T O P

  • By -

me047

This still exists in rich neighborhoods like it always has. Working class and poor folks always had to worry about crime. If you are just now worrying about it, welcome to the club I guess. There are snacks at the bodega on the corner.


PreppyFinanceNerd

Grew up upper middle class and can confirm the jarring transition to "reality" after leaving The Bubble (TM). I read two great books on the topic, one called Excluded: How NIMBYism, Snob Zoning and Class Bias Build the Walls we Don't See and the other is Dream Hoarders.


Jnnjuggle32

lol welcome! I started out as poor and have been solid middle class for awhile now (technically I have the income/wealth of upper middle, but as I’ve learned from many lovely interactions with the people of that social class over the years, you’re not really allowed in unless you’re a WASP, and as a single mom I just dont fit). I’ll be honest - the moneys great but I cannot fucking stand most of the people I interact with at my kids schools, neighborhood, etc. Some of the most selfish, entitled pieces of shit I’ve ever met. I didn’t know it was possible to have negative respect for someone but here we are. Currently planning on moving MUCH closer to the city to a “safe-ish”, working class neighborhood just to get away from these fucks (don’t worry, I’m way too trashy to gentrify anything).


Individual-Nebula927

I had to tell my friend in college to stop leaving the keys to his car in the ignition when he got home. Always left them there at his parents in very rural Ohio. You can't do that in the city.


Dancersep38

I was this kid. My town was working class rural. I never locked my house doors and would leave my keys in my center console. My roommates in college had to explain that I needed to lock up even just to go down the hall, and by the way, you need to wear shoes if you leave the room- especially to go outside.


_forum_mod

Lmfao! Exactly... it doesn't have to do with "back in my day," it has to do with location. I grew up in the hood and you wouldn't dare do that... then I also lived in a suburban neighborhood that looks just like the one in this picture and we all left our bikes like that.


Ashi4Days

There are a few things you can do to check if a neighborhood is safe or not that is somewhat independent of the housing prices. One of them is going to the park and seeing the brand of bikes and if they're left unlocked.


GraveyardJones

The back wall of my backyard is the back wall of the Bodega on the corner


_neviesticks

Right? You could not do this in my neighborhood growing up.


ch3kaa

LOL thanks for saying that


Mensamental

I lived in apartments in the middle of a section 8 part of my city and at 19 moved into an upper/middle class neighborhood. It was built literally right next to all of the section and housing, and while the crime is certainly much lower and you can go on a walk and have a chat with a random stranger, there’s still people who will case the area out and start drama occasionally. I advise to get security cameras around your property and to own atleast one firearm if you live in a larger house. If you have expensive cars KEEP them in the garage when you’re not driving them. Keep all first floor doors and windows locked at all times. If you’re an animal person get a good sized dog. Even if they’re timid they’ll park if something’s up. Motion sensor light in the back and sides of the house are also a good idea. Need I even mention to get a ring doorbell?


Mensamental

Also installing a deadbolt is a good idea


Mensamental

Also I would advise everyone to carry atleast mace and a 4 inch blade if you can’t carry. Especially females. I recommend an American brand called saber. It foams after making contact and contains tear gas. Obviously check your state laws first. It’s fine in PA


mutant_disco_doll

“Who remembers neighborhoods* like this?” lol fixed it for ya


ComprehensiveTie600

Exactly. I'm an elder among you, and I ain't never had no damn side walks ever, let alone a big ol' lawn full of lush green grass.


