@yakkoTDI@ZeroCharisma In my experience, the neighborhoods with lots of cars parked on the street tend to be middle class–tradespeople, well-paid retail workers, retail and other managers, etc.
@ZeroCharisma We live out in the sticks, far from the nearest subdivision, but park our cars in the garage. (There are a couple of semi-derelict decoys parked outside so as not to confuse the locals. )
@ZeroCharisma Cars parked inside the garage, but closing the garage door isn’t allowed because the HOA is convinced that the only reason that someone would close the door is that they are secretly subletting the garage and letting a second family live in it despite that never actually happening.
Nobody actually owns the leaf blowers and lawn mowers that are always in use. And none of the streets are straight. And all of the trees are at least as old as most of the people living in the neighborhood, and there’s a lot of them (trees. And old people).
@kittykat9180 That happens in my neighborhood, but this is Houston. We don’t have zoning, and the city’s attitude toward code enforcement is “if your HOA can’t afford to do it, what makes you think we’re going to?” (There are loads of places where you can see a McMansion on a postage stamp lot, right next to a WWII shotgun cottage that the termites dismissed as too far gone back in the '60s.)
Fancy-ish is oversized houses with a patch of grass smaller than an office cubicle. Not to mention the street is barely wide enough for two cars to pass but there’s always at least one landscaping trailer parked in the road. Who knows what they are working on.
None of the homes have curtains or blinds. It was really odd driving through those neighborhoods and seeing everyone inside their home, just after sunset.
What is the actual deal with the leaf blower people? No trees anywhere near their property, their lawn hasn’t been touched by a leaf in the past decade, but they still go out and wave their leaf blower at nothing for hours.
@brennyn In my neighborhood, where there are a lot of old growth trees, most people hire lawn services, and their workers use leaf blowers for everything. I swear they’d mow the grass with leaf blowers if they could. I figure is because they have multiple houses to do in a day and the blowers are faster than raking , but it’s still annoying as hell.
@brennyn They would never stoop to using their hands or a rake to gather up the severed ends of the seventeen unruly blades of grass that had the inexcusable bad taste to be too long. Besides, with the leaf blower, they can fail to see that all of the things they were blowing around ended up down the storm drain.
@detailer That sounds more like some of the “estates” out in the sticks with a double-wide with a double-wide and a rail fence, not the “fancy” neighborhoods inside the city limits. Then it happens again with the spreads like that one Papa John had (though I doubt he had the guards). The place I used to see it was in Gables By The Sea back in the '70s, when the 55-foot Cigarettes would zoom out on plane at 20 knots and come back riding low a couple of hours later. You only found out about the guards and dogs if you got over the outer wall, though.
Only thing that sucks about trick or treating in the rich neighborhoods is their houses are much farther apart. They may hand out better candy but you have to cover much more ground.
No bright colors. Only brick, wood, white, cream, and gray for houses. Front doors may be tastefully subdued shades of dark red, blue, or gold, but absolutely nothing shiny. Plants must be segregated into sharply-edged beds or in pots that are neutral colors or match the front door. There must be grass, which must be real but look like green carpet. That’s either a fancy neighborhood - or just one with the HOA From Hell.
@PooltoyWolf A couple of decades ago, a local weekly newsmagazine held a poll for “bests in Houston” and the winner in the Garage Sale category was “Heavy Trash Day in the Heights”.
@PooltoyWolf@werehatrack My brother and sister both live in condos and have found incredible things at their dumpsters. People do at least leave them outside the dumpsters because they expect someone to nab them.
Security chases you away.
Cars are parked inside the garage.
@ZeroCharisma I wish that were actually true. My favourite is the empty two car garage and empty 4 car driveway but they are parked on the street.
@yakkoTDI @ZeroCharisma In my experience, the neighborhoods with lots of cars parked on the street tend to be middle class–tradespeople, well-paid retail workers, retail and other managers, etc.
@ZeroCharisma We live out in the sticks, far from the nearest subdivision, but park our cars in the garage. (There are a couple of semi-derelict decoys parked outside so as not to confuse the locals.
)
@ZeroCharisma Cars parked inside the garage, but closing the garage door isn’t allowed because the HOA is convinced that the only reason that someone would close the door is that they are secretly subletting the garage and letting a second family live in it despite that never actually happening.
Nobody like me lives there.
Nobody actually owns the leaf blowers and lawn mowers that are always in use. And none of the streets are straight. And all of the trees are at least as old as most of the people living in the neighborhood, and there’s a lot of them (trees. And old people).
