4th floor apartment or condo on the Main street of a city looking out my window. Down below on the street is a steady stream of shoppers, people going to work, cars slowly looking for a spot, coppers slapping their night sticks on the streetlamp posts as they wander along. Shop keepers have just gone back inside after putting their awnings up or some goods out on the sidewalk. Older ladies walk along with their shopping cart or bags, with old fart in tow, and the smell of eggs/bacon is in the air, later to give way to burger and fries smell. I see a used book store on the corner, a Five and Dime up the street, a McCrory's, Woolworth's or Kress's along the way. A news shop on the corner.

The library 2 blocks over has huge wooden tables and large oak chairs weighing too much to lift, almost. The paper isn't here yet but will be as soon as the paper boy brings it. The little park in the town center has 4 benches and some geese and ducks in the 4 quart pond and a cast iron water fountain that worked up until 10 years ago.

I may wander way over onto the edge of town about 3 blocks, each way, to get a pint of Brandy for later, and stop by the Sinclair station to get a bottle of pop for a chaser. Hope I don't run into Reverend Smith, lest he recognize me and punch me in the nose.

Where am I? I musta got lost, somewhere down the line.

Does this still exit or is this only in the mind of the imaginer?
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:06 AM   #2
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Where am I?
Lost in the 50's?
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:12 AM   #3
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I don't know if Woolworths or Kress still exist, but if the store name doesn't matter, then you could be in any one of a horde of out-of-the-way, half forgotten towns in middle America, IMO. Personally I think you could have fun rambling about several states all summer looking at places that are at least partly like that. We got gas at a Sinclair station in Springfield last February so Sinclair still exists.
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:31 AM   #4
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I do feel a bit lost in the 50's but I grew up in Los Angeles and maybe those images exist from movies, bit I cannot imagine a life living here. But I have a friend who also retired from Catech and his wife chose to live in that type burb.

Yet, all my searching so far has not turned up a place where I can walk out my front door each morning and be within a block or two of some enjoyable experience.

I suspect it is going be be difficult to find. Just wondering if anyone is there yet.








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Originally Posted by Want2retire View Post
I don't know if Woolworths or Kress still exist, but if the store name doesn't matter, then you could be in any one of a horde of out-of-the-way, half forgotten towns in middle America, IMO. Personally I think you could have fun rambling about several states all summer looking at places that are more or less like that. We got gas at a Sinclair station in Springfield last February so Sinclair still exists.
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:32 AM   #5
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You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:35 AM   #6
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Change the store names, subtract the beat cop, and you could be in any number of small towns close to me. Every once in a while, my best guy friend and I take a spin and visit one of these little towns and wander around. It is an experience.

Don't forget the town diner with the blue plate special!
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:36 AM   #7
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I do feel a bit lost in the 50's but I grew up in Los Angeles and maybe those images exist from movies, bit I cannot imagine a life living here.
Hey, I think I can see my house!
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:37 AM   #8
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My dear, you have entered "The Twilight Zone."

Night sticks indicate a place like England but the store names are U.S. In your first line you indicate city but it sounds like a small town. Go with it, it may mean something like you want to slow down. When I first moved to the city, I often spoke of feeling over-stimulated; now that I've been there 35 years and retired 9 months, it's a struggle to allow myself a slower pace.
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:48 AM   #9
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I do feel a bit lost in the 50's but I grew up in Los Angeles and maybe those images exist from movies, bit I cannot imagine a life living But I have a friend who also retired from Catech and his wife chose to live in that type burb.

Yet, all my searching so far has not turned up a place where I can walk out my front door each morning and be within a block or two of some enjoyable experience.

I suspect it is going be be difficult to find. Just wondering if anyone is there yet.
If that was was CALTECH then your answers are right next door: Sierra Madre, Montrose South Pasadena if you want to walk to everything add La Canada if driving is OK.

My favorites: My older son lives in Placerville. Great small town, Nevada City too.
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:50 AM   #10
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My favorites: My older son lives in Placerville. Great small town, Nevada City too.
I love the Mother Lode area. Great scenery and history, glorious weather. I'd love to retire there, except that it's just way too expensive and CA taxes are brutal.
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:57 AM   #11
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CuppaJoe, in England we had our coppers use a little whistle that sounded like a tweeter. I lived in NYC and the coppers would beat their sticks on the sidewalk to alert other coppers.

In Los Angeles, if I want to go somewhere more than a mile, I have to plan the trip. What time, which alternate route, La Cienega or La Tierra, what is best leaving and returning time. OK, home honey, got the loaf of bread, sorry it's midnight but the freeway was closed at MLK Blvd.

I'm thinking more of a small enclave within a big tropolis, like Queens, or Brooklyn. Maybe upper Polk in SF. But really was hoping to hear someone say.

"Ah, your talking about Willoughby".

Any pocketville like that someone knows of I would be glad to go look.



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My dear, you have entered "The Twilight Zone."

Night sticks indicate a place like England but the store names are U.S. In your first line you indicate city but it sounds like a small town. Go with it, it may mean something like you want to slow down. When I first moved to the city, I often spoke of feeling over-stimulated; now that I've been there 35 years and retired 9 months, it's a struggle to allow myself a slower pace.
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Old 06-19-2009, 10:58 AM   #12
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Good post. My home town and where my Dad, 2 sisters and many friends and relatives still live has resisted the ravages of time very well and is still a place that I would move back to in an instant in anything ever happened to DW and I found myself alone.