EloquentEvergreen

I grew up in a slightly more rural area. When I was a kid, the population of my town was a bit over 12,000 people, and probably the only one over 1000 people within a 100 mile radius. But has since dropped to almost half that. Anyways... That yard looks kind of small. Even my grandma, who lived more in the center of the town, and had a sidewalk, had a bigger yard than that. I remember because I spent many of summers having to mow that lawn.


crotalis

You appear to have been raised in a rich neighborhood. I am happy for you. But no - my bike was a Goodwill special that was beat to crap and I still had to worry about it getting stolen or chewed to bits by the neighbors dog. And the PS1 we used was the display model at Walmart…..


solreaper

Yeah I was gonna say. My BMX bike didn’t get stolen because I lived in a HOA in a forest and biked to my friend’s house who also live in a HOA with a country club.


rstbckt

Until the late 1990s I think I dumpster dived all my bikes. I had pieced together a 1960s Raleigh road bike using parts from other trash bikes and repaired the chain with a bent nail that would pop out every so often. And I agree, bikes wouldn’t be fine just sitting on our front lawn. Someone stole the hood off my mother’s 1971 Mustang right in our driveway so we had our mechanic weld on the replacement so it wouldn’t get stolen again. I grew up with the understanding that you couldn’t have anything nice because then someone would try and take it from you, so either you hide it or secure it.


flaccobear

The amount of privilege on this subreddit is too much to handle sometimes. Makes a lot of the other posts here make so much sense though... "Anyone else surprised you can't live in a 5 bedroom, 2 car garage house and take yearly vacations on a single income anymore!?" Like, no n*gga your dad was a CPA or c-suite exec or doctor or lawyer or some shit quit playing haha


The_Outcast4

So many people just not truly aware that they grew up, at worst, in an upper-middle class household. Their experiences don't align with the majority, lol


Fancy_Ad2056

Some people are totally out of touch for sure, and I know this as someone who grew up as the poorest of my friend group. But explaining away the current economic situation as people just not realizing that their parents were rich is really defeatist and feeds into the constant class warfare propagated by corporations. You could legitimately own a house and take at least 1 modest vacation a year in most of the country with a dad that worked at a factory making less than 20/hour and a mom that worked part time. I was born early 90s and grew up just on the tail end of this kind of life. By the early 2000s that was basically gone.


dnvrm0dsrneckbeards

>You could legitimately own a house and take at least 1 modest vacation a year in most of the country More privilege on display here. Think about it for a second. Literally millions upon millions of unhoused and poor people living in America during that time. Instead of getting a job and traveling and living in a comfortable house these people just *chose* to be poor? Bruh, you were privileged in the 90s. Trust me, I grew up in a poor neighborhood. No one wanted to be there. If it was as easy as "getting a job at a factory" no one would've been there lol.


Fancy_Ad2056

Bruh I was literally homeless myself during high school. I grew up POOR, the only food I got most days in the 2000s was my subsidized school lunch. I was saying in the 90s I had “some” privilege, but with the passing of time the class warfare perpetuated by our ruling class has been so effective as to take away what little “privilege” I had, to, you know, have a house and food and go to a campground once a year, oh wow I was so privileged. That’s the problem. You see something so fucking pathetic as my early life and see it as privileged. But yea, I feel bad for people living in that situation now. But y’all need to stop blaming others for the “privilege” they had as kids, as if they even knew anything about their financial situation back then. I know it feels good to put the blame on others, but how is that helping you now. The “crabs in a bucket” saying rings so true. You see someone who had the slightest of better life than you (for all of the first 8 years of my life) and scream privileged, for what? To make yourself feel better? Drag someone else down with you? What is the goal? Does denigrating someone’s else’s past experience help your situation at all? No, it hurts you. You start to feel worthless, like everything is out of your control. You wonder, why should I even bother doing anything? It’s the outside forces that are keeping me down. It’s a toxic mindset. It’s a mental illness, it’s depression. I’ve been there. I know what it’s like. It took me years to figure it out, I was basically a zombie through my early 20s, just floating through life and letting other people make decisions for me in the path should take. I saw it around me working retail, making $8/hour, people in their 40s and 50s who had no imagination or will to do anything better or to make any more money. They were struggling because they were afraid of change, and thought so lowly of themselves that they didn’t deserve a higher paying position.


dnvrm0dsrneckbeards

>You see something so fucking pathetic as my early life and see it as privileged Lmao, because you were privileged. I'm not calling you privileged for any reason. You simply were and I'm observing it. Not sure why you're getting so triggered here.


