Suburban Guerrilla

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Nov 26th, 2005 at 10:55 am by Susie

You know, I feel sorry for these people. I suspect they know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

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4 Responses to “A Camel Through the Eye of a Needle”

on 26 Nov 2005 at 11:31 am1Monkeyfister

Boy, that line from Steely Dan’s Reeling In The Years, comes to mind, inre: those that know the price of everything, and the value of nothing–

Well, you wouldn’t know a diamond if you held it in your hand
The things you think are precious I can’t understand

Someone please promise to slap me if I EVER find myself contemplating a move to such a place. Like I could ever afford to.

My sister and brother-in-law became noveau riche in the ’80’s… They built their McMansion in the gated community-thingy… It ruined them, and their kids…

I used to visit them all of the time, but there came a point where the neighbors complained about my older, used car, parked in front, “brought down the aesthetic value of the neighborhood.” My own nephew supported that opinion. So, I haven’t visited them in over a decade.

There is nothing that I can buy them, they want nothing that I make for them.

My only recourse…

Bye, bye Sis… have a great life.

Sad, but true.

–mf
on 26 Nov 2005 at 12:52 pm2G Newman

There is a certain segment of the DC Metro that has *always* been this way… and they’re usually featured several times a year in The Post because of advertiser avarice, editor envy, and realtor rapaciousness.

I remember a story in 1980 about how distressed one realtor was when they lowered the asking price of a Great Falls (VA) mansion to *below* a million. It attracted “too much riff-raff,” she said… a great quote.

Hey, DC has a “Court Culture,” as in the royal court. There are palaces of minor notables and hangers-on around that court. DUH!

And the Very Rich have lived there too… Marjorie Merriweather Post (think Kellogg’s) and E.F. Hutton, for example. Their art-filled mansion has now become the Hillwood Museum.
on 26 Nov 2005 at 2:21 pm3Lrrr

Americans never had problems with showing of their wealth, mostly because it used to implicate hard work.

Europeans associate blatantly displayed wealth with worthless, bloodsucking aristocrats, so even rich europeans try to pretend to be “normal” people, and present their riches in more subtle ways.

Once the inherited wealth overtakes earned wealth in the USA (and it’s not just pure money, but also the increased opportunities of being born into the right family), Americans will look at those mansions differently.
on 26 Nov 2005 at 5:20 pm4housewife

monkeyfister: I had friends in the 80’s same thing. They built such a large house their mortgage was $11,000 per month. Everything was custom. They lived in it two years and were miserable. Said they only talked to their kids via intercom. But they saved themselves. Built a much smaller house with only off the shelf fixtures and sold the big house before the crash of the 90’s. Lived happily ever after in 1800 sq. ft.