ANDERSON — Tucked into Anderson’s east side, near the intersection of Scatterfield and Mounds roads sits Hollywood Estates mobile home park, and dissecting it is, of course, tree-lined Hollywood Boulevard.

“It’s a lot nicer than a lot of the others,” said John Collings, 80, of the single-wide home he shares with his wife, Patricia. “It’s more like a little home than it is a trailer.”

The Collingses have called Hollywood Boulevard home for nearly 20 years. The couple sold their Elma Street home, off Lindberg Road, when John retired as a printer from Warner Press after working there for 45 years.

With aspirations of travel, they bought the mobile home and a travel trailer and off they went. Florida, Arizona, Texas and points in between. Each winter, not long after Christmas, they’d hitch up their travel trailer and be away from Indiana for about two months.

“We wanted to travel and be snowbirds,” John said. “But now, at 80, and with the gas (prices), we like to stay in Indiana.”

He said with as much travel as they planned doing, it made sense to buy a mobile home.

“It was better to (travel) from here than a (traditional) home,” John said. “We enjoy it, really. I think it’s great for us. I don’t think some people would like it.”

Tracy Benson, Hollywood Estates manager, said there are 242 sites in the community. Like the Collingses, there are many longtime residents.

Arnold and Mary McDuffee have lived on Hollywood Boulevard a few homes away from the Collingses for about 20 years. Arnold, 75, said the couple moved from Markleville so he could be closer to his work at Delco. He retired from General Motors after working for the company for 43 years.

“It’s OK,” Arnold said of the community. “It’s not like it was when we first moved in — us old people. Now we have a bunch of young kids.”

In his years of living along Hollywood Boulevard, John Collings had a similar sentiment.

“It’s just changed with time,” he said. “I still like it. I still like to get out and walk in the morning and evening. It’s OK.”

Contact Shawn McGrath: 640-4883, shawn.mcgrath@heraldbulletin.com