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In both Levittown and Santa Clarita, "99% of homes have families in them". This is important to know because that means that these cities are meant for families only; they're much like a suburb that doesn't welcome bachelors or bachelorettes very much. Sure, they'll take them in, but it isn't ideal. Race of the families is also an important factor. Both Levittown and Santa Clarita are predominately white, with a smaller percentage of minorities such as blacks, Asians, and Mexicans. You can't really contrast these two towns because they're pretty similar in demographics. All in all, Levittown and Santa Clarita are very similar in regards to families and race.

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I've already blogged about the Philadelphia Levittown, but its predecessor is similar in size and scope, though there are some notable differences. The biggest difference is in its beginning-Levittown, NY started as a planned RENTAL community of 2,000 Cape Cod style homes. Half the units were rented within two days of the ANNOUNCEMENT of the community. This was 1947, and the demand for housing was so great that the original concept was almost immediately expanded to 4,000 units. The Levitts switched to sales once the federal government support for housing was fully implemented through the Federal Housing Administration. The original Levittown mortgages were 30-year mortgages, with no down payment, and monthly mortgage payments that were the same as rent. Not surprisingly, Levitt could not keep up with demand.

The first Cape Cods were offered for $6,990. They were simple, sturdy, one-story, four-room (and a bathroom) homes built on a concrete slab. A full floor plan is included at the bottom of the post. The kitchens were fully "built-in" and equipped with appliances, including a Bendix washing machine (no dryers yet). The rest of the appliances were...say it with me folks...General Electric! The homes were very small, yet very livable, and countless clones of this design dot the American landscape to this very day.
The Second Model-The Ranch
In 1949, Levitt began building a different type of house. Slightly larger and more modern in appearance, this "Ranch" home (which really isn't a ranch house) went for $7,990. The front entrance to these homes is almost through the kitchen, with the living room being at the back for privacy. A large "picture window" overlooked the backyard, bringing the outside in. A double-sided fireplace separated the living room from the kitchen/eating area. The second floors were unfinished and marketed as "room for expansion" as your family grew. In 1950, a carport was added (Americans love their cars), and included a built-in television set under the stairs. The built-in TVs didn't last long, as Americans of the 1950s tended to think of TVs as furniture rather than appliances (Think: that big ol' cabinet TV in the corner of your grandfather's living room. That's furniture-the fridge is an appliance). In 1951, Levitt began "partially finishing" the attics. Floor plan below.

The Levitts would not rent or sell to African Americans. They continued this practice in Philadelphia. See the other post for more detail. The do-and-don't list was long, including the prohibition of fences. Keep in mind, the idea of restrictive residential "covenants" appealed to a large portion of the public who had grown up in the depression and watched the deterioration of the American cities-they were paying for a fresh, new look and they wanted to keep it that way! (Side note: When they were first married in 1950, my own grandparents looked at a house in a Levittown-style development with similar covenants and passed on it, despite its affordability. My grandmother didn't like the house and my grandfather was NOT going to listen to someone tell him how often he had to mow his lawn! He was a Marine in WWII for Christ's sake!!!)

Though originally known for it's uniform appearance, the Levittown of today bears little resemblance to the original Levittown. Everything that could possibly be done to a house has been done to the original Levittown homes-numbering 17,447. An entire study could be made of the Levittown modifications. People still modify their Levittown homes, as the community is still kept up, and is one of the only semi-affordable places to live on Long Island!

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I've already blogged about the Philadelphia Levittown, but its predecessor is similar in size and scope, though there are some notable differences. The biggest difference is in its beginning-Levittown, NY started as a planned RENTAL community of 2,000 Cape Cod style homes. Half the units were rented within two days of the ANNOUNCEMENT of the community.

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From baseball to gas riots - a compilation of vintage images from Levittown's history.

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Levittown is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York. It is located halfway between the villages of Hempstead and Farmingdale. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a total population of 51,881, making it the most populous CDP in Nassau County and the second most populous CDP on Long Island, behind only Brentwood.