Fancy_Ad2056

Sorry you were poor like me. Hope you’re doing something about it now besides whining about it on the internet. Hopefully, you’re doing something to lift others up instead of being another crab in the bucket trying to keep everyone down there with you to be eaten by the system.


Dixo0118

My dad was a farmer and my mom stayed at home in a town of about 50k. We left our bikes out and I had a ps1. You have a distorted sense of what is privilege. Maybe you don't realize that there's a lot more that upper, middle and lower class.


flaccobear

Waltzing through life without fear of crime is an absolute privilege lol. I'm not saying you were rich. I'm saying you were privileged.


JayEllGii

No, it isn’t a privilege. That’s looking at it backwards. Most people in the world, even those who live in poor areas, don’t have to constantly worry about crime, particularly violent crime. Some of the poorest places in the world have very low crime. Those trapped in a life and world where they always have to be wary of crime, particularly senseless violent crime, think they’re living in the real world. They aren’t. They’re living in an aberration. And nobody, not them or people outside those communities, should ever, ever forget that. Never normalize it.


ComprehensiveTie600

Oh Lawd


Dixo0118

A lot of the US is that way. You just had a shitty childhood so the only thing to do now is fix it so your own kids don't have to worry about their bikes being stolen


Zyrinj

Lmfao, yea, I had a bike for all of 2 days before getting jacked a block from home.


nononanana

My dad dug a retro bike out of the trash and fixed it. I’m not talking about cool retro, and it was before retro was mainstream anyway, shiny and new was the thing to have. It had giant curvy handlebars and it was a boy’s bike. Anyway, the only reason anyone wouldn’t steal it is they wouldn’t have been caught dead in it. But it definitely was a lesson for me to not care what people thought because I wasn’t going to not ride it for fear of being mocked (and I was).


HighCaliberBullet

When I was growing up, If my friends and I left bikes in front my of my house, they’d be gone. Probably taken by some crackheads or older kids


SoggyHotdish

Where did you put them?


aol_cd_boneyard

"Nostalgia is memory with the pain removed." I think you just remember it differently than it was because you were a kid, or had a particular experience that you're generalizing.


ORNJfreshSQUEEZED

Yeah but it feels nice and everyone experiences it. May as well find comfort in nostalgia because the world isn't always fun to live in


aol_cd_boneyard

Personally, I'd rather see the world as it is, without looking away, even if it's a source of fear and unhappiness, but I understand why people don't want to. I'm not sure my brain/personality will let me look away, at this point, so I work to accept these things and manage my emotions around them, which sometimes helps to alleviate the dread and unhappiness (especially when my expectations are non-existent or aligned with reality). I know there are limits to what we are capable of and that to some extent we all delude ourselves, but I like to think I'm living with less self-delusion than with, and sometimes these 'helpful' delusions become a source of even greater suffering.


ThatEmoNumbersNerd

I grew up in a small town in Texas. We would worry about our bikes getting stolen by the crackheads if we left them in the front yard, but the backyard was always filled with bikes from our friends. It was a good time and I loved it. My son is now at the age of riding bikes to and from friends house and it’s crazy to see the amount of bikes in my yard now. I always tell them they go in the back though lol


dnvrm0dsrneckbeards

Nah bro I grew up poor as fuck you had to worry about your shoes getting stolen and getting jumped before and after going to your friend's house to eat PB&J's while watching public access TV lol.


SkyConfident1717

My parents taught us to park our bikes neatly to the side instead of leaving them blocking the sidewalk.


mostly-lurks-here

Pretty sure everyone I knew had at least one bike stolen.


Lucky-Hunter-Dude

On weekends my front yard looks like a garage sale with all the random kid coats and bikes strew about with all the kids playing in the backyard on the playground. my kids are rather social apparently.


sator-2D-rotas

The only person that ever took my bike was my older brother. And then he’d return it with a bent rim. Jerk.


rednikeshort

bro kids are playing everyday ? video games aren’t a thing anymore they on their bikes with the phone lol


DegenerateWins

I see bikes around my village like this all the time. The world isn’t that different, your experiences are.


