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What's in a Street Name?

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This afternoon we're taking a look at street names. We used to live on Clinton Street. It would make us belt out ...music on Clinton Street all through the evening... every time we listened to the Leonard Cohen song, even though our Clinton Street wasn't the Clinton Street...

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We have relatives who live on Via Del Viento. Are you seeing palm trees? Well, you're right, they live in a region with palm trees and lots of terra cotta. Now, some suburban street names are a little misleading, like Oak Ridge Way in a treeless neighborhood. Check out this Street Name Generator for a little street naming fun, subdivision-style.

What's your street name and are there associations you have with it? Pride, embarrassment, boredom, nothing at all? Let's hear about it.

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Comments (47)

Flatbush Avenue! It gives me a little "street cred" even though we live in a nicer area than the actual neighborhood of Flatbush. Its also a very busy, major thoroughfare so cabs and delivery guys never have a problem finding it :)

Our last apartment was on Maple Street. Definitely nicer sounding but a little out of place in Brooklyn!

posted by suziegoombs on 2008-01-25 15:06:34
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In my first year of college, while everyone was referring to their dorm name or floor number, my roommate and I lovingly called our (first) apartment Langley, as we lived in Langley Circle. It was a cute circle of apartment buildings, all facing the middle which was a grassy area where all the kids in the circle would play. It was such a cute, quaint place, a great first apartment experience. Oh, Langley.

posted by emmysb on 2008-01-25 15:07:31
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In Indianapolis, I lived on the corner of East North St. and North East St. Confusion and hilarity ensued.

posted by visualingual on 2008-01-25 15:07:37
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That is funny. I work for a civil engineer and a lot of the times clients will ask us to name the streets in their subdivisions. So we'll pick some theme (or they will give us one) and we'll just go from there. It's actually a lot of fun. We've done themes like beaches, various beaches, rivers, soccer teams, etc.

posted by alyssazor on 2008-01-25 15:08:55
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I live on Gordon Steet.

posted by gordon on 2008-01-25 15:08:57
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I'm not making that up!

posted by gordon on 2008-01-25 15:09:15
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Here's something fun to look at.

It's a google map of Santa Claus, Indiana.

Zoom in and look at the names of the larger landmarks.

Then, zoom in on the subdivisions and street names.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Santa Claus, IN, United States of America&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

posted by art on 2008-01-25 15:20:13
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I'm on Supreme Ave and it's in a very historical neighborhood that seen better days. Love my street and neighborhood, but there's nothing supreme about it.

posted by chairgal on 2008-01-25 15:21:10
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Mansion Street

and it has some really great old homes on it complete with widow's walks.

posted by I Love Upstate on 2008-01-25 15:22:37
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Drats!

The link is for Santa, ID.

Here's the correct link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Santa Claus, IN, United States of America&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

posted by art on 2008-01-25 15:22:43
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Dammit!

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

posted by art on 2008-01-25 15:24:43
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I like themed street names! I used to live in a section of homes in southern california that had hawaiian names and I thought they were quite apt since we were kind of near the beach.

Plus from a logistics perspective, it helps if there is a theme because then you could orient someone by saying "oh i live near the section of streets named after cars" and they would go "ahhh i know exactly where that is"

posted by theninthcloud on 2008-01-25 15:30:05
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My street names have been unremarkable, but I once had to go to a party on "Avenue Road" in Toronto. I looked at the inviation and thought it was a misprint -- like the printer forgot to enter the real street name and it came out that way. People there say it there like it's no big deal -- Avenue Road, duh!

posted by robyn on 2008-01-25 15:32:11
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visualingual, that must have been annoying to explain to all of your visitors. Reminds me of when Seinfeld's Kramer was lost in NYC at the intersection of 1st Ave & 1st St and the called it "the nexus of the universe"

posted by robyn on 2008-01-25 15:35:34
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suziegoombs, i'm not far from flatbush ave at all, but down by brooklyn college. i'm on coney island ave...love the name, love the named neighborhood, hate the actual street ;) my area blows...i'm literally out in the middle of nowhere... hence, "midwood". grr.

posted by kdkaboom on 2008-01-25 15:39:13
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I'm on 7th Avenue... but can't think of a song that goes with it. Joni Mitchell's first NYC apartment was up a couple of blocks from me, so I do find myself humming "Chelsea Morning" sometimes when the weather is nice.

Okay, am I the only one who sings Sheryl Crow's "All I Wanna Do" when driving down Santa Monica Boulevard?

posted by hejiranyc on 2008-01-25 15:43:04
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Thank God I don't live on either of these streets, but Denver has a Hooker Ave., and Jackass Hill Rd.

posted by dmstudio on 2008-01-25 15:47:00
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My first apartment was on Summit Ave but don't let that fool you as there was one apartment building, mine and a house next door and another apartment building, or rather 2-3 identical buildings on the cross street to my south and they all had more or less seen better days, across the street was a private school and to my north on the other corner and corss street stood a printing press and across my street from them was a retail store.