Levittown gets its name from its builder, the firm of Levitt & Sons, Inc. founded by Abraham Levitt on August 2, 1929, which built the district as a planned community for returning World War II veterans between 1947 and 1951. Sons William and Alfred served as the company's president and chief architect and planner, respectively. Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country. William Levitt, who assumed control of Levitt & Sons in 1954, is considered the father of modern suburbia in the United States.

There have been multiple proposals in the past to incorporate Levittown either as a village or as the third city in Nassau County.

The building firm, Levitt & Sons, headed by Abraham Levitt and his two sons, William and Alfred, built four planned communities called "Levittown", in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico; the Levittown in New York was the first. Additionally, Levitt & Sons' designs are featured prominently in the older portion of Buffalo Grove, Illinois; Vernon Hills, Illinois; Willingboro Township, New Jersey; the Belair section of Bowie, Maryland; and the Greenbriar section of Fairfax, Virginia.[citation needed ]

The Levitt firm began before World War II, as a builder of custom homes in upper middle-class communities on Long Island. During the war, however, the home building industry languished under a general embargo on private use of scarce raw materials. William "Bill" Levitt served in the Navy in the Seabees - the service's construction battalions - and developed expertise in the mass-produced building of military housing using uniform and interchangeable parts. He was insistent that a postwar building boom would require similar mass-produced housing, and was able to purchase options on large swaths of onion and potato fields in undeveloped sections of Long Island.

Returning to the firm after war's end, Bill Levitt persuaded his father and brother to embrace the utilitarian system of construction he had learned in the Navy. With his brother, Alfred, who was an architect, he designed a small one-floor house with an unfinished "expansion attic" that could be rapidly constructed and as rapidly rented to returning GIs and their young families. Levitt & Sons built the community with an eye towards speed, efficiency, and cost-effective construction; these methods led to a production rate of 30 houses a day by July 1948. They used pre-cut lumber and nails shipped from their own factories in Blue Lake, California, and built on concrete slabs, as they had done in a previous planned community in Norfolk, Virginia. This necessitated negotiating a change in the building code which, prior to the building of this community, did not permit concrete slabs. Given the urgent need for housing in the region, the town agreed. Levitt & Sons also controversially utilized non- union contractors in the project, a move which provoked picket lines. On the other hand, they paid their workers well and offered multiple incentives that allowed them to earn extra money, so that they often could earn twice as much a week as elsewhere. The company also cut out middlemen and purchased many items, including lumber and televisions, directly from manufacturers. The building of every house was reduced to 26 steps, with sub-contractors responsible for each step. His mass production of thousands of houses at virtually the same time allowed Levitt to sell them, with kitchens fully stocked with modern appliances, and a television in the living room, for as little as $8,000 each (equal to $104,846 today), which, with the G.I. Bill and federal housing subsidies, reduced the up-front cost of a house to many buyers to around $400 (equal to $5,242 today).

The planned 2,000 home rental community was quickly successful, with the New York Herald Tribune reporting that half of the properties had been rented within two days of the community being announced on May 7, 1947. As demand continued, exceeding availability, the Levitts expanded their project with 4,000 more homes, as well as community services, including schools and postal delivery. With the full implementation of federal government supports for housing, administered under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Levitt firm switched from rental to sale of their houses, offering ownership on a 30-year mortgage with no down payment and monthly costs the same as rental. The resulting surge in demand pressed the firm to further expand its development, which changed its name from Island Trees to Levittown shortly thereafter.

Levittown was designed to provide a large amount of housing at a time when there was a high demand for affordable family homes. This suburban development would become a symbol of the " American Dream" as it allowed thousands of families to become home owners.

In 1952, Carl Sigman, who was running as the Democratic candidate for County Executive, stated that he felt it would be wise for Levittown to incorporate itself as a city. If successful, the never-realized Incorporated City of Levittown would have been the third city to incorporate within Nassau County, joining Glen Cove and Long Beach.

