What’s In A Name?

August 1, 2023

Writing about Susan’s activism and the important issues she felt passionate about made me realize how shallow I was at her age. The renaming of 6th Avenue is an example.

What’s In A Street Name?

In the mid-1930s, New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia—that’s right, Dale and Chloe, the airport, and the performing arts high school are named after him—decided to tear down the 6th Avenue El and rename the street Avenue of the Americas. He said this would reflect the importance of New York City on the international scene.

Hogwash. The phrase ‘follow the money’ is apt here. Real estate investors figured they could make far more money from skyscrapers than those dingy, dirty, noisy five-story loft buildings and tenements.

The street was officially renamed Avenue of the Americas in 1945. New Yorkers hated it and refused to use the new name as their addresses. When I moved to the city in 1954 they were still protesting. Light poles where new street signs had been attached were doused with gasoline and set on fire. Huge street demonstrations made mid-town traffic a mess. I lived in a furnished room just off 6th Avenue, and all the goings on looked like fun. Maybe I could meet girls. I made a sign and joined the mob.

A brilliant solution was suggested by a truck driver for the Department of Traffic. “Use both names.”

And that’s what you see today when you look up at a street sign.

Other Frivolous Demonstrations: Mangos

My favorite section of New York Magazine was Talk Of The Town. It was filled with newsy tidbits that made me feel like I belonged in the big city, rather than a hayseed from the arid Sacramento Valley.

But some items were just plain weird, like this one:

‘Observed on the Jericho Turnpike, a lawn sign reading, ‘Help Stamp Out Mangos.’ Similar signs have been seen in other parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties.’

I wondered at the time how someone could work up so much angst over mangos that they’d spend money on signs and gasoline, and take the time to drive all over Long Island.

Go figure.

The Oxford Comma

Here’s an important controversy we can jump on right now. I was taught in English class that when listing nouns in a sentence, separate each with a comma, EXCEPT the last one, where you must use an ‘and’ or an ‘or.’ A comma was unnecessary; the conjunction sufficed.

Then along came a big conference of academics—guess where it was held—and they decided that a comma is needed after the penultimate—next to last—noun.

Balderdash! What was good enough for Shakespeare is good enough for me. Who wants to join me in this important fight. Our war cry can be:

‘Help Stamp Out Redundant Commas!’

Catchy, isn’t it?

Patrick/Poppa/Whatever