Monday, January 18, 2010

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

It was so beautiful out today we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. We usually walk through an area called Malba and then to Whitestone Park, but today we took a different route to the park.

We walked along the service road to the Whitestone Bridge, and here is one of the rare blocks without a sidewalk, I love how this home kept a rustic look with their wooden rail fence:


Just around the corner are rows of attached co-ops, and I thought it was sweet how these neighbors each had a set of Adirondack chairs, one neighbor had two in blue, and one neighbor had two in pink:






Along the way we spotted a Volkswagon Beetle:



I loved those 'Bugs'! My favorite colors were the pale yellow, and the pale blue, but the Irish in me likes this Kelly Green too!


Here is the entrance to Whitestone Park (it's actually Francis Lewis Park but everyone in Whitestone calls it Whitestone Park), the park looks so bare now:




There is lots of construction going on, they are working on the bridge and they are working on the playground in the park that is under the bridge.
Here is an area of the park that is still quiet and peaceful though:



We walked down by the water and it was peaceful here too:




There were two little ducks in the water and as mild as the weather was...



...it still made me cold to think of being in that water!





Here is the boat Ray wants and he wants this set-up too so he can just walk out his door and hop in his boat!


There are lots of new homes going up in Whitestone, I think they are gaudy looking, but I do like the idea of the conservatory, and I would like the water view that some of these homes have!






And this is one of the newer homes that I actually do like, and I wouldn't mind at all having lots of room, especially when we have parties!




But most of the homes I love are the older homes in Whitestone.
This is not one of my loves, it's just not my taste at all, it looks like an office building to me, but an interesting fact about this home is that it was owned by the Revlon (Cosmetics and Fragrance) family in the 1930's.




We walked further on and came to Booster's Beach:




I'm actually thinking of joining this beach club for the summer, it's certainly not the nicest beach and it's not the prettiest beach, but it's close enough for Jayden and I to walk to, and it will give us something to do a few times each week, and a lot of his schoolmates' families belong.






As we walked along we passed the older homes in Whitestone, here are some of the oldest which are my favorites:















I read that this was an old farmhouse that Walt Whitman rented a room in when he taught at a nearby school in Whitestone Village:






This old home is now a Funeral Parlor:







Across the street from it is the new Greek Orthodox Church:





And up the block is Immanual Lutheran Church, it is the church Ray went to when he was growing up:

There are many churches in Whitestone of many different denominations, I will post about them one day.


Further down the block is one of the oldest homes in Whitestone, we have a map dated 1863 and this home is on that map (that same map shows that Tatham's Farm is the property that our home was eventually built on). I read that this old home pictured below was once an asylum, and at one time it was a rooming house, it used to have those iron fire escape staircases on the outside. The house is set back far from the road and the property goes from one block clear through to the other.


There are many homes in the Whitestone/Malba/Beechurst area that have an interesting history attached to them and some of the homes were once owned or rented by movie stars in the early 1900's. And Paulette Goddard was born in Whitestone. One day I will do a post on some of those stories.

If you enlarge this next picture you can see the green parrots that have invaded our neighborhood, these birds are beautiful to look at, but they make a mess and they are very noisy!



This is where they usually make their nests:




Okay, last picture, from the top of most hills in Whitestone, if you look West, you can see the New York City skyline in the distance.


And now I'm tired and it's time to head home!

And a very Happy Birthday to my nephew William (who is also our Godson), I would go on and on about William's many attributes, but I think he might be one of my 'don't mention me on your blog' relatives!

14 comments:

  1. This may be one of my favorites among you many, many outstanding posts! Seriously! I LOVE old houses. And your knowledge of the neighborhood and choices of homes to tell about matches my "loves"! (That brown shaker-shingle clad house is a dream.)

    To live so close to water that you can walk to get there is a dream of mine. I may never realize it in this life :)

    I can't wait to see the newly renovated park this spring!

    And to see the cityscape in the distance - it appears to be the best of two worlds!

    I would love to climb on my magic carpet and show up on your doorstep, my dear!

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  2. Whew...you get so many pictures and are sooo patient about downloading and sharing...loved them all, even the homes that were too business looking but interesting.

    One special favorite is the picture by the park where I can see your shadow and Ray's...makes it extra special!

    Didn't realize how close to the water you are...lots of people don't realize I grew by the water too as they forget all about giant Lake Michigan. I used to go to the beach there in the summer, but there's been alot of erosion so I'm not sure how much beach is left nowadays.

    Funny that you have a hard time finding a place without sidewalks and we have a hard time finding anywhere WITH sidewalks in Georgia. The saddest part about that (aside from the danger or being run over and squished) is that it makes going for walks just about impossible and I do love going for walks.

