https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk By: Emily Hyun, Period 3 en-us 2018-04-13 04:18:16 UTC 2025-05-16 16:47:15 UTC hello@padlet.com em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251425035 To what extent is the Santa Clarita Valley a modern-day Levittown?]]> 2018-04-13 04:50:12 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251425035 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251426833 2018-04-13 05:13:16 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251426833 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427100 2018-04-13 05:16:22 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427100 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427247 2018-04-13 05:17:41 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427247 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427347 But underneath the uniform houses lining the curved, meticulously gardened roads of Levittown lies a much more turbulent story. Although 1950s suburbia conjures visions of traditional family life, idyllic domesticity and stability, the story of the suburbization of America is also one of exclusion, segregation and persecution. Levittown itself arguably embodied the best and worst of the postwar American story; it was a result of the entrepreneurship and ingenuity that has come to define the American spirit, but it also participated in the violent prejudice that has also been part of American history.]]> 2018-04-13 05:18:46 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427347 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427468 2018-04-13 05:20:17 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427468 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427516 2018-04-13 05:20:55 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427516 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427612 2018-04-13 05:21:42 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427612 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427633 2018-04-13 05:21:58 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427633 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427807 2018-04-13 05:23:53 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427807 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427912 2018-04-13 05:25:08 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427912 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427980 2018-04-13 05:25:57 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251427980 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428129 The Levitts’ homes were affordable, planted in a picture-perfect, carefully controlled community, and were equipped with futuristic stoves and television sets. The houses were simple, unpretentious, and most importantly to its inhabitants, affordable to both the white and blue collar worker. And the Levitts took more than the homes themselves into consideration—they designed community streets along curvilinear patterns to create a graceful, un-urban grid like feel, and directed cars going through the development to the outside of the community so Levittown would not be disturbed by noisy traffic. Even the maintenance of houses and yards were meticulously governed; buyers agreed to a laundry list of rules that, for example, prohibited residents from hanging laundry to dry outside their homes. ]]> 2018-04-13 05:27:35 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428129 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428359 The suburbs have clearly come to symbolize more than just collections of white picket-fenced houses outside a city. Jackson wrote in Crabgrass Frontier, “Suburbia…is a manifestation of such fundamental characteristics of American society as conspicuous consumption, a reliance upon the private automobile, upward mobility, the separation of the family nuclear units, the widening division between work and leisure, and the tendency toward racial and economic exclusiveness.” To some, suburbia was a symbol of American can-do; to others, it was a symbol of conformity and exclusion. In Santa Clarita, the recreation sites like baseball diamonds and swimming pools depict a happy and "American Dream" - like picture of life in suburban America. However, even today, the story of Levittown captures both the hopeful and darker sides of the rise of the American suburbs, whose implications are even felt today. ]]> 2018-04-13 05:30:08 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428359 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428392 The Levitts experimented with and implemented wholly new methods of building a community, taking division of labor and efficiency to the extreme, transforming “a cottage industry into a major manufacturing process.”  They divided the construction of each home into twenty-seven steps starting with the laying of a concrete base. Construction workers were trained to do one step at each house (which were spaced 60 feet apart) instead of building each house up from scratch individually. The entire community was also built off of the concept of recreation available for the entire family, so shopping malls and paved roads allowed for a flow and ease to community life like displayed in the pictures of Santa Clarita. ]]> 2018-04-13 05:30:27 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428392 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428490 Levittown is the name of seven large suburban housing developments created in the United States of America by William 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. FHA lenders did, however, limit residents to "the Caucasian race", as stipulated in housing rent and sales agreements. ]]> 2018-04-13 05:31:26 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428490 em_hyun https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428598 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 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. Much of Santa Clarita today is reflective of these same characteristics which make this suburb an attractive location for middle-class families. ]]> 2018-04-13 05:32:12 UTC https://padlet.com/em_hyun/jz4n7yrc9lwk/wish/251428598