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Friday, January 23, 2009

City The Mixed Fortune of Being Named After a Park

Posted by Dominic Holden on Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 12:46 PM

Looking up history yesterday on the late, great Cal Anderson, I Googled his name. The top return and all but one of the top ten results was about—not the first openly gay legislator in Washington state—but the grassy reservoir cap named after him.

Imagine you've worked like a dog your whole life and the city loves you and then the civic leaders thank you by turning your name into a lawn. For example, former architect Victor Steinbrueck carved out a place for the Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square so they honored his life by renaming a place with a nice view after him. But now, "Steinbrueck" connotes visions of craven pigeons, overbearing drunks, and spontaneous brawls. It's the armpit of Seattle. However, Steinbrueck's fate isn't so bad; through his impression and his posterity (Peter Steinbrueck), he remains first and foremost a real person. Even Google lists the man before the park.

But Myrtle Edwards is not so lucky. Not who—but what is Myrtle Edwards? Before a page chronicling her life as a bold city councilwoman, Google recognizes Edwards as a 4.8-acre strip of bike lanes. The park has preserved the name recognition of Edwards—but she is named after the park. Also: Emma Schmitz, to the contemporary index of record, is first and foremost an overlook, and Bobby Morris is a square of Astroturf.

Comments (14) RSS

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And yet Victor Steinbrueck and Myrtle Edwards Parks are the model that advocates of the surface option to replace the viaduct (and tunnel advocates, for that matter) have in mind for the space where the viaduct is now. Yee haw! Open space or die! Even if it's shitty!

Posted by Fnarf on January 23, 2009 at 12:50 PM

How do you think Lou Gehrig feels?

Posted by Dougsf on January 23, 2009 at 12:59 PM

It's way better to name shit after whatever corporation buys the rights.

Posted by elenchos on January 23, 2009 at 1:04 PM

Seriously, Doug SF. As a kid, my neighbors traded houses for a year with the Creutzfeldt family--the spawn of Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt--best know for his half of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Nice kids.

Posted by Dominic Holden on January 23, 2009 at 1:06 PM

I'm sure some people find that their names are appropriate for naming Seattle parks.

Case in point.

Posted by Ziggity on January 23, 2009 at 1:20 PM

I tattooed Cal Anderson one day back in prehistory.

He was sweet and total square.

Posted by itsmarkmitchell on January 23, 2009 at 1:27 PM

Yeah, Cal could be a total square - perfect for the way he was trying to get things done back then. Felt a bit unclean, out of place, in his wholesome house helping stuff envelopes while he and Eric bantered in a way they thought was kind of saucy. Rick Steves reminds me of him now. Nice that Cal got a park just a few blocks from where they lived.

Posted by tomasyalba on January 23, 2009 at 1:35 PM

I would imagine Myrtle Edwards is actually thrilled to have a waterfront park named after her. After all, she was known during her tenure on the City Council as "Mrs. Harlan Edwards." It took me a long time to connect the two. Mrs. Edwards' family actually approved naming the park after her (after they had withdrawn their approval of naming Gas Works Park after her).

Posted by kk on January 23, 2009 at 1:50 PM

Just think how lonely Fremont Solstice Park must feel, with it's name officially being that of some parks commissioner nobody even knows ....

At least Myrtle Edwards gets press.

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 23, 2009 at 2:04 PM

@ 8) I think Edwards would have preferred that Gasworks Parkrather than the waterfront park--were named after her. According to the infallible knowledge of Wiki, she led the community effort to acquire that site for a park, and it was named Myrtle Edwards parks for a couple years after her death in 1969. But when her family discovered the city would let the gasworks remain, they asked her name be withdrawn. The city then assigned her name to the waterfront site.

Posted by Dominic Holden on January 23, 2009 at 2:05 PM

(oh, and we call that ALS now, not Lou Gehrig's disease)

Posted by just in case you were out of it on January 23, 2009 at 2:06 PM

Dominic dear, I know you're young and all, but we all die eventually. And we return to the earth as dust and bones. Or ashes. Sometimes jewelry. Having a park named after you is a pretty nice tribute, if you ask me.

Not as good as a dam and lake (JD Ross!) or a whole sound (Peter Puget!) or a whole bunch of Canada (Velma Vancouver! Okay, it was a guy, and his name was George) but a park is nice.

Just ask Frank Freeway.

Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay on January 23, 2009 at 2:41 PM

I tattooed Velma Vancouver one day back in prehistory. She was a TIGRESS.

Posted by Fnarf on January 23, 2009 at 2:55 PM