Anyone else look into places you used to live?

[kenny]

I do.
I've lived all over the world, and several places in America.

The Internet is an amazing tool for finding out how places are now, and why and how they've changed.

Of most interest to me is places I was stationed in the military for 6 years, both US and abroad, from the mid 70s to early 80s.
The end of the cold war resulted in the US closing many facilities, domestic and overseas.
One US base has vanished entirely without a trace, being replaced by an upscale planned community.
Weird.

One US-abandoned base overseas has been leveled, but not before that country used it used for rehabilitating drug addicts.
On Google maps I can see scars in the land today where every building once stood.

Another isolated base overseas has converted into a weather station after the US military left that country.
The cool thing about military bases is tons of service members were also posted there and love to post their recollections, fond and not so fond, of their time there and post pics on fora and blogs.

My favorite overseas location hasn't changed a bit ... but when I was there nearly everything looked a hundreds of years old - the cobblestone roads and ancient Catholic churches and town squares.

The earliest house I lived in is still there, as is most of that city and my elementary school.
I think my dad paid maybe $6,000 for the new house around 1959, but today Zillow says it's worth 100 times that.
But then, one apartment we lived in around 1969 was brand new and very nice, but the area has since deteriorated into a notorious slum.

Has anything interesting happened to the places where you've lived?

 

[Matata]

Has anything interesting happened to the places where you've lived?

When I left Pittsburgh, it was a steel and coal producing city. Pollutants from manufacturing/processing plants actually rained down from the sky and covered everything. We also had the distinction of some of our rivers catching fire because of pollution but that was before I was born. I grew up in a ghetto on the Northside, Manchester to be precise, and it was rough territory.

Post-industrialization the city has evolved into a center for education, technology, and health care. I was blown away when I visited a few years ago (after a nearly 40 yr absence). It went from gritty to sophisticated. The city ranks high on quite a few livability lists.

The tenement I lived in still stands and has been spiffed up a bit. A few blocks over where my grandmother lived was a huge surprise. All the row houses were refurbished. Those that that been demolished were replaced by community gardens.

 

[MeowMeow]

Sadly nothing interesting. But it was fun when we lived on base again years later in Key West to compare the 2 bedroom base housing I had lived in when I was 2 or 3 years old to the 3 bedroom housing I lived in while we lived there again.
I didn't get to look into my exact old house but one of my college study buddies who lived on base had a 2 bedroom like we were in a group of apartments over. So it was fun to walk around that and feel like it felt extremely familiar.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

My DH does this--they moved around since his Dad worked for a big company and was transferred a lot. He says the house in Denver is still the same!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Karl_K]

The house I grew up in was up for sale a few years ago again so I took a tour.
Someone had done a tv style reno on it, removed a couple walls and other changes. It was the same but different.
It was weird walking in again and brought back memories of walking in and finding my Dad dead in his chair.
On the other hand in the basement the pellet gun marks are still in the wall visible through the paint they added.
The build in shelving my dad built were still there in the basement.
The room me and my dad built in the basement was still there but painted.
Walking into the laundry room and not seeing 2 huge freezers and fridge was weird.
The tree we planted in memorial of my uncle and the one we planted in the front to replace the willow we had to remove are full grown mature trees.
The shed I built with my Dad was still there but painted a different color.
Overall it was enough the same to be familiar but enough different to be have a very weird feeling.
I have always wanted to ask if Goarge(how he spelled it once) still haunts the basement but have never had the opportunity.

 

[kenny]

So sorry you had that terrible shock, Karl.

I relate to all the 'weird feelings' you describe when walking through a home you once lived in.
I think homes we've live in permanently inhabit our consciousness.
They are not us, but are an integral part of us.

Former homes can be haunting.

 

[MissGotRocks]

When I was a young child, we lived in an apartment over a shoe shop. There were three apartments up there and they were apparently built after WWII to house homecoming veterans. Many years later, it was turned into an architect's office and studio. There was a skylight in the middle of the living room but no other windows in our apartment. Sounds weird but it didn't seem that way growing up. They had replaced the glass in the skylight with stained glass and the kitchen of course was gone. It was relatively sleek and modern yet I could still remember the way it used to be. As others are describing, it was the same and yet different. I explained to them that I had lived there and just wanted to quickly look around. They were accommodating but looked at me so strangely. They were young folks and I guess they couldn't have imagined it as a home. I didn't linger as long as I would have liked to but was grateful to them for allowing me access in the first place. It was nice to see its new face and yet inexplicably made me sad that it was changed. Deep emotion tied to childhood homes I guess.

 

[sarahb]

I haven't gone back through any home I've actually lived in, but it sure is fun to visit the neighborhood via google earth! My father was in the USAF for the first 34 years of my life & as such, we moved every couple of years throughout my childhood & early adulthood. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to go inside a single previous home. I did have the opportunity to drive by the first home I ever purchased, but that was it.

 

[jaysonsmom]

With Google Earth and Google Maps, I was able to view places that I lived in around the world, which is amazing! Due to my dad's job, we moved every 3-4 years, and all of the houses were rentals.

The house we lived in in Seattle Washington has been remodeled and additional is now a 2 story house. However the neighborhood looks about the same.

Our house in Pretoria South Africa has been demolished and is now a VW dealership. The street seems to be filled with businesses instead of houses now.

