You Know You Are Old When

[lman]

2019, speaking for myself and where I live was as if all the stars finally aligned.

Long boarded up buildings and nearly abandoned neighborhoods were being revitalized without tax money and Oakland was suddenly a destination and us locals were looking at each other saying it’s finally happening… crime was down and city revenues exceeded projections and we had been discovered with young people seeking Oakland as a place to put down roots…

This reversal had never happened before in my lifetime.

Pandemic hit and everything went on life support with people just trying to hang on…

Then inflation and off the wall crime, looting, riots and those hanging on threw in the towel in year 3… very sad all the way around…

At least I had a glimpse of what might have been… 2019… Oakland CA

I haven't figured out how some think things are so much better now. They must be in a different world.
I decided to delay my full retirement thanks to this deteriorating economy.

 

[ultrarunner]

I haven't figured out how some think things are so much better now. They must be in a different world.
I decided to delay my full retirement thanks to this deteriorating economy.

You and many others… I believe it will take a generation at least to get past if that for those old enough to remember.

In the 60’s-70’s the grandparents of many fled the city for the suburbs and foothills.

The reversal is their grandkids we’re coming back and thriving… they embraced urban non-car dependent life with the corner market and trendy coffee shops and the revitalization.

Story after story about returning to family roots.

The lesson learned is just how quick it can all go to hell… if you are no longer safe and holed-up in an urban jungle reality hits with many looking for an escape… anyplace far away.

Yesterday a tenant of 5 years gave notice… she came to California as a 20 something with excitement, job offer and endless optimism… living her dream of the city life and enjoying every minute and making lots of new friends.

She told me she is so over it and is moving back to where she came and had rented a small house on an acre in the same town where she has family…

Having her car stolen from her driveway and then getting no help from the police other than saying you have insurance hit hard.

She had an Apple something in the car and was able to find her car on her own by tracking it…

She went and found it in a backyard a couple of miles away and only then did police respond… gutsy girl to say the least… no one arrested but she had proof the car belonged to her and she had the keys and still had things in the trunk and police said get your car.

That episode was enough for her family to say come back home!

Her great SF job is no more and most of her friends have moved on…

I asked her if she regretted coming to California and she said no because she would have always wondered if she hadn’t come…

Her first two years here were the best of her life…

 

[Pixguy]

When you want to get on your motorcycle and leave for a week or so.

Come to Laconia and join the few hundred thousand already here

 

[newbury]

I thought you wore a MAGA hat?
"Mammarys are great assets"?

That's NOT what MAGA stands for!!
It's Mammaries and great A**es

 

[Oaktree]

You could watch the gas being metered.
View attachment 875026

Or for that matter, remember when Sunoco gas was dyed blue. When did they stop? Seem to recall it well into the 70s.

 

[newbury]

When you want to get on your motorcycle and leave for a week or so.

Come to Laconia and join the few hundred thousand already here

Did that three times in the '70's.
Lot's of good times.
Our "group" (about 10 bikes and assorted riders) was based in Burlington, Vt so it wasn't very far.

 

[Oaktree]

When you want to get on your motorcycle and leave for a week or so.

To me, that was something I'd have wanted to do when I was young...20s or 30s. Not sure an extended road trip on a bike would be as much fun in my mid 70s.

 

[Oaktree]

Yesterday a tenant of 5 years gave notice… she came to California as a 20 something with excitement, job offer and endless optimism… living her dream of the city life and enjoying every minute and making lots of new friends.

She told me she is so over it and is moving back to where she came and had rented a small house on an acre in the same town where she has family…

Not everyone transplants well. When I was in my mid 20s, I packed up on relatively short notice and move to the Pacific Northwest (Seattle area). Had just felt some "calling" to there ever since I was a teenager, and with no real ties to where I grew (or didn't think I did at the time) up did it.
I lasted a little more than 2 years before deciding that New England was home, and the PNW wasn't. Glad I did it, but equally glad to be back. Nothing to do with family...we've never been close...just never felt like I fit in there.

 

[ultrarunner]

Not everyone transplants well. When I was in my mid 20s, I packed up on relatively short notice and move to the Pacific Northwest (Seattle area). Had just felt some "calling" to there ever since I was a teenager, and with no real ties to where I grew up did it.
I lasted a little more than 2 years before deciding that New England was home, and the PNW wasn't. Glad I did it, but equally glad to be back.

Growing up in California there were always new families moving in a the school district could not keep up... lots of military and defense plus tech was taking off...

I've noticed quite a reversal as military all but gone, a lot of tech relocating and schools continue to shutter...

The days of seeing out of State License Plates are past...

In the 60's it was easy for me to collect all 50 state plates... the dealership I still have a connection say it's very rare to get a out if state trade these days ..

Nothing scientific... just observation...

Oakland definitely benefitted by over the top SF cost of living

Locations in Oakland are actually closer to San Francisco business district than some SF neighborhoods...

Change is a constant... reversals not as common...

I sound old

 

[seville009]