If you read my last months column about the challenges of traveling, then probably you have surmised that I have been traveling, and when I travel I like to collect the fun names of the streets, shops and businesses along the way, and I even met some people with interesting names. I think I found some gems and I hope you like them as much as I do.
I saw Punch and Judy Street (the children’s museum was located here) and Almost Pickle Lane ‒ I can only presume this street had cucumbers growing somewhere close by. Curley Cue Lane was a winding street, and White Street was followed by Black Street and Blue Street and Red Street (yes really), and Foot Place was at the bottom of a hill, and Hotsy Tottsy Avenue, and Lolly Pop Lane, and Marilyn Monroe Avenue (I don’t know if she ever lived there.). And the last one on my list of streets this time is Pine Cone Lane, but on both sides of the pavement there was nothing but five-feet-tall cacti.
On my travels I met a guy named Charles Penn. They call him Chick and he had a poultry business (get it? Chick Penn). Okay, that’s reaching a little but I also met Joe Phillips that sold small hand tools to hardware stores (is this reaching too?) Then how about Hyrum Rhode. They call him Hy.
Advertising comes in all sorts of forms. There are magazines and newspapers and TV announcements, but my personal favorites are the wonderful names people give their businesses. I found these that tickled my fancy: the Wild Hair Beauty Shop on the coast of Washington, and I found Heat Stroke Stove Repair and Sales in eastern Washington. And how about this one: The Irish Pub and Furniture Store that was also in eastern Washington. Then there was the Holding Pen fence company, and Micky’s Exterminator and Rodent Control. Don’t you love these names that tell it like it is?
Here’s some more business names I liked: There was Dirty Works that was an earth moving company. There was Out of the Closet on a used clothing shop, and (get ready to smile), the Adam and Eve’s Dating Service. There was also the Friendly Clip Joint barber shop and Peter’s Pottery (say that three times really fast.) And how about Rose’s Florest Shop. And this is the last one for this column: Barney and Fred’s auto repair.
Bars and restaurants names can be good too. These were favorites of mine. There was the Breadline Café, and The Big Swig Bar. And the Sit N’Bull Saloon and the Happy Hour Bar and Café, open 24 hours a day, a long happy hour.
Some shops opted to have more than just a sign. They have a small reader board to send a message to potential customers.
One sign said: “Rock Rock Whose There? ‒ Empire Auto Glass.” (I liked this one.) Another said: “Ski-Eat-Play-Sing-Dance then come to us for a rest ‒ Sleep Inn Motel.”
And then there was “Be Careful! The locals have sharp teeth.” This sign was on the Lizard Zoo.
And a laundry reader board sign said, “Your dirt is our business.”
And this one: “Having a bad hair day? Come in for help.” This was a wig store.
But the best reader board I saw was “AMERICA: Some things are just worth fighting for.”
Contact Donna Lee Anderson at welltoldtales@aol.com.
