ALTOGETHER HOMES
San Francisco’s side-by-side homes on a steep street – and yes, some
of S.F.’s streets really are this steep.
When you walk up them your fingertips graze the sidewalk and your knees
nearly hit your chin – I kid you not!
The beautiful “Painted Ladies” of San Francisco, also known as
“Postcard Row” or “The Seven Sisters” is a row of colorful Victorian houses
numbering from 710-720 on Steiner Street across from Alamo Square Park in San
Francisco.
I have a story to tell about that tall dark building in the background
which I will relate at the end of my post. J
In 1992 I was back east chaperoning a high school history trip and saw these handsome row houses in Old Town Alexandria.
I found these two row houses surrounded completely by tall buildings in
Washington D.C. I wonder if people still live in them, or perhaps they became offices?
Also in Washington D.C. I saw this line of attractive row houses
except they weren’t row houses people lived in.
They had very cleverly been turned into a shopping mall.
This was the scene behind those row houses turned shops and
restaurants.
A scene of them at night with everything lit up. I wonder if it’s still there? I never knew the name of the place. I happened to find it because I got off the
Metro at the wrong stop and was walking back to where I should have gotten off
when I came across it.
Found in Annapolis, these two homes were almost certainly fashioned
from one house. I wonder what the house looked like in its original state? I think it must have been rather grand.
Row or town houses in Philadelphia.
The brick is a unifying factor, but each home is a little different in
its own way with varied choices of shutters and such.
Out here in the west in the Sierra foothills is the small town of Sonora, CA where my husband and I live in a retirement community called “Sonora Hills” – aptly named as it’s set on gently rolling hills. It’s a neighborhood of 240 individual manufactured homes of different makes, models, floor plans, and sizes set close together in a planned neighborhood. As you can see by the map the homes are quite close together, but not right up against each other. There are two red dots on two different homes on the left. The upper dot is our home, the lower one, our handicapped daughter’s home. This community was the perfect solution for our daughter who had been living with us for a number of years while she recovered from the accident causing her handicap. She was ready to move out on her own, but still needs assistance from us at times, so now she's in the same neighborhood only a 5 minute walk away, but has her very own place.
Looking down the street from our house which is first on the right. My computer is behind that big front window.
Looking up the street from our house. As you can see, though the houses are close together, there are small but nice enough spaces between them. The front yards all look pretty much the same because professional gardeners take care of them so they’re designed for ease of upkeep.
:->
La Nightingail
P.S.
About that tall dark building in the background: Before it was completely finished – some of the lower floors were occupied, but a few of the top-most floors were still being worked on – I sort of ‘accidentally’ got to take a tour of the top unfinished 40th floor.
I was working in the city nearby at the time and went to the building on my lunch hour to see if I could go up to the top and have a look at the view. Standing in front of the elevators I asked someone in passing about it, but they didn’t think I could do it. Just then, however, some workers came out of one of the elevators. I asked if it went to the top floor and one of them said “Yeah”. Soooo, before the doors could close, I hopped in the elevator and sure enough, it took me straight up to the top!
The surrounding view of the city and bay was spectacular as I tripped
around over cables and wires and other loose stuff to peer out all the windows. Funny, on my way up in the express elevator I
never gave it a thought. But when I was
finished looking around and went to step into the elevator for the trip down it
suddenly occurred to me I was walking into a box with nothing but 40 stories of
air beneath it. The thought gave me a
moment’s pause, but of course there was no other way down unless I wished to walk
down 40 flights of stairs, so I got in the elevator!
Apparently, when I first arrived asking about going to the top floor to take a look around, there should have been a uniformed elevator person there watching the elevators, but I never saw anyone like that when I went up. He was there when I came down, though, and shook his head at me saying I should not have gone up there! But of course, by then, it was too late. J
I like that your neighborhood has garages. In FL a community like that usually has just car-ports, which just don't look as nice, plus there're seldom any hills for the houses. Your visit to floor 40 is one of those chance occurances which we often just get to take when they happen. Gotta trust that the opportunity wouldn't have presented itself if it weren't ok to do so.
ReplyDeleteI've never been one to question an opportunity when it arises! You take them as they come or lose out and I try not to lose out on too much!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen or heard of a "retirement community" like yours over here. A similar-looking area over here would have residents of mixed ages - and everyone doing their own gardening.
ReplyDelete