FROM CITIES TO SUBURBIA AND BACK (PART 1) RICK TOBIN
tasks. These specific tasks included framing, painting, plumbing, and other components.
One of the original mass-produced suburban centers during that era was Levittown in Long Island, New York.
This suburban community center became the ideal place for people to live who worked in the northeast. The
housing styles were Cape Cod and California ranch. Many of the original Levittown homes were no larger than
the typical apartment in New York City which is 800 square feet. The cookie-cutter conformity of homes in
Levittown was appealing to some, and repulsive to others in the area.
Levittown featured community swimming pools and parks which attracted many young families. Levittown was
formed in an unincorporated community adjacent to several formal towns. The adjacent towns had the financial
burden of providing schools and other common area centers to accommodate the massive new figurative flood
of new schoolchildren from Levittown.
Levittown homes provided the ultimate suburban lifestyle at the time. After the Depression and World War II,
people wanted more leisurely lifestyles. Suburban homes closed themselves off from the street. Homeowners
were focused on the tranquility of their gardens, backyards, and the community areas. The new suburban home
of fered a place of safety, peace, and isolation from the stresses of city, post-War, and post-Great Depression
life.