520 Cognewaugh
I really liked 520 Cognewaugh Road, $3.495 million. It’s at the top of Cognewaugh, just off of Stanwich, so that difficulty is eliminated, and the house itself sits on three flat, private acres. Fabulous inside, I’m not as keen on its Adirondack look as the current owners, but that is literally just a matter of a paint job. The interior is not all moose heads and stuffed lake trout. Plenty of room, finished basement, pool and pool house. Seems like a lot of house for this price.
12 Horseshoe Rd, $1.8 million, is certainly …ah…something. I liked it – very contemporary, very, very vertical, perhaps best suited for a NYC couple looking for a weekend retreat, but that’s just my guess. Price seems as steep as its stairs, but again, that’s just my opinion. Interesting house that would probably be fun to live in.
31 Owenoke Way
31 Owenoke Way in Riverside, $4.395 million, is as close to generic white bread as you’ll find in Riverside these days. Very well made, very boring, exactly like its compatriots on Bramble, Druid and everywhere else in Riverside. The reason for that cookie-cutter-sameness, of course, is that this is what sells. Buy it and be safe; when you move on, your corporate relocation service will be grateful for the easy resale.
And if, while you do live here, you lose your way at a key party one night, no fears: your friend’s layout will be identical to yours.
For What It's Worth 
I bet Sherwin-Williams is going to rename that color “Riverside Grey”.
I like 520 Cognewaugh, too. However, I think for a property in the $3.5M range, the listing broker should be able to use mixed case and real words in the writeup instead of phrases like BEAUTIFUL KIT STOP. ENSUITE MSTR STOP.
Rick grew up with the telegraph
The outside of Owenoke looks dated to me. Some of the homes on Bramble and Druid have a much better curb appeal. It will be interesting to see if a house bought new at the height of the market has increased since then. I am skeptical – even in Riverside.
Ugh. Center Hall Colonial Spec House Specials are the dearth of Greenwich. Where everything and everyone interesting disappears forever. A kind of Stepford black hole.
So who went to a key party back in the day? How about you GG where you a swinger in good standing ?
good rule of thumb for key parties: no BMW owners
Ummmm, what’s a key party? Am I aging myself, or, hopefully, the opposite?
I’m too young for that stuff, darlin’!
The DEARTH of Greenwich, GG? Better check your dictionary.
Well I have spelled it correctly, so I can only assume you don’t like the way I have used it in a sentence. Dearth meaning something that is lacking and deficient. I don’t think I am wrong – what am I missing here? But perhaps you are correct – explain?
What color trim do you think would undo the adirondack look of 502 Cognewaugh? White might be too much of a contrast to the aged shingles. Gray might make the house look dour.
black
would be baller, very pacific heights-y
Toonces – a key party was an early 70’s invention where couples put their house keys in a bowl and one person pulled out a key to see who’s spouse they would hook up with for that night. You know – Swinging.
See “The Ice Storm.”
I was a wee one in the 70’s but now i am wondering what my parents meant when they got together with their “trust”group. Thanks for the explanation GG. Sounds like Marin county when we left it in 2007.
My parents were of the right age and demographic for that – wouldn’t surprise me one bit if that’s what the cocktail parties morphed into after a certain point (Eeeeewwww).
and ewww, your siblings might be your 1/2 siblings.
The “Key Party” originated in Levittown, NY, in the 1950’s. Levittown was built to provide returning GI’s from WWII, and their loved starved, sex craving little hotties, affordable housing.
All of the houses looked the same, and Levittown was credited with forming the modern day suburbs.
Anyhows, the returning GI’s, with all their stored up testosterone, started banging their wives like Ricky Ricardo banged his bongo, and they started to spit out kids faster than the US Treasury can print and spend money. Hence the start of the Baby Boom.
So anyhows again, in the late 1950’s, the returning war heroes in Levittown were all working blue collar jobs, and now returning EVERY DAY to a house full of annoying little rug rats, in a town where all the houses looked the same. They were bored and in a rut. The only thing that didn’t look the same was the guy down the streets wife. VARIETY!! Remember, there was no internet porn or strip clubs yet, so options were limited.
So every Saturday night, someone hosted a party, they threw their house keys in a bowl when they arrived, all got shit faced, and when the party was over, a wife pulled out a key set, and whatever guy it belonged to went home with her. All in all, a cheap, affordable way to deal with boredom.
I know this because I have cousins from Levittown, and none of them look alike.
you can run, but you can’t hide:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_Storm_(film)
and I always thought that movie was about some failed mountain climbing expedition. Sounds kind of interesting in a perverse way
It was pretty much just ending when Pal Nancy and I returned to town in 1983, but you’re right, GG – definitely a 70s phenomenon, for those who’d been born too early to get in on all that hippy free love stuff they read about in the papers. So they made their own Haight Ashbury, suburban style, replete with double-knits and avocado refrigerators. Glad I missed it.