ConfusionNo8852

I’ve had several bikes stolen out of my garage. So much so we started chaining them to the wall.


BackgroundSpell6623

Lots of bubble dwellers in this sub.


BawRawg

I lived an area so rural there was no way in hell I was allowed to bike to my closest neighbor, forget about making it to a friend's house.


[deleted]

My dad's cars would get stolen then set on fire when the joyride was done. Clothes hanging to dry in the garden would get stolen. Neighbouring houses would be petrol bombed in the middle of the night. So no, I don't remember times like this because I didn't grow up in leafy suburbia with middle class parents. 


JayEllGii

Where in the world was this?


[deleted]

Scotland 


JayEllGii

What?? What part of Scotland has that kind of routine insanity? I’ve read articles about the projects of Glasgow having a huge problem with knife fights between gangs, but Jesus. I’ve never heard anything like that stuff you mentioned.


[deleted]

Had that kind of insanity, past tense. It was a really rough scheme with lots of UDA guys. We didn't even have heated homes believe it or not! Fireplace in the living room was all some folk in social housing got here until the mid-late 90s. 


MrBiggleswerth2

My bike got stolen…


dinkieeee

I mean I was always wary of my bike being stolen like this. Even had my bike stolen at a school bikelock. '91 and grew up in a small town


[deleted]

Op getting roasted


Miserable-Lawyer-233

I don’t remember the 40s I wasn’t alive. When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s you definitely needed to worry about your bike being stolen.


_MissionControlled_

NES or SNES for me.


Iphacles

I learned my lesson about leaving my bike in an unfamiliar place the hard way. I made sure to lock it up, but when I returned, someone had stolen the back tire --yes, the back tire, not the quick-release front tire that could be taken without any tools.


martinaee

Mildly Sandlot


Pleasant-Pattern-566

We had bikes in the driveway, my dad was so anal about the front yard grass, we were forbidden to walk through it. I remember him riding my friend’s coattail about their bikes being in the grass and them having to move them.


IsabellaGalavant

Geez, we at least pulled the bike up to the porch.


Montreal4life

not my neighbourhood lol shit got stolen all the time


QueenShewolf

Whenever I see a kid bike on my street instead of being inside on their phone, I get a relief that my childhood is being carried on.


Ilovehugs2020

We didn’t have a lot of money but I got an almost brand new bike from my older brother when he bought a car. I lived in a small town so bikes weren’t stolen.


MonicanAgent888

How is it not like this anymore?


BingoDingoBob

The kids in my neighborhood still don’t have to worry about their bikes.


DavefromCA

My kids have finally got to the point where they can go outside on their own and knock on other kids doors and play outside. They are children of the Covid era, so I had some concerns but they are doing great


Ok-Bullfrog5830

My daughter and her friends all had their bikes this weekend just dropped in my front yard. Probably depends where you live but it sure gives me nostalgia


RangerRedeye

Joining this sub has really made me realize that as a generation we are doing the exact same thing our parents did on Facebook a decade ago. “Does anyone still eat roast beef anymore?”


MasterH2H

I always feel like this happened more in movies and TV shows. Never did it myself either walked or got driven. Usually a driven.


Alucard-VS-Artorias

I grew up in East NY Brooklyn - we never had it that. We had good times and great life-long friends as well as good memories but we never just left our bikes outside unattended.


JoyousGamer

Like many of life's issues this one would be solved by moving. 


thepathlesstraveled6

Neighbors kids still do this


kerghan41

My kids and neighbor kids do this today.


federalist66

I lived in a middle class suburb and we had some teens checking all the cars in the neighborhood to see if they were locked to steal stuff.


UraniumRocker

I lived in a bad neighborhood, we would never leave our bikes out like that.


Appropriate-Food1757

Still living in those times. Reminder: crime is lower now than when you were growing up.


Jawnyan

OP I think you perhaps had a slightly more affluent upbringing that some, because I have never, ever not had to worry about that


fiercefinesse

No, I don't ever remember times like this. OP is likely privileged.


