You're quite right, there are areas where the "local culture" is far more like what we experienced as "youngsters."  Unfortunately, that subculture has become the exception and not (I'd say far from) the rule.

With physical mobility, the extended family has been scattered across our vast nation.  Most Grandchildren see their Grandparents once or twice a year (after all they may live thousands of miles away) and, on the flip side, most Grandparents get to spend little time with their Grandchildren.  We no longer have a functioning multi-generational lifestyle.  Kids and parents, then, when they "leave home", it usually Kids (young men and women) spending their time with their "age" peers.  Young people don't have the opportunity to both "give and receive" from Grandparents.  Those who do are the fortunate exceptions.  

The larger our metropolitan areas become and the further removed young people become from their families, the less we see of that important intergenerational contact