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I’m in here on the right, at age 5, with my brother Roger (9), my sister Brenda (7), and my sister Sharon (3).
We’re standing in the not-yet-landscaped front yard of our brand-new split-level home in Livermore California. My parents had just purchased this home for $26,000 at the time this picture was taken in 1967. It just sold last year for about $600,000.
I think that to buy the house, they had saved money on our clothing 🙂
One of Livermore’s local newspaper photographers, Bill Owens, published a book with photos from my neighborhood during this time period. The book, called Suburbia, provided a critical but humerous view of Bay Area suburbs the way I remember them during my formative years.
Here is a link to a slideshow of these photos
and there is a great essay on this site
“In his renderings of neighborhoods without trees, wide thoroughfares without sidewalks and streets lined with identical houses, Owens’ photographs hint at things to come.” by Cynthia Morrill, Ph.D., from the Fall 2000 Foto/Text.
You should add that although we knew Bill then, he did not photograph our home for his book. Maybe its rooms contained too many books, so we weren’t ‘typical’ enough. However, I do like his book!
Your Mom.