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Pretentious street names

Started by 1995hoo, November 02, 2021, 08:39:00 AM

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Quote from: empirestate on November 02, 2021, 10:09:31 AM
One could also argue that the very use of descriptors like "boulevard" and "avenue" in residential areas around the country is an example of the same thing, as these terms originally would have applied to roads of a much more substantial character.

Originally, an avenue was essentially a long driveway for a fancy country house, usually lined with trees, and almost certainly not a road of "substantial character."
Interstates clinched: 4, 57, 275 (IN-KY-OH), 465 (IN), 640 (TN), 985
State Interstates clinched: I-26 (TN), I-75 (GA), I-75 (KY), I-75 (TN), I-81 (WV), I-95 (NH)


US 89

Quote from: TBKS1 on November 02, 2021, 10:42:56 PM
Put the word "wood" after ANY word and it works. This is really common in a neighborhood of Little Rock next to Cammack Village and just south of Rebsamen Park.

Side note: I love that there are letter-named streets in that neighborhood and then the next one after Z is "Ampersand St". Now if only they spelled it "& St"...

Big John

Quote from: US 89 on November 07, 2021, 08:17:12 PM
Quote from: TBKS1 on November 02, 2021, 10:42:56 PM
Put the word "wood" after ANY word and it works. This is really common in a neighborhood of Little Rock next to Cammack Village and just south of Rebsamen Park.

Side note: I love that there are letter-named streets in that neighborhood and then the next one after Z is "Ampersand St". Now if only they spelled it "& St"...
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ampersand  In old text, & was at the end of the alphabet as a shortcut to "and per se, and" and means "and".  So using old English, it could be And St.

dlsterner

Quote from: US 89 on November 07, 2021, 08:17:12 PM
Quote from: TBKS1 on November 02, 2021, 10:42:56 PM
Put the word "wood" after ANY word and it works. This is really common in a neighborhood of Little Rock next to Cammack Village and just south of Rebsamen Park.

Side note: I love that there are letter-named streets in that neighborhood and then the next one after Z is "Ampersand St". Now if only they spelled it "& St"...

What if they had chosen to use ASCII encoding?  Then the street after "Z Street" would be "[ Street".  Or would that be "Left Bracket Street"?   :spin:

ctkatz

national turnpike in southwest metro louisville/jefferson county, ky is a 5.2 mile 4 and 2 lane surface street that does not leave the county with no tollbooth in sight.

empirestate

Quote from: ctkatz on November 08, 2021, 06:59:39 PM
national turnpike in southwest metro louisville/jefferson county, ky is a 5.2 mile 4 and 2 lane surface street that does not leave the county with no tollbooth in sight.

Was that the case when it was named?

US20IL64

Midlothian Turnpike in town of same name in IL, also is 'free'.

empirestate

Quote from: US20IL64 on November 09, 2021, 11:55:55 AM
Midlothian Turnpike in town of same name in IL, also is 'free'.

Like National Turnpike above, that certainly looks like it could be part of one of the actual early turnpikes. The Northeast is littered with these, but as far as I'm aware, they are not named under the pretense of being turnpikes–they were, in fact, turnpikes.

But there may well be examples somewhere of a road that was named under such a pretense, maybe to give the road the character of an old rural highway of a lost age. Is that the case here?

djsekani

Jean Baptiste Point du Sable Lake Shore Drive

ctkatz

Quote from: empirestate on November 08, 2021, 07:44:55 PM
Quote from: ctkatz on November 08, 2021, 06:59:39 PM
national turnpike in southwest metro louisville/jefferson county, ky is a 5.2 mile 4 and 2 lane surface street that does not leave the county with no tollbooth in sight.

Was that the case when it was named?

to my knowledge, no toll road was ever planned to go through louisville other than the kentucky turnpike which ended up being I 65, nor am I aware of any nationwide singular toll road, although I would argue that from the chicago skyway to the george washington bridge is the country's longest toll road.

gonealookin

I was in Tucson this past weekend.  There may have been something miraculous about the "Miracle Mile" 60-70 years ago, but man does that name need to be retired.  It's still the "Miracle Mile" on the BGS on I-10 though.

lepidopteran

Did anyone mention Pittsburgh's "Boulevard of the Allies"?

empirestate

Quote from: ctkatz on November 09, 2021, 06:24:30 PM
Quote from: empirestate on November 08, 2021, 07:44:55 PM
Quote from: ctkatz on November 08, 2021, 06:59:39 PM
national turnpike in southwest metro louisville/jefferson county, ky is a 5.2 mile 4 and 2 lane surface street that does not leave the county with no tollbooth in sight.

Was that the case when it was named?

to my knowledge, no toll road was ever planned to go through louisville other than the kentucky turnpike which ended up being I 65, nor am I aware of any nationwide singular toll road, although I would argue that from the chicago skyway to the george washington bridge is the country's longest toll road.

