Street names a good way to save history
Street names a good way to save history
By: Bill Mead
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Posted by editor Mon Dec 4, 2006 18:52:19 PST
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0 responses 0 comments My former business partner Dick Johnson sent me an email the other day with a great idea for preserving the heritage of Tehachapi. Dick and his brother Warren took me in as a partner in the Tehachapi News 30 years ago. Don't let that tarnish your view of Dick because to my knowledge that's the only really bad move he ever made.
Dick's message to me had to do with a story that Grant Sullivan and I concocted a few months ago about street names in the Tehachapi area. Dick suggested that we ought to use street names to preserve the names of real people who contributed something to our community. He noted that we have done that to some extent already, with Dennison Road, Jacobsen Court, Pellisier Road in Cummings Valley (which I'm told is a misspelling of the family name it's supposed to honor) and other streets named for local worthies. I agree with Dick that we ought to extend this custom as far as possible. I believe Dick is thinking about new streets but I would expand his idea and give new names to many existing streets that presently have names without local significance.
For example, why do we have a Westwood Boulevard? Somebody connected with the developers of Golden Hills had an office in the Westwood part of Los Angeles so we got stuck with that geographically-senseless street name. Westwood Boulevard cuts through what used to be the Cuddeback Ranch. I say let's rename it Cuddeback Road. This would memorialize real people who had something to do with the history of Tehachapi. It would be a tribute to originality as well. Do you know of another Cuddeback Road anywhere on earth?
All you have to do is drive around the Tehachapi area and you will be convinced that whoever thought up most of the street names around here had no respect for the past and no creative instincts. We used to live on Mountain Drive. That's not offensive by any means but there must be 13 zillion Mountain Drives between here and Baltimore. When I'm elected king I will change Mountain Drive to Zella Street.
Let me explain. Many years ago a retired show business professional, Zella Young, built one of the first homes in Golden Hills. She also vigorously promoted local theater and brought a lot of Hollywood talent to this once-remote place. Zella liked her schnapps and she had a heart as big as all outdoors. When she won a new car in a raffle she donated the whole amount to her adopted community. Can you think of anybody else who did that? So how come her name doesn't show up anywhere around here?
I could go on but you get the idea. Dick never suggested that his dad, the late Walter Johnson, was a good candidate for a street name but this long-ago publisher of the Tehachapi News left a big imprint on our town. Why aren't his good works remembered on some street corner?
I know that changing street names can run into a little money and a bit of short-term aggravation. But considering the terrific people who have made Tehachapi what it is, why should we put up with an Easy Street when wonderful folks like Charlie and Babe Powell go unremembered? What knothead came up with Easy Street? Give me a break!
Is anybody at city hall paying attention?
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