Previously, locals had proposed incorporating their hamlet as a village.

As well as a symbol of the American Dream, Levittown would also become a symbol of racial segregation in the United States, due to Clause 25 of the standard lease agreement signed by the first residents of Levittown, who had an option to buy their homes. This " restrictive covenant" stated in capital letters and bold type that the house could not "be used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race."

Such discriminatory housing standards were consistent with government policies of the time. The Federal Housing Administration allowed developers to justify segregation within public housing. The FHA offered mortgages only to non-mixed developments, which discouraged developers from creating racially integrated housing. Before the sale of Levittown homes began, the sales agents were aware that no applications from black families would be accepted. As a result, American veterans who wished to purchase a home in Levittown were unable to do so if they were black.

William Levitt attempted to justify their decision to only sell homes to white families by saying that it was in the best interest for business. He claimed their actions were not discriminatory but intended to maintain the value of their properties. The company explained that it was not possible to reduce racial segregation while they were attempting to reduce the housing shortage. Levitt said "As a Jew, I have no room in my heart for racial prejudice. But the plain fact is that most whites prefer not to live in mixed communities. This attitude may be wrong morally, and someday it may change. I hope it will." The Levitts explained that they would open up applications to blacks after they had sold as many homes to white people as possible. They believed that potential white buyers would not want to buy a house in Levittown if they were aware they would have black neighbors.

Though the Levitts were Jewish, they did not wish to sell homes to Jewish families either; despite this, by 1960, although it was still a completely "white" suburb, the population of Levittown was roughly a third Jewish, with the remainder about a third Catholic, and a third Protestant.

An opposition group was formed, the Committee to End Discrimination in Levittown, to protest the restricted sale of Levittown homes, and to push for an integrated community. In 1948 the United States Supreme Court, in Shelley v. Kraemer, declared that property deeds stipulating racial segregation were "unenforceable as law and contrary to public policy". Only well after the 1954 racial integration decisions, including Brown v. Board of Education, was Levittown racially integrated, and even as late as the 1990 census only a tiny fraction of the community was non-white, a condition that still exists.

While the Levitts are generally credited with designing a postwar "planned community," with common public amenities such as swimming pools and community centers, they were quick to release these high-maintenance, low-profit elements to the surrounding towns; the development sprawled across municipal boundaries, causing legal and administrative difficulties and requiring major initiatives within those existing municipalities to provide for and fund schools, sewage and water systems, and other infrastructure elements.[citation needed ]

In 1949, Levitt and Sons changed focus, unveiling a new plan which it termed a " ranch" house. Larger, 32 by 25 feet (9.8 by 7.6 m), and more modern, these homes were only offered for sale, with a planned price of $7,990 (equal to $98,271 today). The ranch homes were similar to the rental properties in that they were built on concrete slabs, included an expandable attic but no garage, and were heated with hot-water radiant heating pipes. Five models were offered that were effectively identical with differences in details such as exterior color and window placement. Again, demand was high, requiring that the purchasing process be streamlined as the assembly process had been, reaching the point that a buyer could walk through the process of selecting a house through contracting for its purchase in three minutes. This ranch model was altered in 1950 to include a carport and a built-in television. In 1951, a partially finished attic was added to the design.

Levittown proved successful. By 1951, it and surrounding regions included 17,447 homes constructed by Levitt & Sons.

On November 9, 2007, Levitt & Sons of Fort Lauderdale became the nation's largest builder to file for bankruptcy as the housing market boom of the early 21st century continued to crumble.