All the cars parked on the street have tires and windows.
And the carports don’t.
Christmas lights, and they are on the roofs.
Security gate. Manned.
@katbyter This is the modern definitive indicator, yep.
Large house, expensive cars.
@kittykat9180 That happens in my neighborhood, but this is Houston. We don’t have zoning, and the city’s attitude toward code enforcement is “if your HOA can’t afford to do it, what makes you think we’re going to?” (There are loads of places where you can see a McMansion on a postage stamp lot, right next to a WWII shotgun cottage that the termites dismissed as too far gone back in the '60s.)
Fancy-ish is oversized houses with a patch of grass smaller than an office cubicle. Not to mention the street is barely wide enough for two cars to pass but there’s always at least one landscaping trailer parked in the road. Who knows what they are working on.
Driveways made out of paving stones
/showme an armed security gate with lasers
None of the homes have curtains or blinds. It was really odd driving through those neighborhoods and seeing everyone inside their home, just after sunset.
I almost felt creepy noticing that.
If there are no sidewalks, it’s too fancy for me.
What is the actual deal with the leaf blower people? No trees anywhere near their property, their lawn hasn’t been touched by a leaf in the past decade, but they still go out and wave their leaf blower at nothing for hours.
@brennyn In my neighborhood, where there are a lot of old growth trees, most people hire lawn services, and their workers use leaf blowers for everything. I swear they’d mow the grass with leaf blowers if they could. I figure is because they have multiple houses to do in a day and the blowers are faster than raking , but it’s still annoying as hell.
@brennyn They would never stoop to using their hands or a rake to gather up the severed ends of the seventeen unruly blades of grass that had the inexcusable bad taste to be too long. Besides, with the leaf blower, they can fail to see that all of the things they were blowing around ended up down the storm drain.
The extra garage door is golf cart sized.
Men walking the property with M4’s and dogs.
@detailer That sounds more like some of the “estates” out in the sticks with a double-wide with a double-wide and a rail fence, not the “fancy” neighborhoods inside the city limits. Then it happens again with the spreads like that one Papa John had (though I doubt he had the guards). The place I used to see it was in Gables By The Sea back in the '70s, when the 55-foot Cigarettes would zoom out on plane at 20 knots and come back riding low a couple of hours later. You only found out about the guards and dogs if you got over the outer wall, though.
@werehatrack You should tour (or attempt to) parts of Long Island N.Y.
@detailer The Hamptons may be technically within the map of Long Island, but they disdain being part of it
@werehatrack I was not making reference to the Hamptons…though it seems first to mind when people hear Long Island.
@detailer @werehatrack Been there a couple times. Greenlawn, Smithtown, that area. It was nice.
No chain-link fences. Any fences are well-maintained wood.
Immaculately maintained, tasteful landscaping.
Wide streets that are called quirky things like a close or a garth and don’t have any cars parked along them.
It’s a maze of houses that all look the same. I’ve been lost in here for 3 days. Send help.
@waswooted13 It’s not just the houses that all look the same in Stepford…
Guest houses that almost the same size of the McMansions.
@Star2236 I think the existence of guest houses at all is a pretty good indicator…
@xobzoo
True.
Custom made house number plates.
Only thing that sucks about trick or treating in the rich neighborhoods is their houses are much farther apart. They may hand out better candy but you have to cover much more ground.
/showme people who live in a fancy neighborhood
No bright colors. Only brick, wood, white, cream, and gray for houses. Front doors may be tastefully subdued shades of dark red, blue, or gold, but absolutely nothing shiny. Plants must be segregated into sharply-edged beds or in pots that are neutral colors or match the front door. There must be grass, which must be real but look like green carpet. That’s either a fancy neighborhood - or just one with the HOA From Hell.
The absolute best stuff in the community garage sales.
@PooltoyWolf A couple of decades ago, a local weekly newsmagazine held a poll for “bests in Houston” and the winner in the Garage Sale category was “Heavy Trash Day in the Heights”.
@werehatrack Cam confirm. I’ve got some amazingly nice stuff from the curb in rich neighborhoods. The willful waste on display is sickening.
@PooltoyWolf @werehatrack My brother and sister both live in condos and have found incredible things at their dumpsters. People do at least leave them outside the dumpsters because they expect someone to nab them.
The residents have indoor out houses
Karen’s…everywhere