Pull up your childhood home and go back in time. Here’s how.

March 20, 2026

By Kim Komando

Here’s where I was raised from birth to 12 years old. 111 Washington Avenue, South Amboy, New Jersey. I still remember my phone number. Crazy, uh?

I was 9 when I knocked out my front tooth on a swing set in a nearby park. There was also the day I made the very bad decision to throw a snowball at a passing police car that had its windows open. I hit the officer, square in the side of the head. I do not recommend this approach to making friends with local law enforcement.

If you haven’t looked back at your childhood home yet, stop what you’re doing.

🗺️ Start here

Open Google Maps, type your old address, click into Street View, then look for the clock icon in the upper left. Hit it. Drag the slider back. 

Google’s been photographing streets since 2007. You might find your old fence. The tree you used to climb. In 2024, people started finding deceased loved ones in old Street View photos, frozen snapshots from their lifetime. Someone’s late father, when he was still mowing the lawn.

🏠 Zillow has something nobody talks about

Go to Zillow.com, type in your old address. 

Every time that house sold, there’s a good chance the listing had interior photos. Your old kitchen. Your bedroom. The bathroom with the ugly wallpaper you forgot existed.

✈️ See it from above, back to the 1940s

Skip Google Earth. Go to HistoricAerials.com instead. Click the yellow Start viewing button on the home page. Enter your address, then click Aerials on the left. 

It’s free and pulls satellite and aerial photos going back to 1940 in most of the U.S. You can watch your neighborhood get built from scratch. It’s wild.

📰 Your street in the news 

Go to Newspapers.com and start a free trial. Search your name, street name plus your childhood years. Local crime reports, community announcements, school events, business openings. 

Your neighborhood had a life documented in print that nobody’s read since it was published. Your family might be in there. Mine was.

🤖 Now add AI and make something

Upload a screenshot of your childhood home to your favorite AI chatbot and try this:

“Write a short letter to my younger self standing in front of this house, knowing everything you know now about me.” 

Here’s a link to mine that Claude wrote. I cried. 

📩 Send this to someone whom you’d love to do these steps, too. You know who that is. Use the handy icons below, or forward this entire newsletter to them. Side effects may include gasping at old fences and texting your siblings immediately.