Nostalgia of the future?
Photo by Karen Neal – © 2010 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Phil/Dad (on hill overlooking their California hometown): Wow. This place has really changed. Time marches on, eh? See that Starbucks down there? You know what that used to be?
Alex/Daughter: An orange grove?
Phil/Dad: No. A Burger King. You can still see some of the architecture.
Claire: Thank you, for this. I really do feel better already.
Phil/Dad: You can go home again, Claire. [kiss]
This little bit of dialogue from the First Episode (“The Old Wagon”), Season Two of “Modern Family (air date: 22 September 2010) made me laugh. (The nostalgia event was prompted by the need to get rid of the old family station wagon — and the trauma of letting go of all the memories attached to it, including sipping milkshakes on the hilltop overlooking town.)
The idea of waxing nostalgic for a long-lost Burger King made me wonder about the future. Will we fight preservation battles to save the “neighborhood” big box store? Will a Friends group form to save a 2009 pharmacy, complete with drive-thru window, from the wrecking ball? Will that highly dense country club development, townhouses mixed with McMansions, be nominated as a potential National Historic Landmark District?
In the future, what do you think will speak to us of this time?
Photo by Karen Neal – © 2010 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Nostalgic for the original Wayback Machine?
My Own Time Machine: Buildings, Places, People & Things 
Nostalgia? Sure! Preservation!? hmmmm.. I don’t know about that .
As long as people age and life changes nostalgia is unlikely to disappear, but this has me wondering what changes we will see in preservation.
I don’t think preservation will be confined do architecture. As technology and social values shift, I think the things preserved will shift reflecting the values of a different generation.