Burnett’s experience can be contrasted with that of Thurston Gaines, a young black doctor who moved to the community in 1955 (shortly after the racial covenants were rescinded) and lived there until about 1961. Gaines, a former Tuskeegee Airman, actually worked on Levitt homes one summer after the war. Wanting a place closer to his residency, Gaines jumped at the offer of a former white classmate willing to sell his Levittown home for $8,500. Unhappy neighbors offered more money to keep Gaines out, but the transaction went through. “We never became close with the neighbors,” he said, “but we were also not interested in socializing.”

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A busy young doctor, Gaines found Levittown more a place to sleep than anything else, although two of his children were born there. By 1961 he had moved his family to Rockville Centre, a higher echelon economically than Levittown. To this day, Levittown’s black population remains below 1 percent, but the Gaines’ story also speaks to another trend. Like many other Levittown residents who were moving to more affluent parts of Long Island, the Gaineses were trading up.

Writer Michael Pollan remembered that “by 1960, when my parents went house hunting…Levittown was passé, and the next new place—the un-Levittown—promised to be the Gates of Woodbury, where lots were generally a sprawling acre.” Like minor league ballplayers hitting the big time, some Levittown residents were jumping to the next level by the late 1950s, finding bigger homes in swankier new developments. Plainview, Huntington and other places along the new Long Island Expressway grew exponentially. Some moved east to other Levitt developments in Suffolk County, the Strathmores of Stony Brook and Coram, by the mid-1960s.

Driving through Levittown today on its miracle mile Hempstead Turnpike, you’d be forgiven for missing history’s mark. Passing the big-box retailers and local operations like the Tri County Flea Market, which claims to hold “the largest selection of jewelry anywhere,” you feel in fact you could be anywhere. You will search in vain for that original, untouched Levitt house. These days, Home Depot has taken the reins of local home improvements, and you’ll find everything from Moroccan-inspired columns to a full three-story faux Mount Vernon.

The Levittown dream still exists but in much altered form. Skyrocketing real estate prices and some of the highest property taxes in the nation have pushed many out. By 1967 the basic Levitt home was valued at more than twice its original purchase price, and improved houses had almost tripled in value. Then came the go-go real estate climate of the past two decades. Levitt homes originally priced at $7,900 were selling for well over $400,000 by 2007.

Dorothy and Fred Johs, residents since September 1948, often marvel at the changes. Originally “we were all in the same boat, nobody had a lot of money,” said Dorothy, a nurse during World War II who had met her future husband while serving in Europe. “When we moved out here, we used orange crates for end tables until we could afford to buy end tables.” When they purchased the home they had been renting for six years in 1954, a $400 loan from a neighbor gave them just enough for the $1,000 down payment. “It was such a different time,” said Fred. Over the years, the couple has seen most of their old friends and neighbors move away.

Levittown Movers started its business in the 1950s, trucking young couples and their possessions to the suburbs. But these days, the company’s trucks have been headed out of town. “We’re seeing an increase, not only the retirees but also families and younger people, moving to South Jersey, upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Florida,” said company president Sal Randozzo. “They get job offers, and the bottom line, when they do the math, is it’s cheaper to move out, even with no pay increase…to a bigger house,” he said.

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