Vintage Town nominees

[Diamondback]

Decent-sized airstrip, just in case... and a sensible legal environment for us who are serious about our "personal protection" tools (read: "Shall-Issue CCW" or better yet "Vermont/Alaska Carry").

 

[skyvue]

I've not been there since 1992, but at that time, Clear Lake, Iowa, was a terrific vintage town. There's an old ballroom there (Buddy Holly played his final show there) that dates back to the big band era, and the downtown area had a great vintage feel. It's an old resort town and is a delightful place (or it was, as I say, in 1992).

 

[LizzieMaine]

Most important thing to me would be a vintage commercial non-touristy downtown -- absolutely no strip malls, big boxes, or giant parking lots. I hate what they've done to the town I live in now, and I'd rejoice to see them done away with. Less of the twee shoppes and purveyors of upscale gimcrackery, and more places where you can buy things people actually need and use. And no chain stores that didn't exist before 1948. Kresge's = OK, KMart = Not OK.

Other than that, everything else is negotiable. Good weather would be nice, but I'm used to crappy weather. Besides, if you run a theatre, it's good for business.

 

[Viola]

I beseech all my fellow townfolk to consider the plight of those who do not have '47 Caddies... remember the pedestrian! I want to roll around in a classic Buick as much as anybody but I really adore classic, walkable towns. I never realized how spoiled I was until it was gone.

I do not defend the strip-mall but we're not counting those little rowhouse stores with the apartments above as strip malls, even when they run a block at a time, are we? I'll cry.

 

[Fletch]

I've not been there since 1992, but at that time, Clear Lake, Iowa, was a terrific vintage town. There's an old ballroom there (Buddy Holly played his final show there) that dates back to the big band era, and the downtown area had a great vintage feel. It's an old resort town and is a delightful place (or it was, as I say, in 1992).

IMHO, Clear Lake is somewhat touristy-resorty - packed-in lakefront homes, cutesy-poo Main St. - but a pleasant enough place all round. It has a satellite community called Ventura, with its own, much smaller, lake.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I do not defend the strip-mall but we're not counting those little rowhouse stores with the apartments above as strip malls, even when they run a block at a time, are we? I'll cry.

Absolutely not -- in fact that's what a classic downtown is and should be. Merchants ought to live above their stores -- it helps them keep an eye on the kids.

A strip mall is one of those postwar abominations built on the outskirts of town, with cinderblock stores surrounded by acres and acres of parking "for your convenience." Phooey on that stuff.

I've never lived in anything but walkable towns. The only way they'll ever get me into suburbia is if that's where the pauper's cemetery is.

 

[Steveb1]

but I really adore classic, walkable towns. I never realized how spoiled I was until it was gone.

I like classic walkable towns too. I used to live in a town that was only a square mile and I liked nothing better then to walk downtown on a Saturday morning to meet and chat with the folks downtown. don't cry..

 

[LocktownDog]

Must haves:

1. A soda fountain and/or a quality diner.
2. Baseball field ... nothing big, just little league size.
3. Nearby trout streams.
4. No access to television.
5. Its own newspaper.
6. A real hardware store.
7. Community center with theater productions, dances, etc.
8. A front porch on every house.
9. Mailboxes ... its been ages since I've seen a real mailbox.
10. A decent barber.

 

[Viola]

My parents live in a trolley suburb (...I happen to just like that phrase, trolley suburb) and what passes for a main street of it is still:

An Irish bar, the firehouse, a corner store, drycleaner/alterations, a sign painter, shoe repair, ice cream parlor, pizza parlour, and a gas station/garage at each end. Brick storefronts, rowhouse style, varying rooflines because nobody can agree on diddly even with rowhouses.

One abandoned storefront but I think that is just inavoidable these days.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One abandoned storefront but I think that is just inavoidable these days.

Even abandoned storefronts can be properly vintage. Just cover the windows with whitewash and put a poster on the door: "THIS SPACE TO LET Tel. VINTAGEVILLE 2900-J"

 

[dhermann1]

OK, so take a town near you and evaluate it along the various criteria, from 1 to 5, and give it a rating. Let's get a data base going. This is NOT the same as "Our Own Vintage Town". This is about evaluating real towns according to specific criteria. (This is staring to feel like herding cats!)
BTW, not to open up the can of worms that WON'T go away on the other thread, I see no reason why a town can't have perfectly WRETCHED weather and not be a really nice old fashioned kind opf town. We're not talking personal tastes here. We're talking about what qualities make a town genuinely vintage.
(I like the idea of soda fountain, baseball park and walkability.)

 

[rue]

Must haves:

1. A soda fountain and/or a quality diner.
2. Baseball field ... nothing big, just little league size.
3. Nearby trout streams.
4. No access to television.
5. Its own newspaper.
6. A real hardware store.
7. Community center with theater productions, dances, etc.
8. A front porch on every house.
9. Mailboxes ... its been ages since I've seen a real mailbox.
10. A decent barber.

Having #1,2,3,5,6,8 (just about), 9, 10..... Delaware, Ohio is pretty darn close, but not quite. I miss living there

Edited to add, it has wonderful walkability too

 

[Viola]

Philadelphia, yknowwhaddImean?

Weather - 5. Do you like two feet of snow? How about 100% humidity and hundred degree summers where people drop dead? WE GOT BOTH, SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE.

Architecture - 1. Pretty awesome, and the late period stuff still mostly scrapes in for fifties-sixties. If you like Victorian, its all over the place. Like Deco? We can do that too. East Coast!

Downtown District - 3. Most of the city is pretty walkable and most of the architecture is pretty old. Lots of interesting neighborhoods.

Vintage shopping - 3. Pretty good for architectural salvage and furniture. Okay for thrift stores. Not as great for boutiques.

Vintage entertainment - I don't even know what this category is for, sorry for being a herded cat. What was the question again?

 

[dhermann1]

So, let's say we rate Delaware, Ohio.
Let's simplify it. On a scale of 1 to 10, how good a vintage town would you say Delaware, Ohio is?

 

[Steveb1]

Clinton, NJ

1 mile square town
2000 Families
Downtown is only one block long and had
- Town restaurant(diner)
-candy store
-drugstore
-five and dime
- ice cream parlor
- mens store
- jewelry store
-shoe store
-can't remember what else..
-Home were mostly victorian and craftsmen style and most had front porches
- there is a river with a bridge and an old grist mill (actually two, one on each side)
- a community center
- left there about ten years ago
- all my kids went to the same school the entire time we lived there

 

[rue]

So, let's say we rate Delaware, Ohio.
Let's simplify it. On a scale of 1 to 10, how good a vintage town would you say Delaware, Ohio is?

I would give it a 9. They even have an old timey theater and candy shop

 

[LocktownDog]

Clinton, NJ

Heh. I grew up in High Bridge. First 20 years of my life. Those Jersey small towns were great as a kid. Taxes are high now though.

 

[Smithy]

Australia and NZ have many small towns which have a vintage feel to them.

But if you want a whole city rather than a town that has a vintage feel then Christchurch on NZ's South Island. It's often called the most British city outside of Britain and has a very oldie-worldie feel. The Home Counties architecture, parks and gardens, trams dinging their bells as they pass, fellows in boater hats punting down the Avon River which runs through the city's centre.

Lovely city.

 

[dhermann1]

Ah, now we're talkin'! Rating system is meshuga, but we can tweek it.

 

[Smithy]

If anyone is interested, here are some photos of Christchurch which give an idea.