Assignment #3 From Beaux Architecture to "Ticky Tacky" Houses

Hello fans of my blog !!!! I gave you a funny song about suburbia conformity performed by Malvina Reynolds. The importance of this song is to show what was taking place in the suburbs during the post WWII baby boom in America. Spatial awaraness, social alertness, and political conformity became the model of obedience in suburbia society. At the end of WWII only 5000 televisions were in houses, by 1951 17 milion were sold. ( American History) Television shows such as, "The Howdy Dooty Show, Disney, and the Goldbergs all showed America how to put on a smile after a such a gruesome war. With thousands of families returning to the homeland, a architictural evoulution also had to occur within in society in order to provide the next booming generation with four walls and a roof to live in
The Beaux architectural design dominated the east and west coasts building styles of the city from 1880 until 1920’s. These grand buildings elevated straight up into the air with lavish curvature lines, exquisite arts deco, and grand windows to peer upon the streets. This architectural style clearly represented the taste for wealth, class, and education in the arts and literature. Each building possessed its own style giving it individuality and character. Before the concept of commercial of homes, to purchase your own castle literally meant you had to build a castle.
As America fought war during the 1940’s with Franklin D. Roosevelt at the helm, American culture began to change. “After the war, the men returned, having seen the rest of the world. No longer was the family farm an ideal; no longer would blacks accept lesser status. The GI Bill allowed more men than ever before to get a college education. Women had to give up their jobs to the returning men, but they had tasted independence.” (Freidel pg27) This seismic change altered not only gender roles, but the social conformity, spatial awareness, cultural, and political complexities were taking shape during the decade.
In “The Aesthetic Politics of Urban Space: Interart Representation of Post –WWII New York City”, Robert Bennet argues and examines how literature digs into the concept of public conformity. He explores how writers aesthetic practices in turn develop an increasingly lack for self representation in the community. “ It explores how post WWII New York writers collectively developed a kind of critical urban discourse about their city by representing, analyzing, and imagining alternatives to its complex socio- spatial topography. On the other hand… it also emphasizes how aesthetic imagination played a crucial role in the formation, articulation, and evolution of critical urban discourse.” (Bennett pg. 39) Before Levittown emerged into east coast society, much of the city was has not been fully developed for the masses of returning GI’s from WWII. Therefore, upon their return, social and spatial ideas has been changed and conformed into “Little Boxes.” Folksong singer Malvina Reynolds wrote “Little Boxes” in which the song describes much of what suburbia has become aesthetically. “Little boxes on the hillside/ Little boxes made of ticky tacky/ Little boxes all look the same.” (Bennett pg. 11) This artistic description became a song that can depict the Levittown and Bohannon’s San Lorenzo village’s sense of conformity in all areas.
World War II brought thousands of people together to work and aide the government’s sense of urgency for wartime efforts. Here on the West Coast, shipyards in Richmond provided an opportunity for ethnic minorities and women to work for a decent wage. Wartime housing was needed to help the returning GI’s house the baby boom generation on a grand scale. “David Bohannon not only built the houses but also established a complete community, with facilities for the homeowners. Conditions, covenants, and restrictions are maintained by a elected five-member board of directors and a salaried administrator” (Marciel pg. 53.) With a influx of families moving into the area without many homes, Bohannon takes on the challenge. Historian Doris Marciel contributes a detailed history of the area from Cherryland, Ashland, and some of the original San Lorenzo Village areas.
The research that I conduct will hopefully bring into light some of the unexpected racism that many ethnics faced while competing for jobs in the area. The San Lorenzo Village Home Association has excluded ethnics in the covenants by using rhetoric that labeled them as a threat to the village. The majority of the research done has been on the area’s unique influence from David Bohannon to the failed gold miners turned farmers. Shedding light on this topic will help the San Lorenzo Village Home Association embrace their ethnically diverse community even further.