For 6 years I lived on Roy St in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood (south slope) that was right at the foot of the hill and it was an east/west street w/ all kinds of residential, both multi family and single family homes, it was lovely and peaceful even if we were blocks from busy streets and 10 minutes or so from downtown.

Now I live on the corner of Melrose and Thomas, also in Seattle but I oversee the freeway and the Eastlake neighborhood and my old 'hood off in the distance. it's the most high dense neighborhood I've lived in yet and I love it and would not trade it for anything else at this time. :-)

posted by ciddyguy on 2008-01-25 15:50:02
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In downtown Montreal, many of the residential streets are named after saints. I've lived on St-Marc, St-Antoine, St-Urbain and St-Dominique (but also Prince-Arthur and Jeanne-Mance). And to prevent English-French confusion, most people just use the street's name, without the Rd, St, Ave or Blvd designation.

posted by Michelle of Montreal on 2008-01-25 15:56:37
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I love themed street names! The neighborhood my mother grew up in had streets named for poets. The street I grew up on was Rustic Drive... definitely not rustic since it was smack in the middle of a 150-house development!

kdkaboom - Our cross street on Flatbush is Midwood Street! My boyfriend goes to brooklyn college so we're down that way a lot. I don't mind living on Flatbush (quick access to groccery/pizza/chinese) but thank goodness our apartment is at the back of a very large building. That street is noisy at all hours of the day. Instead, we just hear the Q train :P

posted by suziegoombs on 2008-01-25 16:07:57
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A friend of mine just moved to Inwood and we get a lot of laughs walking by the intersection of Seaman Avenue & Cumming Street.

I also like the streets in Greenpoint that are in alpabetical order, but don't seem to be at all related.

posted by Marie on 2008-01-25 16:16:03
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Our neighborhood is rather uncreative, although accurate... we're on Mountain Terrace, which is off Mountain Street, and adjacent to Mountain View Road (home of Mountain Greens Market).

posted by SisterRae on 2008-01-25 16:16:35
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I grew up on Wavecrest street in Staten Island, a block away from the beach--it was a dreamy childhood.

I moved from there when I was 8. It's been all down-hill from there.

posted by grayinnyc on 2008-01-25 16:22:08
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Random bonus -- exit 69 on I-75 in metro Detroit is Big Beaver Road.

posted by visualingual on 2008-01-25 16:26:56
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I grew up on Guernseytown Road, which was then... yep, you guessed it cow country.

A street in one of the new McMansion subdivisions in the neighborhood is named "Bayview Terrace" even though we're nowhere near the water.

You've just learned everything you need to know to imagine my thoughts about my hometown.

posted by Doug on 2008-01-25 16:38:25
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There's a park in Saskatoon on the corner of Rusholme Rd and P Ave. My dream is to one day live on the corner of Rusholme and P!

posted by mgn on 2008-01-25 16:45:45
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I live on Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn. It took me a long time to finally get a straight answer from someone on how to pronounce it (I believe it's "Skermerhorn"). Damn Dutch and their confusing pronunciations.

posted by bumfuzzled on 2008-01-25 16:46:58
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I live on Broadway, which is a contender for the most famous street in America, if not the world. Who wouldn't like that?

bumfuzzled, I love Schmermerhorn Street; used to live on Kane St., not far from you. I guess I never heard anyone pronounce it, I always thought it was pronounced just how it's written, with a silent 'C'.

posted by greer on 2008-01-25 16:59:30
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Near San Francisco, on San Bruno Mountain, there's a housing development that was built on and destroyed the habitat of an endangered butterfly named Mission Blue. Unfortunately, the dimwitted developers decided to name the main street through the development Mission Blue Drive. I've always thought "Oblivious Capitalists Road" would be more suited.

posted by SFGail on 2008-01-25 17:25:52
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Growing up in California I lived on the corner of 65th Street and California Ave and on the Corner of 45th Way and California Ave....So I always lived off of California in California.

When I grew up and moved to Boston, I've had some unremarkable street names but recently moved from a Saint Rose Street, which aparently no one knew where it was including the delivery guys. However, my favorite street name was Dalrymple, a tiny one-way in JP. I always wondered why it was named Dalrymple. Sounds like some old-time candy or ice cream sundae to me... mmm, i kinda want a Dalrymple sundae right now

posted by BrookeinBoston on 2008-01-25 17:27:14
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2 things.

I recently moved to just off the Delancey "F" train stop here in New York, and UK friends visiting my new digs for the first time last week kept singing on the subway, "it's fancy on Delancey"...

