Fifteen years, here in the Rose Garden district of old San Jose, California. I love it and utterly adore the old Victorian duplex I live in. I’ve resided longer here than in any single home ever provided by my parents. I’m putting down roots that feel so good I can’t begin to tell you about it.
What’s the longest you’ve lived in one house? Are you glad of it? Do you have a sense of place and belonging? What’s your neighborhood like?
Come August I’ll have lived in this duplex in the Montrose area of Houston for 17 years - easily my record. Except for almost 6 years that were spent in Austin, I’ve lived my adult life in this part of town.
The Montrose has long been the part of Houston where the art bars, gay bars, tattoo parlors, indie record shops, jewelry stores and the like have located. And it’s going through its, oh, I’d say third wave of regentrification.
A block away from me is the Rothko Chapel and next to it on the west is the Menil Collection, and on the east the new dorm for the University of St. Thomas. The block between has an apartment compllex that seems to cater to Central American immigrants.
One thing I love about Houston is that there is no zoning. There are restaurants, pubs, grocery stores, etc., that I can easily walk to. Right next to Montrose is the Museum District. I am at home here.
I do like this area, but, as with everything in Houston, it is constantly changing.
I’ve been here 14 years now. It’s hard to believe. I basically came here straight out of college because the Jackson Metro Area was the closest place to home where I could get an engineering job.
We had moved around a lot when I was a kid. The other place where I lived for long stretches of time is Oxford (Miss.). Oxford used to be a Very Cool Place [sup]TM[/sup] but its horribly tourista-ish these days. sigh
I like some things about Suburbia, but some things I abhor. Living within such proximity to the Capitol, too, Oi! You can’t get away from the Legislature’s shenanigans. When I grew up on the other end of the state they were easier to ignore!
The town I’m living in now was founded 100 years ago by a land development company. Isn’t that rich? The best thing about coming here was that I eventually met my Sweety. His family is among the original founders; one of his grandpas was mayor and used to drive the fire truck. It used to be a typical quaint small Mississippi town.
Now the endless subdivisions are creeping up all around and the politicians suffer from delusions of grandeur. Sweety and his brother will eventually sell their 20 acres and scram. I can’t wait!
I guess the longest I’ve lived in one house (apartment, actually) was the ten years between ages 7 and 17, when I lived in the same place in Malden, Mass. Since then, I’ve moved around quite a bit, though mostly in the Boston area.
I liked that neighborhood in Malden. It was a good place to grow up. There was a park about three blocks away, and not so much traffic on our street that would couldn’t play football, or hockey, or frisbee on it. It’s still a nice neighborhood, although I don’t go back, often, as all my friends have long since moved out.
The longest I lived anywhere was the 20 years I lived in hell house with my parents. They bought the place when I was 3 and a half and I didn’t escape until I was 23 years old. ugh I’m really not glad about having wasted that much time there… I’m just very thankful to be gone from there.
Since then I have moved 3 times. From hell into my first apartment with my then fiance, now husband. Then into our first house 2 years later, then just a year ago into our second house. I really don’t want to move again any time soon if I can help it. This seems like a great place to raise our kids… kind of like davebear describes with a park 2 blocks away and the street is not too busy and the yard is flat and fenced in. I’m getting used to living here. It was kind of a switch for me… boony-ish and all. Now if only they would rip out that horrible market basket and build a super shaws!
The longest I’ve lived in a house/dwelling, continuously, would be about 3-4 years at my folks house in Clearwater, from 1977-1980. I think that’s about the record. I owned a house for longer than that, but didn’t live in it continuously, here in Cincinnati, from 1995-2000. I’ve lived in the Cincinnati area in five different places, three different times, for a sum total of about 7 years. I think the Tampa Bay area, for about 10 years (again, not continuous), would be the record, but there were a lot of different apartments and houses there, maybe 10-15 places.
This question really shouldn’t be so tough to answer for someone who is 40 years old, should it?
A terraced house in Accrington, Lancashire - for 22 years, since I was born (I am 24)
I do miss the place (and the friends I had. and the things we did) I do have a sense of belonging there, and not where I am now. It’s a pretty boring place, not much there, a couple of hills, an average town, but I still miss it.
18 years in Los Angeles. I reckon I’ll go back one of these days.
I’ve lived in my current house since 1979 and will probably never move. It’s not the greatest place, but the mortgage is dirt cheap, so it’d cost a hell of a lot to move.
Record for one city is Anchorage - ten years before I escaped down to Houston a few months ago. Before that was a five year hitch in Florida, two in Iceland, four in Florida, and three in Georgia (the first three!) For those playing at home, that adds up to 24 years. I was an Air Force brat.
Longest time in any single dwelling is a tie between my apartment in Anchorage and the house my parents bought in the second stay in Forida - four years. Not only did the air force like to move us around a lot my parents also liked to move once we were in whatever town the airforce put us in. We’d usually rent a home, or go for base housing, for the first year and then they’d buy a place (not in Iceland though) for the rest of our stay, hoping to make a bit of profit on the sale. They usually did alright IIRC.
The Anchorage record isn’t in any danger of being broken before I hit forty, my transient childood has left me with a powerful case of wanderlust, I’ll probably pack kit and leave Houston in 3-4 years and repeat a couple more times before I settle down somewhere for the long haul.
[ul]
[li] four years in one house in Coal City, IL; six years total in that location[/li][li] five years in Indiana, PA; total of four different houses, plus one year spent abroad[/li][/ul]
One City: 5 years.
Once House: 3 years so far…
I lived in El Paso for about eight years. I’ve lived here for nearly as long, but I’m moving for college in the fall, so it looks like that record’s going to stand for another decade or so.
I won’t count where I lived as a kid, since I had no control over that.
I’ve lived in my current condo in the NW burbs of Chicago for over 10 years, and lived in an apartment the next suburb over for 2 years. It’s not that I’m that crazy about the area, but it’s been very convenient for the type of work I’ve done. I’ll be moving into the city proper sometime later this year, which is where I’ve always wanted to be, but the jobs have always been in the burbs, and I just didn’t want to do a long commute every day. For the forseeable future, I’ll be working in the city, though, so it finally makes sense.
And I forgot to add that I’ve lived in the Chicago area my entire 38 years.
I have to say “here” for 12 years this July. Thats the longest for me as I was an Army brat, then moved around a lot, until I met H and we bought this property.
We moved on here with a cab-over camper. Slowly over the years we’ve built a house out of pocket. Lots of fun memories here. Clearing the land and lots of wienie roasts. The best was the day electricity came down the street. Then we got real running water, indoor plumbing and had a huge outhouse burning party!
I like the neighborhood. We bought an acre from the original homesteader when he sub-divided 80 of his 160 acres. Then he sold the remaining 80 to the city to make into a beachfront park. Its great having easy beach access right across the street.
I feel real comfortable here.
20 years, execept for three semesters where I lived in a dorm. Same room for 18 years.
My entire life - or - 18 years.
Lived in NY for 26 years. I am getting used to my new location now…but I have to say, I do miss the food!!
I lived in Anderson Township, a suburb of Cincinnati, from 1988 to 1997, from when I was 4 to 13. I miss that area somewhat - it grows on you after 9 years, and I spent most of my formative years there. Someday I’d like to go back, if only to see what my old neighborhood is like. Or maybe someone can tell me - how is Anderson doing? I heard they were going to tear down Beechmont Mall and turn it into a retention pond… I’d say that’s not a good sign.