Well it appears there was a "National Turnpike Company" that merged with the "Jefferson and Bullitt Turnpike Company" to form the "New National Turnpike Company". I would imagine that's the same toll road reflected in the current name.

At one point they even proposed to build a new spur along Shipp Street and the (then-) Ash Bottom Turnpike.

Scott5114

#63
1995hoo linked to this thread from "Street names that suggest greater aspirations?" and it, combined with a thread from /r/oklahoma, made me think of one: Mount Williams Drive in Norman, OK.

Which, okay, that doesn't sound too pretentious...unless, you know local history. See, Mount Williams is this thing:

Posted to Reddit by /u/ShaylaDoesIt, no idea if they are the photographer or not

It was a mound of dirt created in WWII when Max Westheimer Airport was used for training, and was the backstop to a firing range. The navy guys named it Mount Williams after their commander, as a joking bit of pretentiousness. Later, I-35 happened to be built right next to it, so it became a highly visible local landmark.

Later on, someone wanted to build a Super Target there (is this the first time a target was replaced with a Target?), and so Mount Williams was removed (along with the hundreds of bullets that were found in it). Since it was a local landmark, this was somewhat controversial (the local paper called it a "beloved lump"). So the access road to the Target was called "Mount Williams Drive" after a removed artificially created hill that was never a mountain to begin with. Yeah.
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GaryA

In the Los Angeles area, there's Whitnall Highway (https://maps.app.goo.gl/FfAB3RCyV5TMYcNa7), which is in several pieces, each just a few blocks long.

It was planned as the start of an 1920s proto-expressway that would cross the San Fernando Valley, but very little was ever built.

But the segments that were built still retain that ambitious street name.

Henry

Rockaway Freeway:

Not only is it not a freeway, but nobody in NYC ever calls their limited-access highways that either! (In Chicago, the old-timers don't say freeway either, but the younger ones probably would, especially those born after 1996, the year the Calumet Expressway was renamed to the Bishop Ford Freeway.)
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

kphoger

Quote from: Henry on February 08, 2024, 10:53:30 PM
(In Chicago, the old-timers don't say freeway either, but the younger ones probably would, especially those born after 1996, the year the Calumet Expressway was renamed to the Bishop Ford Freeway.)

I've always heard it called "the Bishop Ford", with no "Freeway" at the end.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
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Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Streetman

Fairfield Boulevard in Wallingford, CT is a quarter-mile long cul-de-sac in an industrial park, likely named to give businesses on it a pretentious address.

Quillz

Well I'll bring over a few from the other thread:

Eagle Mountain Avenue. What it suggests is some kind of mountain highway, or at least something that gains some elevation and goes uphill, maybe it will offer a nice view. What it actually is: a one-block two lane residential street on completely flat ground. There is also nothing named "Eagle Mountain" anywhere close to it.

Templin Highway. Located at the top of the Castaic Grade, the location and name seem like it could be interesting. It even looks interesting, as it winds its way east of Interstate 5. Turns out that's about all it does, as it ends about a mile later. To be fair, this one did have greater plans to be something longer, but it never came to fruition.

Whitnall Highway was already mentioned. Same sort of fate as Templin Highway.

Bear Mountain Boulevard in the southern end of the Central Valley, most notable for being CA-223. Frankly, while this one does at the very least go uphill a bit, I always found the name pretentious. It's hardly a boulevard and the vast majority of it has nothing to do with Bear Mountain.

midwesternroadguy

Princess Jeanne Avenue in Albuquerque.  Apparently named for the developer's daughter. 

formulanone

Quote from: midwesternroadguy on March 19, 2024, 06:32:27 AM
Princess Jeanne Avenue in Albuquerque.  Apparently named for the developer's daughter. 

My daughter would have appreciated the gesture, until she became of driving age.

Quillz

Howard B. Drollinger Memorial Parkway near LAX. The name is longer than the "parkway," which is just a driveway into a shopping center.

Dirt Roads

#72
Quote from: Quillz on March 22, 2024, 05:18:32 PM
Howard B. Drollinger Memorial Parkway near LAX. The name is longer than the "parkway," which is just a driveway into a shopping center.

Reminds me of this one:  James J. Freeland Memorial Drive.  The name is so long that it gets two streetblades on the sign.  In days gone by, this was the ceremonial entrance for the old Daniel Boone Village amusement park, and the street is named for the amusement park's owner.  For much of its' history, this was a secondary entrance for the Shoppes at Daniel Boone (mostly antique shops).  Nowadays, the street is only 311 feet long as nearly all of the former amusement park property was purchased by a real estate developer about 2018.  The one building remaining (vacant) on Freeland Drive was most recently a Mexican restaurant that was forced to relocate to the opposite side of Churton Street (into the old Pizza Hut structure that is located on property still owner by Daniel Boone (now an LLC).  There is, however, one remaining business located on the old amusement park property at the main entrance - Waffle House!



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