February 12, 1664: Jerusalem Purchase between John Seaman and Takapausha of the Massapequan Indians whereupon the English were granted rights to settle in on lands that now comprise southern and easternmost Levittown (south of Hempstead Tpke.), northern and eastern Wantagh, and most of Seaford. As Seaman established his farm, Cherrywood, two years later, near the current location of Salk Middle School and MacArthur High School, he was the first European to live in what's now Levittown. This is the start of the use of the word "Jerusalem" to describe the aforementioned areas.[23]

March 22, 1747: Land deed between the Seaman and Weeks families first to mention the Island of Trees endowing the general area of northern Levittown with the name "Island Trees".[23]

March 1, 1837: Rail service arrives at Hicksville under the supervision of Valentine Hicks. The ensuing influx of German immigrant farmers and artisans opens the future Levittown area up to potato farming and other forms of development.[citation needed ]

February 11, 1907: William Levitt born to Abraham Levitt and Pauline Biederman Levitt in Brooklyn.[citation needed ]

May 21, 1947: Local governing board approves of the construction of a community that would become Levittown.[23]

October 1, 1947: Levittown's official beginning as a suburban entity with the first three hundred families - beginning with the Bladykas family - moving into their brand-new Levitt & Sons homes.[23]

January 1, 1948: The Jerusalem/Island Trees area is officially named "Levittown".[23]

Bagel Town of Levittown

As the first and one of the largest mass-produced suburbs, Levittown quickly became a symbol of postwar suburbia. Although Levittown provided affordable houses in what many residents felt to be a congenial community, critics decried its homogeneity, blandness, and racial exclusivity (the initial lease prohibited rental to non-whites). Today, "Levittown" is used as a term to describe overly sanitized suburbs consisting largely of identical housing. Similarly, places have earned names like "Levittown-of-X" or "Levittown-on-the-X" as seen in Long Island's Bayville "Levittown on the Sound" and Fire Island's Dunewood "Levittown on the Bay." Oddly enough, although Levittown is remembered largely for its homogeneity, the majority of houses in Levittown have by now been so thoroughly expanded and modified by their owners that their original architectural form can be somewhat difficult to see; however, with diligent observation, several original examples can still be seen today.[citation needed ]

Levittown has become so ingrained in American culture that the Smithsonian Institution in Washington has expressed interest in displaying an entire Levittown house. Bill Yeingst, a historian with Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Domestic Life Division, said "An original ranch model would be ideal. We would like someone to donate their Levittown house, or we would like to find a donor to provide the funds so that we could secure a Levittown house." He noted that "The stories played out in suburban Levittown are the stories of America. They are stories important to everyone." Although "None of this is set in concrete," according to Yeingst, "the Levittown house would be dismantled at the site, transported to Washington and reconstructed. Then it would be exhibited along with other innovations in American home life."

U.S. Census map of Levittown.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 6.9 square miles (17.8 km ²), all land. It does not conform to the U.S. Postal Service boundaries nor to the extent of the development built by Levitt & Sons; it also includes areas built by other developers.

Levittown, New York, is an unincorporated area in Nassau County, New York. It can be defined in three overlapping but non-conforming ways. The most common use is Levittown as defined by the United States Postal Service's Zip Code 11756. Another definition is the extent of the Levitt & Sons development built from 1947 to 1951. A third is the Census Designated Place (CDP) called Levittown as defined by the United States Census Bureau.

The United States Postal Service ZIP code called Levittown, New York, is 11756 and what is most commonly used to mean Levittown, New York. It does not include all the houses built in this area by Levitt & Sons and it does include houses built by other developers. The actual Levitt built development sprawls over three other postal zones, Wantagh NY (11793) and Westbury, NY (11590) in the Town of Hempstead, and Hicksville, NY (11801) in the Town of Oyster Bay.

Levittown has a hot-summer humid continental climate ( Dfa) and average monthly temperatures in the central CDP in the vicinity of Hempstead Turnpike ( New York Route 24) and Jerusalem Avenue range from 31.6 °F (−0.2 °C) in January to 74.5 °F (23.6 °C) in July. The hardiness zone is borderline between 7a and 7b, meaning that the average annual absolute minimum temperature is approximately 5 °F (−15 °C).