Growing up I lived in a suburban community with streets all named for artists; mine was "Goya Drive," which my stepmother told me to look up before my first day of school in case (as in her own childhood) I was asked by a teacher what my street's name meant. So opening the huge "Goya" art book from my parent's collection and flipping randomly, I was overwhelmed by the powerful war images I kept finding, and totally traumatized I couldn't look at his work again until college when I realized he did more than just those scary pictures. I always lamented, "why couldn't we live around the corner on Mary Cassett Drive"??

posted by Elizabeth II on 2008-01-25 17:53:37
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The street I live on now isn't anything great or special... and it's a main street... very blah. I used to live on Vinton, which was always fun to say... Vinton. :)

In college back east, I lived on Fleet Street, which was also fun to say, but we usually referred to our place as 28 28... 28 Fleet St., Apt. 28.

posted by sparkle on 2008-01-25 18:03:22
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In the past, I've lived on Rose Avenue twice in two different cities and just barely missed living on Ellis Street twice in two different cities.

posted by wende in phoenix on 2008-01-25 18:52:29
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"A friend of mine just moved to Inwood and we get a lot of laughs walking by the intersection of Seaman Avenue & Cumming Street."

Marie, I'm glad you said that. I used to live in that neighborhood, and couldn't suppress the giggling.
And Dyckman is nearby, so the dirty jokes just pile up...

Alas, Queens is mostly numbers. Easier to find an address, less entertaining names.

posted by sandyliz on 2008-01-25 19:39:32
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OMG! I love this. My family resides on Pleasant Way :)

posted by luvdecor on 2008-01-25 19:49:56
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I live on Lovejoy (in Portland)---part of the "Alphabet District," which makes getting from Burnside to Wilson a breeze. But my favorite addresses were on Alcatraz and subsequently Uranus (respectively, in Berkeley and San Francisco)...both of those elicited jokes and theories from taxi drivers, delivery folks, and friends.

posted by krister on 2008-01-25 21:21:09
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Cypress Loop, with a lovely tree in my backyard, but not a Cypress.

posted by Squeegee Beckenheim on 2008-01-25 21:33:56
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By accident or cosmic design, I've almost always lived on streets with tree associated names. Park Avenue in Manhattan. Park Place (near Flatbush) in Brooklyn. Maple Lane and Juniper Lane in Woodstock NY. Spruce Street and Pine Street in Burlington, VT.

The most confusing address I've had was the corner of West 4th Street and West 11th Street in Manhattan. Great block, though.

posted by liza from VT on 2008-01-26 09:10:25
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I love the corner of 3rd and Person in Memphis... I wish I lived there!

posted by venndiagram on 2008-01-26 13:05:35
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Twice I've lived on streets named Ridge Road. Complete coincidence, but I loved it. Also, i loved my neighborhood when I lived in Wimbledon ... the streets were all named after authors - Chaucer, Shelley Way ... I lived on Pope Close.

posted by ridge_van_winkle on 2008-01-26 20:54:13
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Oh, and I just remembered that we were on Q Street back when i lived in Sacramento. Which for a life-long James Bond addict, that was pretty great.

posted by ridge_van_winkle on 2008-01-26 20:58:27
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Robyn - I grew up in Toronto and didn't even realise that Avenue Road was an odd name until I read your post!

Marie - my friend used to live at that intersection in Inwood too. We definitely got a lot of laughs out of that one!

Michelle - when I lived in Montreal, my favourite "Saint" street was Sainte Catherine because we all called it Saint Cat's.

I live on a numbered street in Brooklyn. Not too interesting, except for when cabs don't hear me say "Brooklyn" and start to drive me to Midtown instead of way down in Brooklyn.

posted by CanadianOlive on 2008-01-27 01:20:24
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My parents live on Council Bluff Dr. Growing up, I always complained to my parents that they should have bought a house on the next street over. It would've been much more awesome to live at Destiny's Gate.

posted by n3rdsupreme on 2008-01-27 04:47:44
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I once stayed in a B&B called "Five mile view" - it looked out on a load of houses along "five mile drive" - not the view that I'd expected!!!

posted by Violetsrose on 2008-01-28 08:19:02
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A neighborhood back home in Richmond has streets named for plants and trees, and they run alphabetically. An aunt lives on Ivy, friends on Rose & Daisy... I now live on the boring "East Circle Ave."

posted by sarahduckie on 2008-01-28 08:56:47
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I live on Elm, and have to endure delivery people and everyone asking "Ha ha, like Nightmare on..." every time I give out my address. I feel a little bad that I haven't even seen it.

Suzie, I love poet streets! When I lived in Topanga Canyon in LA, our neighborhood was poet streets. We lived on Voltaire.

Military bases have the best names, though - the street I lived on almost all my childhood was Starfire, though some less-fortunate friends lived on Uranus.

It certainly makes for interesting "Porn Star Names" - name of your first pet first street you lived on - I'm Happy Starfire, I don't know if I'll ever get top billing with a name like that though.

posted by melanie on 2008-01-28 13:11:59
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that's ok, malanie..."teen topanga" is an actual porn site.

--gordon
gordon street

posted by gordon on 2008-01-28 15:48:50
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