Avalon Apartments

I feel that the way in which the Avalon Apartments community and structure is developed adds to the lifestyle of Davis, because Avalon emphasizes community, the way that a small town such as Davis does, but it also represents individual private community the way that more affluent towns do. However, The unity and monotony of this subdivision detracts from the diversity and uniqueness representative of Davis.
Avalon Apartments is constructed from a small cul de sac off of Valdora Street. The houses consist of similar style townhouses that generally have the one of two layouts, the three and the four bedroom communities. The community is a subcommunity of Sorrento Apartments across the street. Sorrento Apartments also manages Brisa Apartments, a more cultured duplex style community on the south side of Valdora. While Sorrento is a more affordable, modest community, Barisa and Avalon are more posh homely communities. Barisa duplexes offer respectable sized yards and emphasize a more privatized lifestyle, while Avalon provides less spacious yards with more community oriented facilities, such as the pool spa and fitness room, similar to the community oriented Sorrento Apartments.
While Avalon Apartments provides a very cozy warm, and lush landscape, tennants are also restricted to the extent of which they may alter their landscape. This is mostly due to the desire Sorrento has to charge equal prices for each unit. Distinguishing any unit more or less so would make the appearance of that unit more or less favored in the eyes of renters, and as such, Sorrento employes use of a communtiy landscaper and maintenence to ensure that each unit is as well kept as the next (for outwards appearance anyways)
Similar to the tract houses of D.J. Waldie's "Holy Land" narrative, Avalon homes were all Identical to one another, attempting to boast of middle class lifestyle, while not truely being homes of the middle class. However, Avalon makes a very good impression upon local college students looking for fall housing, and the competitiveness of landing an Avalon lease parallels the competitiveness of finding a brand new home, as described in David Beers' "Blue Sky Dream." Early action, as well as steeper prices are key to securing an Avalon Apartment.
Avalon is a more pricey subdivision compared to the surrounding places, however, tennants pay for both the communal properties that basic Sorrento apartments offer, as well as private individualized units, to incorporate the Barisa modeled lifestyle. So, you get the best of both worlds, but at a price that not all are willing to pay.
Tennants of Avalon apartments seem much more open and friendly than at other apartment complexes, I feel mostly as a result of the open design of the subdivision. Many Units are connected in a similar fashion to Duplex homes, while they share their private semi 'driveway' with the neighbor on the otherside, impressing upon the socializing of neighbors, or at the very least the awareness of their presence, represented by the neighbor's car(s) or outdoor porch furniture. The Avalon apartments have iron faux gates at the main entry way, and Many tennants leave windows and blinds open, allowing others to see into their homes, which demonstrates security in the community.

AVALON APARTMENTS in DAVIS

In-class questions for August 21

Answer the following questions, drawing on course readings.

1. What are the roles of religion, mythology, spirituality, or similar ideologies in building community?

2. What is the relationship of the suburbs to war?

3. Reread the section of Blue Sky Dream where Beers’s father struggles to establish a lawn. What’s at stake in this process, and who are the stakeholders?

4. Historically and today, do Americans find uniformity desirable in their communities? If so, is it the same kind of uniformity criticized by Pete Seeger in “Little Boxes”? Explain.

5. What is David Beers’s “tribe”? Why were they so influential? Are they still powerful today?

6. What role does race play in the building of American communities? Where is race explicitly addressed? Where is it implicitly addressed, and how can you tell?

7. What were the imagined threats to American communities in the mid-20th century? And in The Village? And in our lives today? What has changed, what has not, and why?

8. Why does Robert Bruegmann praise the suburbs? Does he appreciate them for the same reasons Beers’s parents appreciated the Valley of Heart’s Delight?

Blog post #3: Davis subdivisions

(Before writing this post, be sure you’re caught up on the readings through Wednesday.)

1. Select one subdivision in Davis. (How are we defining "subdivision"? Several blocks of houses built at the same time on similar architectural plans. Downtown Davis, for example, is a neighborhood but not a subdivision.) For clarity, state which streets you believe constitute your subdivision’s edges.

2. Walk through the subdivision to get a sense of its character. What do you see? What do you not see that you might see in other neighborhoods?

3. What values, beliefs, and habits do you see expressed in the architecture and landscape of the subdivision? (Be specific about architectural and landscape features.) Do you see these values replicated in the activities (if any) of the people you see?

Now for the argument: In your opinion, does this subdivision improve upon or detract from Davis as a whole? Draw on at least two course texts in supporting your argument.