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 51,881 people, 17,207 households, and 14,031 families residing in the community. The population density was 7,717.5 inhabitants per square mile (2,979.7/km ²). There were 17,447 dwelling units at an average density of 2,531.9 per square mile (977.6/km ²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 90% White, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% Black, 0.1% Native American, and 0.02% Pacific Islander. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 12% of the population.

In the community, the population was spread out, with 25.7% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.

Levittown Public Library

The median income for a household in the community was $124,995, and the median income for a family was $132,887 (these figures had risen from $95,979 and $99,845 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $94,803 versus $79,962 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $45,917. 1.0% of the population and 0.1% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 0.2% of those under the age of 18 and 0.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Division Avenue High School

Island Trees High School

Levittown is served primarily by two public school districts, the Island Trees Union Free School District with approximately 2,574 students and the Levittown Union Free School District with approximately 7,380 students. A small portion of the northwest corner of the hamlet is served by the East Meadow Union Free School District. The Island Trees Union Free School District serves northeastern Levittown, and portions of Bethpage, Seaford and Plainedge. The district hosts Island Trees High School, Island Trees Memorial Middle School, Michael F. Stokes Elementary School, and J. Fred Sparke Elementary School.

In 1982, Island Trees gained national attention from the United States Supreme Court case Board of Education v. Pico. The case determined that students' first amendment rights were violated when the school board removed several books it found objectionable from the high school's library.

The Levittown Union Free School District, which also serves North Wantagh and the northern portion of Seaford, has two high schools: Division Avenue and General Douglas MacArthur, one career and technical institute: Gerald R. Claps Career & Technical Center, two middle schools: Wisdom Lane and Jonas Salk, and six elementary schools: Abbey Lane, East Broadway, Gardiners Avenue, Lee Road, Northside, and Summit Lane. The Levittown School District dates back to the 19th century, originally called the Jerusalem School District of the Town of Hempstead.

Private schools include the Maria Montessori School, The Progressive School of Long Island, and the South Shore Christian Elementary and Secondary School located in the former Geneva M Gallow Elementary School building. Vocational schools available are the Brittany Beauty School, Hunter Business School, and the New York Chiropractic College.

Welcome to Levittown

Although there is no passenger rail service in Levittown proper, the Long Island Rail Road provides service from the Hicksville and Bethpage stations on its Main Line and from the Wantagh and Bellmore stations on the Babylon Branch.

Levittown, along with the remainder of Nassau County, is served by the Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) bus system.

Republic Airport, in neighboring East Farmingdale, handles general aviation and charter services; the nearest commercial airports are Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma and John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York City proper.

The Wantagh-Levittown Volunteer Ambulance Corps provides paramedic level of care. Founded in 1956 by Homer K. Moore as a means for transport for the residents of Wantagh and Levittown, WLVAC provides emergency care on ambulances staffed with trained volunteers.

Fire Station #3

Levittown is protected by three volunteer fire departments, the Levittown Fire Department with 231 members operating out of 3 stations, Station 3 of the East Meadow Fire Department which covers portions of Levittown west of Division Avenue, and Station 2 of the Wantagh Fire Department which serves portions of Levittown South of Abbey Lane School.

Levittown is patrolled by the eighth precinct of the Nassau County Police Department.

People born in Levittown:

Brand New band members Jesse Lacey (1978), Vin Accardi, Brian Lane, and Garrett Tierney

Dan Cantor (1955- ), Socialist political leader and founder of the Working Families Party

Kevin Covais (1989- ), 5th season American Idol contestant, singer, actor

High School Football Heroes band members David Solomon, George Argyrou, Joe Masterson, Chris Askin, Jason Rutcofsky

Tom Kapinos (1969- ) Screenwriter (Dawson's Creek), executive producer and creator of Californication

David B. Falk (1950- ), American sports agent who primarily works with basketball players in the National Basketball Association; Michael Jordan's agent for the entirety of his NBA career

Brian Kilcommons (1953- ), famous American dog trainer

Miss Understood (Alex Heimberg), drag artist, actor and businessperson

Adam Wurtzel (1985- ), television personality

Marc Kantor (1986- ), member of the band Patent Pending

Patricia Voulgaris (1991- ), Photographer

People at one point living in Levittown:

"Irish" Bobby Cassidy (1944- ), professional boxer

David Catapano (1973- ), celebrity Chef (), lived in Levittown, New York for much of his grade school years.