Lastly, the house we lived in in Hamburg Germany looks exactly the same from the exterior it is even the exact same color!

This is a fun thread Kenny, brought back some fun memories. I texted my bro to recall addresses etc, and we had a lot of fun reminiscing.

 

[lyra]

I lived in a house from age 7 to 10 that has given me recurring nightmares for the last 50 years. So I thought, well, I should look it up and see what it looks like now. It just sold last year apparently. It gave me dread and butterflies in my stomach, eek. Like Karl said, there was just enough still there and just enough changed to make it weird. I think it's going to make my nightmares worse, lol. I don't understand some of the changes, they don't make sense. Then again, they left my brother's basement bedroom intact and just ripped down 2 walls making it 30 feet long instead of 10. Bleh! It was so haunted.

 

[kenny]

I think I've already posted this, but it's applicable to this thread.

A while ago a stranger knocked on the door.
To sum up what he said, he grew up in this, now 92 year old, house and asked to come in and look around.

Suspicious of course, I stepped outside and sat with him on my porch to ask him tons of questions that nobody could answer unless they lived here.
He nailed all of them so I let him in.
Also, the first and last name on his driver's license matched the names of family members carved into the cement (when fresh and wet) on the back porch.

As he walked around and reminisced, I could tell he was having that same weird semi-creepy experience of returning to a childhood home that has been mentioned in this thread.

It was fascinating to hear about his family's experience in the house.
He told me his father died of a heart attack under the tree in the front yard ... the same story told to me long ago by two old neighbors.

Homes really do become a part of us.
I'm glad I let him in.
I know it meant a lot to him.

 

[distracts]

Having always lived in the same city, I thought by "look into," you meant go up and look in their windows, lol.

 

[kenny]

Having always lived in the same city, I thought by "look into," you meant go up and look in their windows, lol.

Sorry.
Totally understandable.
My bad.

Bulletproof writing ain't easy.

But, when you looked into their windows was anyone naked?
Was he hot?
Got any pics?

 

[Trekkie]

My grandmother still lives in the house I consider home. We've since extended and renovated it but it's still home. I sometimes do Google Street View drivebys and from some angles it looks like it did for most of my childhood. From other angles it looks like it does now. It's weird seeing the change.

On my trip to the UK last year I saw the house my father grew up in. I always knew my dad grew up during the war and that when he heard bombs falling he'd hide under the bed. But seeing the house as an adult and parent to a child the same age my dad was during the war made it all more real.

The house can be seen in this photo taken during a street party after WWII.



My dad is at the table with his brother and mother and all his aunts and cousins all around him. My grandfather was still in Burma, and this photo was folded in half and posted to him, hence the crease down the middle.

The house still looks a bit like this, but more run down. The area isn't the greatest, and my grandmother would be horrified if she could see her house now. But it's near the centre of Bristol so the area will probably be gentrified any day now.

 

[arkieb1]

I've had a little old couple wait for us to arrive home and they showed us photos of where we live because many eons the little old man grew up and used to live on our block, their house was an old workers cottage that had long been knocked down and the next lot of owners built the current house that we live in, behind where the original cottage would have been.

It was interesting to learn the history of our block and things about how the suburb generally was many many decades ago....

 

[sarahb]

My grandmother still lives in the house I consider home. We've since extended and renovated it but it's still home. I sometimes do Google Street View drivebys and from some angles it looks like it did for most of my childhood. From other angles it looks like it does now. It's weird seeing the change.

On my trip to the UK last year I saw the house my father grew up in. I always knew my dad grew up during the war and that when he heard bombs falling he'd hide under the bed. But seeing the house as an adult and parent to a child the same age my dad was during the war made it all more real.

The house can be seen in this photo taken during a street party after WWII.



My dad is at the table with his brother and mother and all his aunts and cousins all around him. My grandfather was still in Burma, and this photo was folded in half and posted to him, hence the crease down the middle.

The house still looks a bit like this, but more run down. The area isn't the greatest, and my grandmother would be horrified if she could see her house now. But it's near the centre of Bristol so the area will probably be gentrified any day now.

What an incredible slice of history in that single photograph @Trekkie , how wonderful you have this treasure!

 

[Trekkie]

What an incredible slice of history in that single photograph @Trekkie , how wonderful you have this treasure!

Thank you. I’m very lucky.

 

[doberman]

Yes, in that I zillowed the house we bought when I was in grade school. It was a small central hall colonial in a popular commuter town in NJ. and my parents got it for $48000 in the early 70s. It's now valued at 1.4 million. I called my father to tell him that he really screwed up by selling it so long ago lol.

 

[dk168]

My folks left HK for Canada in the 80s, and I went back to sort out and to collect my stuff from the family home a few months before their move.
I did not go back to HK until 2009, a gap of over 20 years.
The neighbourhood had been changed beyond recognition. Had it not been for the tram tracks and routes that remained unchanged, I would have recognised the landmarks that were dear to me, such as my school and the block where I used to live.
Needless to say, I am saddened by the recent upheavals. However, it was exactly as my folks had predicted, hence they left.

DK

 

[JPie]

My parents still own the homes I grew up in, so I see those all the time. The one I haven't seen in years, and I'm not sure I'll ever see it again, is my grandparents' house in Asia. It was sold when they died and it never occurred to me to look it up.