Doesn't anyone use their backyards anymore?

I've actually noticed the complete opposite in my neighborhood and mention it to my wife often. There is never anyone in their front yard. Everyone either stays inside or stays in their backyard. It's kind of depressing to me.

On a typical summer night, my neighborhood looks like a ghost town. I've got to think when people were out on front porches there was much more of a sense of community. Now, everyone is so private.

Got to laugh at this ... in our 'hood, the people who've let their big dogs crap up the back yard are the ones who put out porch swings and kiddie pools in front. Also, some recently-arrived immigrants used to have all their family times in the front yard. At first, I was annoyed, and then I stopped to think: what's the social/cultural rule?

I would think from a safety standpoint, you'd want to keep toddlers and their toys in the back yard ...

Our neighborhood mostly has all of the "toys" in the backyard, but we have so many kids running around to each others houses and riding bikes and such, kids are everywhere--backyards and front yards. There are a lot of basketball hoops in driveways, so a lot play there, too.

Ah yes ... basketball does require a driveway, hence might be a front-yard activity.

Older kids spend so much time indoors now, I kind of like it when I see active groups, bike riding, etc. Your crowd sounds like fun, Joey!

Backyards are used here in the OWE. Front yards are primarily for one of my favorite hobbies: Porch Sittin'. When these homes were built, they specifically lined all the porches up so that you could look to the left and the right (while standing on the porch) and see through the porches all the way down the block.

Unfortunately, a lot of folks have walled in their porches.

A lot of fire pit sittin', BBQin', gardening and the like go on in the back yards.

I use to have a picnic table in my front yard and loved it. My neighbors were far more likely to wander over and say hello when I was sitting out there reading.
I really miss that now that you mention it!

Mostly backyards here in West Toledo/Franklin Park area.

We keep our grill in the garage, so it is in the front when we use it. (Pull it out onto the driveway, then pull it back into the garage when it cools off.) Guess I never really thought that was an issue?

None of the other stuff you mentioned in front, just the grill...only when it's actually being used though.

In my OWE at Detroit and Central, back yards were for veggie/flower gardens, get togethers and such. The ally was the playground. Touch Football-2 completed passes/a first down. Basketball on a shorter than standard hoop which stunts you for organized school B-Ball, Slow pitch or "one-a-cat". And... when we got a little older, the thrill of our first kiss from "the girl next door". The front yard was quite different. It was a scientific place where we, and the neighbor kids learned there is a direct relationship between the speed of each of our Dads swinging on each others porches and the scores of the Detroit/Cleveland baseball game... Also a phyisics lesson it that a Sears Silvertone Transistor Radio flys well at the end of the Cleveland/Detroit game, but lands horribly against the curb. Ahh... Yes. And don't forget the excursion of the "out back" camping trip in the back yard or on the back porch. We need to be more like the Walton's...

And I forgot swing sets and sand boxes with covers to keep the cats out.

In my little subdivision here in Sylvania, all the kids run around all day in the front yards, while all of the parents sit in the backyards drinking and grilling. This is the way it should be!

I would think from a blockwatch sort of way people in the front yards would be a good thing.

Hottest night of the year, and two doors down they have a fire pit going, front yard :-)

I like the privacy of the back yard. In fact, that's why I've decided against putting up a deck and am going with a patio instead. More privacy.

Love my front porch, as I've mentioned, but some things are better suited for a back yard, IMO.

I used to do my "speedo sunbathing" until I fell asleep in the front yard, but the kids in the neighborhood would come up and write mean things on me. I'd wake to find "shamu", "this end up" and "save the whales" written all over me in sharpie marker.
Now I stay in my backyard. lol

The kids all run around in the front yard in my Sylvania subdivision as well..it's how they can all see who is out to play and mingle together.

I guess I have to agree with gamegrrl, some things are better suited for a backyard. I don't mean kids playing out in front, we all did that. My childhood was spent riding bikes, roller skating and such, all out in front of the house. But things such as pools and trampolines were kept in the yards. And at the end of the day, toys, bikes and whatever else we used were put away till the next day. Ah well, changing times I guess.

lynn

My neighbor just got yelled at by the self-elected "home owners association" president of my neighborhood (who parks his rusty 1992 Ford crap pick up truck in a different neighbor's driveway) for having his brand new camper in his own driveway on Memorial Day, upon returning home from camping. All because Mr. Rusty Prickup can see it from over a hundred yards away in his yard. (His yard with a fence in the front yard that exceeds the height limit of the city code)

Somewhere between "community standards" and free-for-all is a little give and take, no?

Ooh, I'da had fun with Mr Rusty Ford!!