I have been back a LOT this last few years by myself on business. I stay with my Dad and drive the 25 miles each way to work. Because of jet lag and the sun being out at 4am in June I often find myself up and walking before 7am.

The newspaper shop and the little grocer's and the baker's are still only a couple of blocks away. The town center is a 10 minute walk away but I usually take a long walk up to my old grammar school and down through the woods to the cliffs and walk along the promenade so that by the time I am walking up the high street people are stirring and you can smell the fresh baking bread. I often meet the milkman whose family own one of the local farms and who we have known all our lives.
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Old 06-19-2009, 11:03 AM   #13
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Alan, darn, now you've done it mate. Gone and thrown heaven out there as a possibility. I used to go to Whitby and Scarborough at the weekend, stop in Thirsk for a Fish and Chips on Kirkgate just off the Market Square. I'm gonna have to settle for something a lot less. But if you are in the US, it must seem like heaven to get back home.


and.
Ooops, spelin was a real bummer for me. Oh, yeah, La Canada was my entry way to heaven. I've walked every square inch of Angeles Crest.

But I have tired of Cali. Something has changed and it's fine for newcomers but if you were born here, ahhh, nevermind the rant is not worth it.

Thanks, I will re-acquaint. Have not been back there in a while.

I'll try to find a picture that will describe my feelings a bit better.

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If that was was CALTECH then your answers are right next door: Sierra Madre, Montrose South Pasadena if you want to walk to everything add La Canada if driving is OK.

My favorites: My older son lives in Placerville. Great small town, Nevada City too.
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Old 06-19-2009, 11:04 AM   #14
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Does this still exit or is this only in the mind of the imaginer?

If it does exist, I sure would like to find it.
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Old 06-19-2009, 11:10 AM   #15
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If you live in LA then you know it has many neighborhoods and interesting enclaves. My favorite is Larchmont Village, part of Hancock Park but I kind of expect someone to tether a mule in the street. Nothing like being in a village in the city.
I am a city boy, grew up in Chicago, lived in London and now LA/Pasadena for 30 years. I think a good small town, especially if it has a college, can be a great place to live; like Claremont or Davis. It does take a lot of research to find a compatible spot.
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Old 06-19-2009, 11:22 AM   #16
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...Any pocketville like that someone knows of I would be glad to go look.
New England is full of Pocketvilles, but the snow and cold is not for the fainthearted. The cultural void has to be considered too, unless you grab yourself a place in a college town.
On that note, may I recommend Ithaca NY, home of Cornell University, in the Finger Lakes region for a nice easy vacation in the summertime.
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Old 06-19-2009, 11:26 AM   #17
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Penny Lane.

One thing for sure, you're not anywhere with a Walmart within a few miles.
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Old 06-19-2009, 11:31 AM   #18
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Small world. big city kid also, born LA, lived in Chi, NYC, Hong Kong, and London/England many years. W2 4AD, Queensway. Just back of Whiteley's.

But, I am yearning for something I cannot seem to find. I want a market square from Skipton, N. Yorks, and Rue Cler and maybe three blocks of Nathan Rd., Kowloon, transported to the US and put into the area just South of Market.

Anyone seen that place yet?

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If you live in LA then you know it has many neighborhoods and interesting enclaves. My favorite is Larchmont Village, part of Hancock Park but I kind of expect someone to tether a mule in the street. Nothing like being in a village in the city.
I am a city boy, grew up in Chicago, lived in London and now LA/Pasadena for 30 years. I think a good small town, especially if it has a college, can be a great place to live; like Claremont or Davis. It does take a lot of research to find a compatible spot.
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Old 06-19-2009, 11:48 AM   #19
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....
"Ah, your talking about Willoughby".

Any pocketville like that someone knows of I would be glad to go look.
Don't mean to rain on your parade but IIRC, I interpreted "Willoughby" to be the stop that no longer exists; the guy who got off there was dead.

Check your "thank you" section. The place you are looking for really does exist but you have to decide where to find it; it might be just a state of mind.
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Old 06-19-2009, 11:50 AM   #20
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Alan, darn, now you've done it mate. Gone and thrown heaven out there as a possibility. I used to go to Whitby and Scarborough at the weekend, stop in Thirsk for a Fish and Chips on Kirkgate just off the Market Square. I'm gonna have to settle for something a lot less. But if you are in the US, it must seem like heaven to get back home.
Really pleased to see that you know the area I am talking about

I aim to RE in January then DW & I plan to start living in places like this for weeks or months at a time. Next year will be 6 weeks in England, 2 of which will be in the center of York staying at the university during the Yorksgen biannual conference. DW has done it before 4 years ago and loved it.

In 2011 we plan to live in Guisborough for 6 months, which is somewhere you may know - a market town on the road to Whitby (A171). We lived there between '79 and '85, both our children were born and baptized in the same church my ancestors were baptized in 300 years earler. Again it has hardly changed at all. (Bounded by National Trust - North Yorkshire Moors, nowhere it can expand to).

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Guisborough is a very important market town dating back many centuries. Nobody quite knows just how old the town is, as it was considered an old town even at the time of the Doomsday Survey in 1086
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