Returning To The City: The Older End Of The Bookend Generation

"Like thousands before him, Jim O'Brien succumbed to the lure of suburban flight. Unlike most of the others, however, he fled not to the suburbs, but from them. For a decade, the Brooklyn-born O'Brien enjoyed a comfortable life on the Main Line, living first in Devon and later in Bryn Mawr. He owned an optical store at the King of Prussia mall. He drove into the city for cultural and social events, then drove back out again. But when he sold his business and retired with a tidy nest-egg in 1992, he pulled up his suburban roots without a second thought and moved into Center City. His two children were grown; his marriage had ended years earlier. The prospect of growing old alone in the often isolating suburbs was not the golden sunset he had in mind. A dozen years later, he hasn't looked back once."