Walking east from the little house I grew up in on Chestnut and Avenue C, the first thing I saw heading out the door across Chestnut was a tennis court, plus a huge lawn leading up to the Northwest Paper Company staff house on Park Place. It was the 1950s, and a childhood friend said it perfectly: "How pretty the street was from Chestnut Street to the movie theater ... just walking along. The neighborhood had such a comfortable feeling ... homes of friends, local businesses, food and recreation. Trees. Almost storybook and quaint but real."

Tennis courts. There were two more within three bl...