John A. Gambling (1930-2004), morning radio host on WOR-AM

Ellie Greenwich (1940-2009), Hall of Fame songwriter

Peter Gruenwald (1912-1979), 1978 Lufthansa heist conspirator

Steve Israel (1958- ), politician, attended MacArthur High School

Brian Kenny (1963- ), sportscaster on the MLB Network, SportsCenter, Friday Night Fights

Cyril M. Kornbluth (1923-1958), Hugo- and Prometheus Award-winning science fiction writer ()

Damian Maffei (1977- ), actor (Closed for the Season)

Eddie Money (1949-2019), musician (Two Tickets to Paradise), attended Island Trees High School though he lived in adjacent Plainedge, New York

Sterling Morrison (1942-1995), guitarist with The Velvet Underground

Bill O'Reilly (1949- ), political commentator, raised in a Levitt-built part of the adjacent community of Salisbury, also called South Westbury

Maureen Tucker (1944- ), drummer for the Velvet Underground

The 1954 Levittown documentary A City Is Born featured an interview with creator William J. Levitt, aerial views of the development, and a 45-second time-lapse sequence showing one of the houses being constructed.

In 1962, singing comedian Allan Sherman poked fun in his album My Son, the Folk Singer with a parody of Harry Belafonte's Jamaica Farewell: "I'm upside down. My head is turning around. Cause I've got to sell the house, in Levittown."

In 1968, cartoonist Bill Hoest created The Lockhorns of Levittown - which was later shortened to The Lockhorns - a single-panel cartoon now syndicated to 500 newspapers in 23 countries.

Mad magazine's June, 1970, parody of , named "Sleazy Riders", has a character who muses about a commune, "Ain't America people livin' together, an' sharin' homes together, an' sharin' kids together, and sharin' backyards and wives together?", to which another replies, "That ain't America, Man! That's Levittown!"

In 1978, Bill Griffith wrote Is There Life After Levittown?, a comic story about growing up in Levittown featured in "Lemme Outa Here Comics"

Local high school teacher Gene Horowitz wrote the 1980 novel, The Ladies of Levittown, which "featured a titillating account of America's most famous suburb, scandalizing many residents, who recognized their own lives depicted in the pages."

In the 1982 musical, Little Shop of Horrors, Audrey, the slum dwelling heroine, dreams of a home "Somewhere that's Green", in which she sings "not fancy like Levittown"

Billy Joel's 1982 album The Nylon Curtain shows an aerial view of Levittown on the inner sleeve. His 1989 song "Leningrad" mentions Levittown.

The 1985 W. D. Wetherell published short story, The Man Who Loved Levittown, was published in a collection of the same name. The Library Journal reviewed the story (an O'Henry prizewinner) as "a World War II vet buys a house in Levittown where he spends the best years of his life. His wife has died, his grown children have left, and one by one his neighbors are selling out and moving to Florida. Beneath the talky, narrative voice of this story you discover the internal logic of a man pushed beyond reason to a desperate act".

Oliver Stone's 1989 movie Born on the Fourth of July, has two marines from the U.S. Marine "recruiting station in Levittown" do a recruitment presentation in protagonist Ron Kovic's high school class.

Tim Burton's 1990 movie Edward Scissorhands featured a suburbian plot that should replicate the look and feel of Levittown ("The director had envisioned replicating Levittown, New York, the archetype of postwar suburbanization[...]. Carpenters Run[...] matched that 1950s design.").

Stewart Bird's 1994 documentary Building The American Dream: Levittown, NY explores Levitt's vision of rapidly constructing inexpensive tract homes, including rare archival footage and photos, an interview with Levitt and the reminiscences of numerous Levittown residents (including singer Billy Joel).

