January 24, 2001

Kevin Gogan boulevard? Why not!

What does a tropical tree, the Palmetto, have to do with this even tempered and cool city? Why is the street that parallels the east side of the Cabrillo Highway in Rockaway Beach called Harvey? Why is that street on Pedro Point called Danmann Ave.?

I don't know why there's a Palmetto. My guess is that if I knew the answer, I'd think it was pretty dumb. Harvey way? Named after J. Downey Harvey, the wealthy San Francisco entrepreneur who persuaded other wealthy San Franciscans that the world needed another railroad. That little fiasco called the Ocean Shore Railway cost J.D., his friend J.A. Folger of coffee fame, and a number of their friends a lot of cash. And Folger didn't even get a street named after him.

Danmann, of course, was what they renamed Pacific Ave. on Pedro Point when they had to delete all but one of our Pacific Avenues in 1959. Ernst Danmann, who lived well into his 90's, moved to the Point about 1879. He finally left the hard way in 1954, having lived there through the artichoke era, the railroad, four wars, the first telephones, the first local surfers, and prohibition.

Like the tract houses themselves, the street names in Linda Mar were mass produced. Somebody went to a history book and came up with Crespi, Palou, Serra, and Anza, all Spanish priests and/or explorers of early California. Many of the other streets have a Spanish flavor, but I would have to guess, were actually named by someone whose Spanish was limited. That's why we have Linda Mar, not Mar Linda. Barcelona, Lerida, Tapis Way, Oviedo, Seville, Balboa, Arguello, Escalero, Corona, De Solo, and Galvez reflect, I think, a desire to mirror the local Spanish, and especially the Catalan, connection from our early history.

Streets in what was subdivided as Salada Beach were named after California cities. That explains San Jose, Santa Rosa, Santa Maria, Carmel, Vallejo and San Pablo Terraces. Paloma means dove, but why it was used I have no idea. Perhaps you can tell me. Paseito Terrace, Mirador, and a few other streets in East Sharp Park are mysteries to me. Francisco Boulevard was partly San Francisco Boulevard in its Salada Beach days, continuing as Francisco Way in the Brighton Beach subdivision. It certainly makes more sense to have one name for one street.

No one asked my opinion, but the planned names of the planned development originally called Westmont and now known as Fairmont strike me as pretty banal. Coral Ridge, Crestmoor Circle, Gateway, Eastridge, Imperial, Andover, and Beachview might as well have been named Dull, Duller and Dullest Boulevards. It's probably too late to rename every street in Fairmont, but you might want to name one of them Kevin Gogan Blvd., then rename some of the others after Joe Montana, Y.A. Tittle, Bob St. Clair, Dwight Clark, Jerry Rice and Steve Young.

While we're renaming streets, we could eliminate a boring appellation like Rosita Road and make it Keith Hernandez Boulevard. Some of our other streets might take the names of other major leaguers, like Bob McClure, who grew up in the early days of Pacifica.

Paul Azevedo has a new e mail address, thereactor@earthlink.net, and a new website listing, http://home.earthlink.net/~thereactor/