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With the sudden want for conformity and having the latest things, many businesses had their hands full with constantly making the newest thing. It wasn't long before architects started to make suburban areas. Although, suburban areas didn't play a huge role in every Americans' lives, it did have a great influence over what the white middle class families saw as the perfect life style.
In the 1950's the majority of white middle class families lived in suburban communities. During this time the media had a huge influence over society. The media portrayed a perfect l and wonderful life and many families conformed to this portrayal in the hopes of being happy. This "perfect lifestyle" meant that the man would go out and work at his job, the mother mostly stayed at home taking care of the children, making food and keeping the house clean and the children would go out to school. In the suburban community many of the houses looked almost exactly the same, with every fourth house having the same exact design. Another common aspect of the community was that it was mostly filled with white families. With the control of the media many families were always eager to buy the newest piece of technology. Even if the family didn't necessarily need it they still bought the new tech to fit in. Fitting in and conforming  to society in part had the most powerful influence over Americans during the 1950's.
Today, many suburban communities look the same as they did more than 50 years ago, however, there have been many changes in the way communities are today.

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To what extent is the Santa Clarita Valley a modern-day Levittown?

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To what extent is the Santa Clarita Valley a modern-day Levittown?

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Some similarities that Santa Clarita has to Levittown is that they both had the same idea or basis. Although, Levittown was first built in the 1950's many houses in the present have the same aspects in suburban areas. In both the housing structures are identical, the roads are shaped to make it seem more pleasing, each community has a different name and the roads are based off of that and communities have designed the area so that almost everything is nearby, shops, malls, schools, parks and community pools.
However, there are contrasts between the communities in Santa Clarita and Levittown. In Santa Clarita there is more ethnic diversity, the architecture for the houses have different styles from back then and the look on the perfect lifestyle has changed and opened up.

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Same Styled Houses You Can Never Be Out Of Style

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Same Styled Houses You Can Never Be Out Of Style

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(I apologize if the picture is a little dark, but I like this one a lot).
Like Livettown houses in Santa Clarita have the same pattern of identical houses. For example, my neighbor's house which is two houses down has the same exact architecture as my it's just flipped the other way. (Where my house the driveway is to the right their's is to the left). With conformity being big deal back then it made sense that architects would basically build the same types of houses repeatedly. Today, it's still the same idea. Although, the need to conform isn't as strong as before many people still do like the sameness that comes with living in suburban areas.

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Curved and Rounded  For The Pleasure Of Looking "Different"

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Curved and Rounded  For The Pleasure Of Looking "Different"

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A trend that started with the building of suburbs in the 1950's has survived till today. Even today in neighborhoods the streets don't all go in a straight line. Some curve to the left and right and some end with a round bend at the end. I never put too much though into and just believed that architects did this just for the fun of it. However, architects had purposely made the roads curve like that so that it looks prettier and not to symmetrical. And I hate to admit it, but they're right. It does look better than just straight roads and in a way it makes the street seem bigger.

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This was the pathway I was walking on that's right next to Oak Hills Elementary School. It has the same curving road and trees spaced evenly beside it.

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Let's Give This Community Flower Names For Its Streets

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Let's Give This Community Flower Names For Its Streets

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One thing that is still the same now is the naming of streets. In Levittown the streets were either named after famous writers or flowers. The neighborhood I live in is named after Oak trees. They also named separate groups of neighborhoods inside the community. In Santa Clarita it's the same thing. The whole community is known as Santa Clarita then there is Wetsridge, Newhall, Stevenson Ranch, Pico Canyon, Southern Oaks etc. This is to help make the neighborhoods feel more connected to their neighbors and to make it easier to find places in a big area.

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Why Travel Elsewhere When Everything Is Right Here 

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Why Travel Elsewhere When Everything Is Right Here 

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Levittown made sure that when he built his suburban area that he would have all the luxuries included in it as well. He built community pools, malls, shops. parks and schools near or inside the community. This helped suburban areas seem more appetizing. With everything so close to home it made sense that people came rushing in quickly filling the houses. Today we have the same thing. In my community we have schools nearby, a community pool and park. a mall and a marketplace. It's easy to get in the car and after a couple minutes I can get to school and learn or I can get to the stores or mall and buy groceries and other consumer goods. With quick and easy access to everything, living in a suburban area is nice an useful.

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Aesthetic Let's Put Unnecessary Tree Everywhere

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Aesthetic Let's Put Unnecessary Tree Everywhere

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Another thing that is common between then and now is that architects have added trees to line the roads. Each tree is spaced evenly away from each other and bend with the road. They did this so that overall it would be more aesthetically pleasing for residents and drivers. This idea works but since the trees are their for their beauty the designers chose trees that would grow quickly. Because of this many of the tree's roots don't go deep enough into the soil and during windy or rainy storms some trees do fall over.

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In the 50's the house's layout was meant to make the house look bigger so many of the houses rarely ever had halls. Now, however, people enjoy having halls in their home and they have grown quite popular. In the picture you can see that this house has a hallway. Although, it does make the house look narrow one neat trick that architects came up with is putting glass doors on one side of the hallway. In the picture to the left, there are two glass double doors. although, at the moment the curtains are down to keep the hall from heating up, the hall looks bigger when the curtains are drawn up. This gives the illusion of a spacier hallway.
Another difference I wanted to point out is the contrast in color from now and then. Back then bright colors were used to make everything seem happy and bright. This was largely because many families were going through postwar tensions and wanted to believe that everything was bright and beautiful. Today there hasn't been a big threat to our nation in years and the urge to have a brighter colored house has decreased. In this hall the most of the colors are a dark brownish color. If these colors were found in houses in the 50's no one would want the house, however, today the colors look nice and calming.

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Levittown built the suburban community for people to live in, however, he had no intentions of opening it up to everyone. He only wanted whites to live in his community, although, there were thousands of African Americans and many other groups who wanted and needed the homes more. Today it isn't like that as much. Although, it isn't completely diverse and the majority of people who live in the community are white there are still large groups of other ethnic groups. It's definitely more diverse now then it was back then and it's only getting more diverse.

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A New "Perfect Lifestyle" Out With The Old In With The New

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A New "Perfect Lifestyle" Out With The Old In With The New

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One big difference is the change in decor and color for supplies. In the 50's many of the kitchen supplies that families bought were in different colors. There was usually bright colors like green and yellow or red and white. Now many of the refrigerators, ovens, microwaves and stoves that families own are usually white, grey or black. This difference is largely due to the change in suburban families taste in the newest technology. Back then these technologies were new and never seen before now since we've had them with is for awhile we don't feel the urge to have them in colorful colors.
The "perfect lifestyle" has changed the roles of the members in the family. Now it is more normal for both the husband and wife to work two separate jobs. This has also changed the amount of responsibility put on children and older siblings since the parents, specifically the mother, aren't always home most of the day. In the 50's women living in Levittown were expected to to stay at home and take care of the house and family. Now in some families the mother goes out to work and in rare cases the man stays home and takes care of the children.