October 24, 1997, Wonderland, a satirical documentary film about Levittown, produced and directed by John O'Hagan, premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival. A review in The New York Times said of it: "The collective picture that emerges suggests a smug city slicker's condescending view of what could be almost any American small town."

Michael Chabon's 2000 novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, has Levittown paralleled by the fictional suburban community of "Bloomtown"

The 2003 PBS series Race: The Power of an Illusion by California Newsreel, documents systemic racism in the development of early suburbs including Levittown and nearby Roosevelt.

In Gilmore Girls Season 3 episode 14 "Swan Song" Lorelai, Alex, Sookie, and Jackson attend a fictional musical called Levittown in Manhattan, after which they mock the show's quality.

Anna Shapiro published a 2006 teen oriented book Living on Air. It's described by the publisher as about a girl "raised in Levittown, Long Island. By the time she attended high school she concluded her parents were colossal failures who hid in a community in which all exterior houses were identical to one another."

In 2006, Marc Palmieri's play Levittown was performed at the Axis Theater in New York. A review in the Village Voice wrote: "We don't typically quibble with Leo Tolstoy, but are unhappy families really so different? Or are they rather like the endless rows of postwar homes that William Levitt built on Long Island?" In July 2009 a to-scale reproduction of an original Levitt house was constructed at the Theatre at Saint Clement's in New York City for a revival of the play. The set was designed by Michele Spadaro. Steven McElroy of The New York Times wrote an article in the Sunday Arts and Leisure section, "That Family Room? It Has a Certain Star Quality" on July 8, 2009.

Levittown appeared on the February 2, 2010, episode entitled "Home Wrecked Home" of Life After People: The Series on the History Channel.

The song "The L-Town Shakedown (Levittown is for Lovers)" was released by the Long Island band Patent Pending on their 2006 album "Save Each Other, the Whales Are Doing Fine"

In 2008, Levittown was mentioned in the Planet P Project album Levittown (Go Out Dancing, Vol. II), an album based upon life in post-war America and the early space age and atomic age. The title song paints Levittown as an "American Dream" of conformity.

In 2014, Levittown appeared in the short documentary, Cash Mob for Avi, about a struggling stationery store owner and the community that banded together to help him.

Informational notes

Citations

Bibliography

Liell, John (1952). Levittown: a study in community planning and development. New Haven: Thesis (Ph.D.)--Yale University.

Matarrese, Lynn (1997). History of Levittown, New York. Levittown: Levittown Historical Society.

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Levittown is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York. It is located halfway between the villages of Hempstead and Farmingdale. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a total population of 51,881, making it the most populous CDP in Nassau County and the second most populous CDP on Long Island, behind only Brentwood.

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Levittown is the name of several large suburban housing developments created in the United States and one in Puerto Rico by William J. Levitt and his company Levitt & Sons. Built after World War II for returning veterans and their new families, the communities offered attractive alternatives to cramped central city locations and apartments. The Veterans Administration and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) guaranteed builders that qualified veterans could buy housing for a fraction of rental costs.

The first Levittown home sold for $7,900 and in a short period of time, 17,000 units were sold, providing homes for 84,000 people. In addition to normal family dwellings, Levittowns provided private meeting areas, swimming pools, public parks, and recreational facilities.

Production was modeled on assembly lines in 27 steps with construction workers trained to perform one step. A house could be built in one day, with 36 men, when effectively scheduled. This enabled quick and economical production of similar or identical homes with rapid recovery of costs. Standard Levittown houses included a white picket fence, green lawns, and modern appliances. Sales in the original Levittown began in March 1947. 1,400 homes were purchased during the first three hours.

