I'll never forget my first trip down US 101 after I moved to the Bay Area--I knew immediately that I was seeing the sight that had inspired Ms. Reynolds. Few songwriters have captured a vision as well as she did--and with such penetrating wit.

The development is called Westlake and is located in Daly City, immediately south of San Francisco. It was conceived, designed, and built by one Henry Doelger, completed around 1959. He grew up poor, and lacked formal education, but had ambition and a vision, which made him a sort of poster child for the generation that first moved to the suburbs. In fact, he built a home for himself there.

My family bought a brand new ticky tacky house, in a considerably more prosaic setting, and we saw ourselves, complete with our cookie cutter dreams, in that song. We liked it.
The Little Boxes as they are today .