Dude –
You are 20 years too late. As usual.
Your Pal,
Walt
Key parties were a suburban thing, and you used your car keys, not your house keys. See Ice Storm.
Most people keep their car and house keys together on the same ring. But – hey – you sound like an expert! Do Tell us all about it!
Isn’t just a blast, taking a walk down Memory Lane?
dearth=g.gal’s braincells
Yes, dearth is a word, but “Dearth of Greenwich” makes no sense, GG.
OK – you don’t like the syntax. Explain to me what is wrong with it grammatically?
Nevertheless, What I meant is that Greenwich used to be full of interesting architecture and now is being polluted with uninteresting, boring homes that lack style and interest.
Indeed, “Dearth” is awkward.
Dearth of swingers parties
Gone for the day yesterday, I checked this post today to see so many comments. I thought, gee, my brilliant question of what color to paint the trim of 502 really brought about a conversation. Brother, was I surprised to read about Key Parties and usage of the word dearth. Doesn’t pay to leave FWIW.
gg, i can’t stand this being even a bit unclear anymore so let’s just agree that “dearth” is very often followed by the preposition “of” which takes an object that tells the reader what the author indicates is lacking. so “dearth of greenwich” would somehow mean that there is not enough “greenwich” around, meaning it’s doubly awkward – “greenwich” used as the object of the preposition “of” makes no sense in this case unless you literally want more “greenwich” in the sense of a cultural attitude or increased physical geography (annex part of stamford!) or *something* that could make “greenwich” function in that way, which moreover does not in any way tie to the thought that you are trying to express: MORE KEY PARTIES DESIRED.
but luckily, walt will definitely agree with the sentiment if not the construction
Thanks for the grammar lesson. But I like it anyway –
The “dearth of Greenwich” – it is creative, gimme that!
But as for the key parties – nah. I got more action than I can manage, thank you very much.
and she’s saving herself for Walt.
Rabbit?
foget da keys bring on da sneeze
cause that da shit that gets the white ho’s on their knees
Greenwich gal never admits she is wrong or gives an inch even when she is taking out to the woodshed and given a lesson that proves without a doubt that she is WRONG!
I said I was wrong! Did you not see “thank you” Thurston? Can you not comprehend?
Easy now, children – it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt!
Thurston is a wee bit obnoxious and petty
Be nice, or we won’t invite you to our next key party.
Hoping the key party was an “Ice Storm” reference, though those who read the (great!) book, the layouts of the houses were not the same–and in fact represented some of the fundamental differences in the families (contemporary vs. old drafty Colonial,etc.) A must read for those in FFC. I love Cognewaugh aside from a couple of weird and/or dated finishes and on the assumption that massive garage is rear, not front-facing.
OK – here we go – for the correction!
“Spec Houses represent the DEARTH OF style and substance in Greenwich.”
Everybody happy now? I was wrong!!!!
I’ve read that the dirty little secret of all the DNA testing that now goes on is that this testing proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that something like 16% of children don’t have the biological father they think they do. This is not publicized unless someone really digs and discovers this, or of course if it is a bona fide paternity test.
Maybe as a result of key parties, et al, but while I heard of key parties back in the day, I suspect the numbers of them were greatly exaggerated.
Bravo G-gal! By the way, most of your observations are spot on!
Why, thank you, Thurston – that is quite gentlemanly of you. Or shall I say “sporting?”
I’m thinking my pal thurston was using a little word play in his compliment – “G”-gal, “spot” on???
If that is true – how reprehensible.
There’s a dearth of active Gspots in Greenwich, I’m guessing, what with all the anorexics jogging around.
They don’t jog, they walk. Jogging would fracture their pelvis.
The property of 520 Cognewaugh is stunning; and I actually don’t mind the outside of the house. But I think the interior is pretty dated – small bathrooms / windows / etc. I’m not sure how you could update the interior without breaking the bank; but I am not a builder.
But the property …. wow; beyond beautiful
While the children’s bedrooms are “small” (probably twice the size of 1960s kids bedrooms), part of the missing space has been devoted to separate baths and huge closets. I personally didn’t find the size objectionable and I liked the interior very much but of course, there’s nothing more personal as taste in housing, as we discuss so frequently here.
I agree; I guess i dont understand why it hasn’t sold yet … seems like a dream for someone.
Most of the homes on Owenoke Way are so lovely (probably because they weren’t built recently). That one is just so blah – no character whatsoever. I’m getting so disgusted with the architectural New Jersification of Greenwich!
Your disgust is noted.
But. Not by Today’s Buyer, unfortunately. They all want The Same Thing (ugh).
I heard the old guy across the street feeds cats outside his back yard and has created a RAT problem for his immediate neighbors. I think the house to the left of this one for sale was infested recently…….Wonder why these people are selling?…….Hmmmmmmm??