For at least 30 years, Birchwood Drive in Woodcliff Lake, NJ was a dead end consisting of about 12 homes ending at 20 acres of woods. There were no sidewalks or lamposts, the enormous trees were the setting for a beautiful and private street.
It all ended abruptly in 2003 when a McMansion development rammed through the street. Huge trees were bulldozed and a street of gruesome monster sized houses was dropped arbitrarily on the land. No attempt was made to integrate the brand new homes with the older street. No contiuity or joining together–it was as if a mad plastic surgeon had wielded a scalpel upon a beautiful young model and decided to bloody her up with lifelong scars.
I took the above photos (standing in the same spot but pointing the lens if two directions!) to show how different the two views are. In name, Birchwood Drive describes both–but the Birchwood Drive I once knew, the place of friendliness and quiet rainy days, has been replaced by the speeding SUV and the grotesque landscaping of garish annuals, twiggy trees, and the Tony Soprano style of architecture that all too tragically characterizes modern NJ.
Here in Van Nuys 