My Home vs. "No Place Like Home"

I grew up 18 years in the same house on the same street. My neighborhood does not have a community name or CC&Rs (covenants, conditions, and restrictions) like Green Valley in Las Vegas. There were no rules on the size of the mailbox numbers, the number or types of pets one could have, the place of a barbecue, etc. Unlike the Green Valley suburb, there were plenty of grocery stores, fast food restaurants, and shopping centers all around my home. When my parents first bought the home I grew up in they did not pay a "family initiation fee" of $1000 similar to what the residents of Green Valley had to pay.
However, I did not live in the city, and similar to Green Valley all of the houses on my street all looked similar. Each of my neighbors were mainly old married couples whose kids had moved out by the time I reached elementary school. There was no gang activity, unkempt lawns, trash & clutter, wild animals for pets; everyone understood how to be civilized and good neighbors. My neighborhood did not need a community association or CC&Rs to tell us how to keep our homes looking good.