Rye Brook = Stepford? (Mamaroneck, Ridge, Pelham: middle-class, renting, house)

[calicazza]

We recently moved to Mamaroneck and are renting while we house hunt. While we have focused most of our search on Mamaroneck and Pelham, a couple of Rye Brook possibilities recently popped up. While the Blind Brook School District seems stellar, I'm curious about the flavor of the town.

I read a little blurb on the neighborhood in Westchester magazine (see below) and it sounds idyllic -- but is it perhaps a bit Stepford-like? Can anyone offer any insight into the town's culture?

Thanks!

"Life in Rye Brook, known for its excellent, private school-like educational system (its high school typically graduates fewer than 100 students) revolves around the kids, their activities, and the schools, starting with the Ridge Street Country School, a private nursery school and camp located here. The town is especially tightly knit and those who live here boast of knowing that they can really count on their friends and neighbors for anything from the proverbial cup of sugar to a last-second lift home from softball practice.

You’ll find tidy split-levels and Colonials on neat, manicured lawns located on quiet streets that attract kids on bikes, teens shooting hoops in driveways, and moms power-walking through the neighborhood, as well as some town homes and cluster housing. And while there is no downtown center, per se, in Rye Brook, three active strip shopping centers, including the fashion- and kid-centric Rye Ridge Shopping Center, serve as informal spots for congregating and catching up with one’s neighbors."

[manyroads]

Having never seen either the original or the 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives, I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you ask if Rye Brook is "Stepford-like". Rye Brook is a lot like many Westchester communities: full of upwardly mobile professionals all trying to get ahead and keep up with the Joneses by making improvements to their homes, driving luxury cars (BMW, Audi, Infiniti, Lexus, etc), going on ski trips in the winter and vacationing outside the US. It is almost unheard of in Rye Brook for someone to not go to college after graduation from high school.

If you're looking for diversity, racial or ethnic, you will not find much in Rye Brook. It is predominantly White, upper middle-class, with a fairly large Jewish population. When I was attending school there back in the 70s, we literally had one black family and one Asian family in the entire school system (no Hispanics or Latinos). I doubt that the numbers have increased significantly over the years.

As for whether Rye Brook is tightly knit, I guess that really depends on the individual and his or her particular neighbors. I think it's hard to make a broad statement about the friendliness or closeness that exists in an entire town.

As Westchester magazine pointed out, there is (unfortunately) no real downtown area in Rye Brook, and certainly no place where you could walk around from store to store, other than within one of the three shopping areas all located on South Ridge Street. There used to be a movie theatre in the Rye Ridge Shopping Center, but it closed several years ago. There are tennis courts in some of the town parks, and softball fields as well. Some residents choose to belong to private country clubs in the area, such as the Coveleigh Club or the Shenorock Shore Club in nearby Rye for additional recreational opportunities.

I hope that helps answer your question somewhat.