Bars on Windows (Memphis, Midtown: house, place to live, garden)

[Capgras]

Recently returned from a trip to Memphis and I must say I was very impressed with what I saw. Not at all the horror story some of the posts on this forum made it out to be. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to say that Memphis is the Garden of Eden, but certainly not the cesspool of urban culture I was expecting to see. I know it is early days for my love affair with the River City to start picking out china, but from what I have seen so far, Memphis seems like a decent place to live.

Having said that, I do have one question for you Midtown folks. During my 4 days in Memphis I was blown away by the beauty of Midtown. Both the area and the homes were very impressive. Despite the obvious affluence and tranquility of some areas of Midtown, I could not help but notice the security bars on the windows. The use of the bars seemed to be fairly pervasive. My question is this, are the bars a symbol of the generalized fear local folks have toward being burglarized (i.e. for lack of a better word...paranoia), or are the bars a response to being the victim of a burglary and an attempt to prevent a reoccurance?? (i.e "rob me once, shame on you, rob me twice...")

If any of you actually live in Midtown and have bars on your windows I would appreciate your comments. On my visit I definitely got a sense of the "hit-or-miss" quality of Midtown. Some of the areas the bars seemed appropriate, in others, out of place. What is really going on in Midtown?

[JoeCartpath]

You usually see those in older homes, but rarely see them in the newer areas. They were pretty popular in the 50s and 60s....before affordable home security systems became commonplace.

The problem with the old ones is that although they help keep the bad guys out, they also keep YOU inside the house in a fire! Newer ones have a way to release them from inside, but there are still lots of them out there that are firmly attached to the window framing. If I bought a house with window bars, removing them would be the first thing I'd do...

[Pearlbob]

Ditto. The bars were put on years ago, back when it was popular and before security alarms were around. It's close to impossible to take the bars off without ruining part of the window and the house, so people leave them on. Often you'll see that people took the bars off one window in each room, for fire safety. It's just a headache to do, however.

Originally Posted by JoeCartpath

You usually see those in older homes, but rarely see them in the newer areas. They were pretty popular in the 50s and 60s....before affordable home security systems became commonplace.

The problem with the old ones is that although they help keep the bad guys out, they also keep YOU inside the house in a fire! Newer ones have a way to release them from inside, but there are still lots of them out there that are firmly attached to the window framing. If I bought a house with window bars, removing them would be the first thing I'd do...

[bjh]

I'm glad you enjoyed the beauty of Memphis.