Levittown

[Th3Audi0]

Hey I live here!

[slyng99]

Fascinating. Thank you. We have communities like this in Canada. I grew up in a home with the 25'x30' early Levittown footprint. Here it is known as "un cape"

- Montreal

[nettybro]

What I find amazing, is this viewpoint through the rose colored glasses of 2011, and throwing around the word racist. As if any of you owned a business, dealt with bankers and investors, and put your name and cash on the line for anything in the late 1940s of America. William Levitt was simply following what was both accepted, and required of the time. Nearly ever builder of the time had the same policy of restrictive covenants in place. Customers of the day demanded it.

[barbarafalci]

@nettybro thank you for a rational response. although it seems terrible now (and it is mind you) it WAS the way business was done. Just like Robert Moses building the highways on long island so now buses could get through. seems impossible now but in our (or my) lifetime that was real. glad it has changed.

[missprisss]

what was the last song that was playing?

[sketto]

This story would be a lot better if Bill Levitt hadn't been a racist who deliberately excluded black homeowners from his "idyllic" community. Yes, Levittown is an interesting story in American history, but let's tell the whole story. It was a "whites only" creation that was forced to change due to our laws against bias and prejudice. Bill Levitt was a racist and coincidentally a successful businessman. That's it. He was no saint.

[missprisss]

@sketto OH, BECAUSE BLACK PEOPLE SUFFER SO MUCH! AS IF THEY WERE TO ONLY RACE! GOD, I GET TIRED OF THEM BRINGING ATTENTION TO THEMSELVES WHEN IT COME IT INEQUALITY! THERE ARE OTHER RACES THAT EXIST IN THE WORLD WHO HAVE FACED DESCRIMINATION AND, EVEN WORSE, GENEOCIDE! BUT THEY DON'T STEP ASIDE FROM THE SPOT LIGHT TO GIVE ATTENTION TO OTHERS

[sketto]

@missprisss Wow. You sound pretty upset, but still - you didn't address what I said. Yes, there are other races in the world and other problems, but the issue being addressed here was discrimination in Levittown's history against blacks. We have the ability to address more than one problem at a time, and this video, and my comment, were about racism in Levittown and William Levitt's part in it.

[missprisss]

@sketto Ok,i must apologize because i did fly off of the handle. but the thing is, that is true, native americans, asians, and hispanics were also denied ownership of levit town homes. Races like those suffered but are overlooked. I feel that today too. just this morning i went to a meeting involving a speaker from the video 'hate comes to orange county' (you can find it on youtube if you're interested)and that directed against muslims. it was painful to see my middle eastern friends react to it

[missprisss]

@sketto and that's the thing, other races are overlooked for their suffering. i feel that if people don't acknowledge that other races can be discriminated upon, and that instead it's only blacks, that prejudice will naively spill over to other races. people are people, and they don't deserve that.

[sketto]

@missprisss Who is overlooking other races? When I criticize William Levitt for the actual cases of racism against blacks in Levittown, that says nothing about other races. I am with you - racism is wrong in all cases. But you make a point that seems out of place, or at best trivial. So, yes, no one should be discriminated against. However, the point was to underscore the true story underneath Levittown's beginning. The best known case of discrimination in Levittown was against a black family.

[countbloodula]

there is absolutely nothing on long.ooops i meant lame island

nothing but boring high pried houses with the lamest or should i saw cowards

[ghoststun]

"13 pools, plenty of playgrounds and the best friends in the world!" - you got that right!!!

[grandmautube]

Great collection of Levittown shots! My dad was one of the GI's who slept on line for 2 nights to purchase our first house. $600 down and $100 a month. I was 5 years old then, and I am STILL IN LEVITTOWN! What a great town to grow up in and to raise kids in. The true American Dream. No one had much money, but we kids thought we were so rich by all that we did have. 13 pools, plenty of playgrounds and the best friends in the world!

[exrock712]

America's best weapon in the Cold War. Notice the guys helping each other with projects. They served in battle, this came naturally. For better or worse, cultural homogeneity helped (Levitt descriminated against non-whites).

[Michaelman79]

i am in levittown!

[mrceebees14]

My grandparents came in 1952, they bought a house for 20,000.

That same house is now worth nearly 1 million.

[mODERNpARCHA]

wht background music do u use for this video????