Right NEast/Wrong NEast: 215mag needs a new name 3
Philly’s got a lot of small-time grassroots publications. We’re completely supportive of that, especially given the entrepreneurial nature of NEast Philly.
But if you’re going to be small and low-budget, you have to least get stuff right. Especially when the name of your magazine in two.one.five.
A post last week on the magazine’s blog featured the grand opening of a motion picture sound studio at Fifth Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Do you see where this is going…?
Yep, two.one.five magazine isn’t very 2-1-5 knowledgeable. How authentic.
Outside media don’t care about the Northeast. We have all seen them misuse, misspell and mistake our neighborhoods and our streets, so we at NEast Philly wanted to do something about it. When they get it wrong, we set it right in a segment we like to call Right NEast/Wrong NEast.
‘Cecile’ B. Moore, heh. I’m so old I remember when it was Columbia Ave.
As far as I’m concerned, it WAS Columbia Avenue when I went to Temple (not THAT long ago), it’s STILL Columbia Avenue and it will always BE Columbia Avenue.
With the original exception of Spring Garden Street, almost all of the major east-west avenues north of Center City were named for other Pennsylvania counties (Columbia, Susquehanna, York, Dauphin, Lehigh, Westmoreland, etc.). I’ve never seen the logic nor necessity in changing well established street names just to bow to some political whim. FYI, almost all the major east west corridors in South Philadelphia were named for early mayors of Philadelphia (Tasker, Morris, Snyder, Porter, Shunk).
I don’t believe, for example, Philly’s adopted son Grover (Washington Jr.) would appreciate his 1981 piece “East River Drive” being renamed “Kelly Drive”.
I have never liked this desire some people in power have nor approved of the practice of renaming existing streets, just to honor or commemorate someone. I still don’t. I never will. It’s one of my pet peeves.
Do it the right way, put up a statue.
And, it’s still “East River Drive” and “Columbia Avenue”. At least to me.
Dad Cat,
Curious what you think of the streets that aren’t technically renamed, but have additional signage. Many North Philly blocks near Temple have small placards beneath the street signs dedicating the block to a specific person. Are these a better solution than renaming the street altogether?