William J. Levitt refused to sell Levittown homes to people of color, and the FHA, upon authorizing loans for the construction of Levittowns, included racial covenants in each deed, making each Levittown a segregated community. The first African American family, the Myers, who bought a second-hand house there in Pennsylvania, in 1957 experienced attacks on their house, and up to 500 whites gathering outside their house. Martin Luther King met with the family, and their plight led to legislative change. They bravely stuck it out for four years until Myers, a World War II veteran, got a job elsewhere. There is a contemporary documentary film on YouTube called "Racism in America Small Town 1950s Case Study Documentary Film" which interviews white residents there but not the Myers.

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Levittown is the name of several large suburban housing developments created in the United States and one in Puerto Rico by William J. Levitt and his company Levitt & Sons. Built after World War II for returning veterans and their new families, the communities offered attractive alternatives to cramped central city locations and apartments.

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In closing, Santa Clarita is a lot like a modern-day Levittown for various reasons. One is that both cities have a very uniform-like style; the houses are mostly monochrome or follow the same color scheme. Landscapes of the homes are also kept up and looking clean. Another reason is the cities similarities in infrastructure. Both towns have many different activities for residents to do, but Santa Clarita has a couple more that top Levittown. A third reason that makes Santa Clarita like a modern-day Levittown is it's paved roads. The paved roads help cars drive smoother and give its passengers a pleasant experience. Finally, the types of families that live in each city is what makes each city much like the other.

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You know those neighborhoods that all look the same. Same house color, same front door with the same screen. Nothing looks different from the other, all monochrome and no personality. Santa Clarita has many of those; a prime example is Southern Oaks. Southern Oaks is like the rich homes that look uniform with their two story houses and matching BMW's and Mercedes in almost every drive way. In Levittown, there are an abundant amount of houses that follow the same pattern: same house style, shape and color scheme. In addition to the houses all looking the same, even the landscape has to be the same. In Levittown, "lawns must be mowed once a week". That rule is also enforced in SCV by a group called the Homeowners Association. Obviously it isn't limited to the once a week but your yard must be kept up and looking nice.

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What would you do if the town you lived in had no social life? Lucky for both Levittown and SCV, that problem doesn't exist. In an article given to us entitled Levittown, it goes into detail about how "the Levitts... converted eight square miles of open farm country into a densely populated community of 70,000." Included in those eight square miles was shopping centers, baseball diamonds, parking lots, new railroad stations, churches, swimming pools and various other places and activities. Santa Clarita has the almost the same places, if not more. Here in SCV, we do have swimming pools, baseball and softball fields, churches, and swimming pools. Thanks to inventions and technology, SCV also has a major theme park right here in their backyard: Magic Mountain. It brings a source of entertainment to thousands of people per year; all coming to either their water park or their theme park. In addition to all these activities, SCV is also about an hour and a half drive from either the beach or mountains, providing numerous of other activities to do as well.

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Santa Clarita's infrastructure closely resembles that of Levittown's. On every street in both towns are paved roads which allow for a smoother ride for cars and its passengers, compared to its counterpart: dirt roads that are covered in hills and dips. In one of the articles titled Levittown, it goes into detail about how the roads were paved. This gave an aesthetic appeal to the community and an even greater appeal to people with cars who were thinking about moving into the town. Here in Santa Clarita, every town has paved roads due to the high percentage of cars in the area and the amount of traveling people have to do. Having paved roads also helps the cars' tires not wear down as much as dirt roads would've.
Another important similarity between the two towns is the use of sewers. In both towns, Levittown and Santa Clarita, sewers are implemented abundantly. Without sewers, towns would be filthy and it would resemble a town in the early 1900's.

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Levittown was built between 1947 and 1952 by the building firm, Levitt and Sons. Built for families and made to be the ideal place to raise your kids, Levittown created a family-friendly community much like Santa Clarita. Built in December of 1987, SCV has four sub-communities incorporated into it: Canyon Country, Saugus, Valencia and Newhall; each having a distinct culture yet very much the same. Santa Clarita is much like Levittown because they both provide their community with uniform-like housing, infrastructure a variety of other activities for fun, and the types of families that live in each city.