There have been many advertisements for Radburn since its creation in 1929. None is more alluring than a six-minute section of the 1986 PBS television documentary, Pride of Place: Building the American Dream.
Radburn was featured in the fourth episode of the eight-part series, “Suburbs: Arcadia for Everyone.’’
The film footage, shot in summer 1985, makes Radburn look like heaven: lush, green, tranquil. Children walk safely toward school via the tunnel under Howard Avenue; bike along shaded park paths; and dig happily in a Tot Lot sandbox. On the great lawn of B Park, a man plays ball with his kids as a sunbather lounges nearby.
The dreamy effect is enhanced by a floridly romantic musical score by Carl Davis, known for his compositions for TV, such as the British series World at War, and film, including The French Lieutenant's Woman.
The series was written and hosted by Robert A.M. Stern, then beginning his successful career as an architect (with buildings such as the super-luxe 15 Central Park West apartment house) and educator (deanship of the Yale School of Architecture).
The Radburn segment starred some actual Radburn residents.
While filming in B Park, members of the Pride of Place crew approached Amy Korn of 5 Ruskin Place as she dropped off her 4-year-old son Justin at the “Tot Lot” program. They asked Amy if she could help them film. She enthusiastically agreed.
In the film, she’s shown driving her burgundy AMC Pacer along the edge of Radburn’s B superblock (on Plaza Road and Owen Avenue) before turning onto Bristol Place. She parks at the end of the cul-de-sac, gets her 6-year-old son Adam out of the back seat and walks with him toward their “home’’ – (actually 14 Bristol, then the residence of Bob and Pat Dombal).
Adam’s brother Justin appears in a scene at the end of the segment, sliding down a pole on a piece of playground equipment.
Stern, the narrator, is present only in voice-over. While his script is largely laudatory, it notes that Radburn did not turn out as designers Clarence Stein and Henry Wright intended: “The cul-de-sacs were planned as little more than service alleys. But, contrary to plan, they serve as both front yards and backyards.’’ That said, there is no sign of pedestrians on the cul-de-sac – just a noisy garbage truck.
At the end of the segment, Stern addresses “why Radurn’s car-free version of the suburban good life didn’t catch on.’’ He cites two factors. First, Americans “were reluctant to sacrifice large private yards for common (park) ground.’’ Second, they loved their cars too much to hide them away on a cul-de-sac. Instead, he concludes, “they wanted to flaunt them.’’
After the filming, back on Ruskin Place, Amy Korn got a surprise at the front door – a beautiful floral arrangement from the film crew.
She didn’t need any thanks; she, her husband Richard, and their sons loved living in Radburn. But by the time the episode aired in 1986, they were gone. Richard’s employer, JCPenny, had relocated its headquarters – to Texas.
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