    There sure are alot of birthdays in January in your family. Michael's birthday was January 2nd and I didn't even have the time to do a post about it although we did celebrate it nicely.

    The past few days have been spent getting frustrated on the phone trying to help Kelly with some school loan issues and being unable to get a human being. Since EVERYBODY's options have changed, you have to listen to a menu a mile long and push umpteen buttons and then it reverted to a Spanish menu, so Kelly handed me the phone and it was asking the same identical questions with no human being being reachable.

    At least when I was going through my phone quest the other day I DID finally reach a person who sadly had to send me to another person.

    Did I just do a post?

    Well, thank the Good Lord that the problems were resolved and that lessons in patience were also learned.

    blessings and huggily hugs,

    marcy

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  3. Hi Smiley! What a charming neighborhood to be able to walk through and enjoy!! You lost me on that first home with the cedar shake shingles!! Isn't that what they're called? IDK, but I love that home...makes me want to go in it!!

    Thanks for sharing all of this...just lovely!
    Hope you have a delightful week!!
    Love ya,
    Becky

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  4. HI EILEEN_

    I always so enjoy traveling with you and your family. This adventure was wonderful I loved seeing all the old homes and parks and beaches and water front. I really enjoyed walkiing with you and getting to know where you live. Fascinating.
    Oh, and "Happy Birthday" to your nephew/Godson WIlliam. :-)

    Love Gail
    peace.....

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  5. What a great place to walk. Lovely. I agree with you, I do like the older homes. They have character and are appealing to the eye.

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  6. What a lovely walk with you :) I loved the entrance to the first park...the trees looked lovely and the branches all curvy..very neat looking!! My favorite houses were in your favorites...the very first one with the wood siding and the big evergreen by the door...and the big farmhouse. I love houses that look like cottages and esp. farmhouses. I wouldn't want to live in a house that use to be an asylum. That would be creepy to me. In the new houses section I liked the one that looked spanish. I still like the older homes better though..
    I never heard of wild parrots...those are what people have for pets aren't they? Why are they flying and nesting everywhere? That is so strange. I wouldn't think they could survive in the cold climate...
    I love how Marcy spotted your shadows...she is so clever...I love that!!!
    Have a great day Eileen...and I really loved this post...I always enjoy it when you take us along on your outings :)
    Love and hugs....Jerelene

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  7. I loved the tour Eileen. I think that you should join the beach club, it sounds like something that Jayden would really enjoy. It was fun seeing all of those houses and the one that was owned by the Revlon family must have appeared very modern back in it's day!
    Love Di

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  8. I took the walk with you early this morning Eileen, but got called away before commenting. The history of the houses was very interesting. Loved seeing the green parrots and their nest too! I remember one visiting your pool area last summer!
    Regarding your comment on my blog...it's easy for me to see 3 sisters...I grew up that way myself...I'm one of 3 sisters too...my parents only had us 3 girls.

    Keep warm...Wanda

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  9. I really enjoyed the walk around your neighborhood. It was fun to see the vast differences between houses there and houses here in central California. Your homes have such charm! And even the homes you said were newly built looked older and charming. I didn't realize you are close enough to walk to the water. I guess that explains all your beach trips. Even though we are in Ca, we are a good 2 hours from the nearest beach. That Revlon house looks like a hospital. Very interesting post! What kind of camera do you have? You take excellent-clear-life-like pictures.

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  10. It does look like a FAB day in the neighborhood... merci for the tour!

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  11. I enjoyed that tour with you. I love the old homes and the ones painted in pastel colors. You have some great pictures.
    QMM

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  12. What beautiful pictures! I am surprised that there is no snow on the ground. I thought New York would have some snow for January?

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  13. I agree, I dont like the new homes that are going up either. They just dont fit in. To me Whitestone has a nice and comfortable vintage feel to it. The homes that are going up now have these Big, Bold, Bright Colors...Very Loud...that could give you a headache if you look at it tooo long..hahaha...to me...they just doesnt fit in. I like the Calm, Serene, and Comfortable feel. I LOVE and my favorites are the old Victorian homes with the beautiful wrap around porch. And Oh, I cant forget the porch swing, wooden. Now that's my ideal home.
    And I can not forget those parrots....Sooo beautiful to look at but the noise!...I cant believe how loud they are!..My neighbor has pear trees in his yard on the side of the house...and of course my side of the house....Yes beautiful...but LOUD...sitting in that pear tree next to my window feasting all day...Got to Love those birds!

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  14. Interesting walking. Could you keep up a pace while stopping to take all those photos? Maybe the neighbors thought you were casing out the place.

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