Sher's Drivel

Where the Streets Have Names.

I've noticed that the Germans have a tendency to name streets after historical figures. Where we are currently in Mannheim, there's Bach Strasse, Franz Liszt Strasse [composers, natch], Albrecht Dürer Strasse [artist], ...

American street names are boring. Main Street. Broad Street. First Street. Second Avenue. Or they are named after the developer's kids: Amy Street. Julia Drive. Bleh. Worst case is some developer that used to take acid and thinks he's some kind of Ginsberg -- Blue Stars Way and crap like that. Some neighborhoods near where I lived in Columbia, Maryland went a little extravagant [read: apeshit] and named entire developments after the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (Hobbit's Glenn) or the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes (Dorsey's Search) [more about Columbia street names].

We currently live on Otto Beck Strasse. A fine question. I don't fucking know either. I've been researching that very question since I moved here. I can't find jack about him. So, the next best thing is to improvise the truth. In other words, make shit up that sounds interesting.

Christian thinks he used to be mayor of Mannheim. Y-A-W-N. I say Otto Beck founded the Beck's beer empire. Yep, we live in party central. Cheers, matey!

We're moving to Lessingstrasse. Apparently Lessing was a famous conehead. Look at that noggin! It's huge! It's like a planetoid! [Name that film for extra credit]. Evidently , Lessing also was a famous author in the 1700's who wrote "Nathan the Wise". I've picked up a copy of it [in English] and I'm going to read it to see if Nathan was so wise because he had a big old head like Gotthold Lessing.

I can't. Get over. The size. Of his head! Can you take your eyes off it?

Seriously!

Here is the story about Otto Beck… for those that are interested… and in German of course…

Source: http://www.friedhof-mannheim.de/srvgros.html

Beck, Otto
Grab-Nr. 161

(Ehrengrab) Dr. h.c., 1846 - 1908 * Krautheim. Amtmann in Baden-Baden, Oberamtmann in Raststatt, 1891 erster beamteter Oberb?eister Mannheims, das unter ihm mit der Eingemeindung von Kaefertal, Waldhof, Neckarau, Anstieg der Einwohnerzahl von 80 000 auf 181 000 zur Grossstadt wurde. Industrie- und Rheinauhafen, Rangierbahnhof entstanden, Rosengarten und Friedrichsplatz. Oft zitiert sind seine Worte 1903 bei der Eroeffnung des Nibelungensaals: “Wer der Gemeinde dienst, hat einen schlimmen Herrn!”. BBC und weitere Firmen wurden angesiedelt. Beck rief anlaesslich des 300. Stadtjubilaeums 1907 zur Internationalen Kunst- und Gartenbauausstellung auf, die 4,6 Millionen Besucher zaehlte, mit Ueberschuss schloss. Ehrendoktor der Uni Heidelberg. Beim Vorbereiten der Eroeffnung der Handelshochschule ereilte ihn zuhause am Schreibtisch der Herztod. ( Amalie von Raouloff 1859 - 1937. Otto-Beck-Strasse in der Oststadt.

Zwei Soehne:
Beck, Karl
Grab-Nr. 161

1880 - 1942 * Bonndorf. Professor und Direktor der Klinik fuer Ohren-, Nasen- und Kehlkopfkranke der Universitaet Heidelberg.

Beck, Woldemar
Grab-Nr. 161

1886 - 1943. Direktor der Suedeutschen Disconto-Gesellschaft, der spaeteren Deutschen Bank, zuletzt in Kaiserslautern.

Damn it. I hate it when Christian’s right. Thanks for spoiling my fun, Iris. Pbbbbbbbhhhhtttt…

Hey, don’t knock Hobbit’s Glen until you’ve tried it!  I grew up there, and was a HUGE fan of the books.  Imagine my delight to put two and two together when I found that there were books that referenced my neighborhood!

The realtor page about Columbia was interesting - I guess that I knew a lot of it already, but it’s been a while.  I AM surprised that River Hill is still considered “Columbia” (think: “Clarksville"), and I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek reference to it’s FABULOUS hardware store (Kendall’s - the mom n’ pop hardware store that beat down big-box Ace Hardware that’d opened up right next door as River Hill was starting to develop).

Ah.  Good times.

I had a fun time in New England this past December - seeing all the places Columbia named its streets after.  What was nice was going to Longfellow’s Wayside Inn.  Of course I know like all the Longfellow poems (by title at least) because I grew up in Longfellow.  Unfortunately, I never made it to Mad River Glen in Vermont - I wanted to go there because I grew up on Mad River Lane, see. 

Thank god I didn’t grow up on Iron Pen Place (which Mad River Lane forked off of) - I remember someone cutting out an “I” and “S” and affixing it to the sign.  oh, much hilarity ensued as one by one we walked past the sign to our bus stop on Hesperus.  Iron Penis Place, indeed

(and HELL NO I wouldn’t move back to Columbia.  I actually have nightmares about going there and being in Wilde Lake and having it be SOOOOOOOOOOO DIFFERENT that I get lost blah blah blah blah but actually who CAN’T get lost in Columbia?)

Sounds like “So I Married an Axe Murderer”, the 1993 Mike Myers vehicle.  http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0108174/

“Head!  Pants!”

“Look at the cranium on that boy!  No freakin’ way he lives in Hobbit’s Glen!”

Name that movie:  So I Married an Axe Murderer.

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