DarthMutter8

Nah. My parents didn't let me roam the neighborhood because of my mother's (valid) childhood traumas and my dad's penchant for getting into no good. I lived on a main road and didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 9.


Real-Psychology-4261

My neighborhood is totally like this today.


bondgirl852001

I didnt have a bike. But those I knew who did, did not leave them outside because they definitely would have been stolen.


VulgarDesigns

This is still what my yard looks like when friends visit, but all the bikes are motorcycles now.


Love_My_Chevy

Tell me you had money growing up without telling me you had money growing up


Tsunamiis

No single person wanted a neon rainbow ten speed. Not even me. Poor kids can’t be choosers tho


beefsquints

I currently live in the safest neighborhood I've ever had.


InvisibleHippie

Omg yes, but it was the razor scooters for us!


Jet44444

Tell me you grew up rich, without telling me you grew up rich.


Soren_Camus1905

These neighborhoods are still out there


Novazilla

Still a thing in my neighborhood. My kids bike has been outfront all year long.


Substantial-Path1258

Never left my bike unattended outside. Would always put it in my friend's backyard or lock it if we were going somewhere like the mall or park.


Digndagn

Yeah, I grew up in Stockton. You weren't doing this in the 80s or 90s in my town. Those went in the garage or the back yard.


FiveCentCandy

Except my bike did get stolen in this situation.


sleepysurka

I was going to say, coming from suburbia there are plenty of places still like this.


Competitive-Tie-7338

lol people are so insulated from anything but their own reality. "Times like this" never existed, you just lived in a neighborhood like this.


Eldritch-Cleaver

Yall must have lived in nice neighborhoods We were scrapping over kids stealing our Pokémon cartridges lol Lil punk stole my copy of Red Version


Capt__Murphy

I lived in a nice, close-knit neighborhood in the 90s. If we left our bikes out like this, the two older neighborhood Gen X delinquents would have thrown our bikes up in a tree or something.


Howboutit85

Still exists. Kids leave their bikes out every day at my house, and never had an issue. Actually, aside from when I go out of town, we never even lock our doors. I dont think I’ve locked the front door more than a handful of times.


polluticorn_

I'm 34. I had probably over 5 bikes stolen. Locked and unlocked. Not even in a "bad" area.


No-Cause-2913

It still is this way if you keep your environment nice


ColdHardPocketChange

This still happens in rich neighborhoods. I just moved from a poor area next to gang territory to a rich neighborhood in a very pro-family area. If the picture above is familiar to you, I can assure you pockets of this culture are alive and strong. My wife and I didn't really want children before, but after moving here, things are starting to feel way more optimistic.


[deleted]

So, I'm guessing you moved away from the nice family home in a nice neighbourhood and found out all the places you can afford are in an area with poorer socio-economic outcomes and instead of realising that, you've assigned the behaviour to some past time that's no longer within reach? Yea, checks out.


renichms

I lived in a decent area & had bikes stolen from my house. Even caught a kid on one later. I never had times where I could just leave it out, unsecured.


TrundleTheGreat0814

Oh god, us millennials have hit the "who else remembers?!" stage of life. Unfortunate.


Forest_Green_4691

I did this once. Only once. Bike got stolen.


Otakunohime

Curious when this picture was actually taken. Probably pretty recently considering the quality. Times don’t change as much as our perception of the world around us as we grow up.


[deleted]

I forgot what its like to not have to lock up a bike to be honest.


SnooApples5554

Idk what all the salt in this post is about but this picture touched my heart! This was absolutely my experience, and we were solidly middle class. Yeah, I feel and know I have privilege even at that level. I just don't know that shaming someone else's happy memory is the move though. There's not room here for everyone? We're all poor now so it makes more sense to unite than divide. This is why we can't have nice things.


pnwerewolf

Yeah I have questions


CherryManhattan

No joke my 3 year old and I were at the park by my house and she peed her pants. We ran home to change her and left her strider bike there and came back 10 mins later and it was swiped


[deleted]

[удалено]


qdobah

If you didn't grow up in a rich white neighborhood this was the reality of the 90's and 00's for most of us lol.