"From Main I Spring to Broadway, and over the Hill to Olive. Oh wouldn't it be Grand to Hope to pick a Flower on Figueroa!"
The question the begs to be asked is: why does such a verse exist? and why for Downtown LA? Should one not also exist for Hollywood, Eagle Rock, or Van Nuys? Where else should these poems, songs and verses exist that would useful?
Extra:
There is also a lesser-known east-west version for Downtown we've seen:
"Figueroa is the Flower of Hope on the Grand Olive Hill of Broadway where the Spring flows from the Main Los Angeles Wall to San Pedro Central near Alameda."
8 comments:
OH!!! I love this poem! I was taught it when I worked in City Hall and it still helps me today. I shared this with some friends recently...and they looked at me like I was nuts. =)
What about a north-south version: "Climbing up to the Temple, I took my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th..."
My Dad (born in 1919) learned this little poem from his Mother to help him remember the streets Downtown when they lived in Boyle Hts. He used to recite it to me whenever we took a trip Downtown too.
I too heard this as a youth from various people that worked downtown. Jack Smith used to publish this every so often in his much beloved LA Times column. It reflects the time when most people came into downtown from Boyle Heights. Windsor Square and Hancock Park, and other points west of downtown were just begining to develop.
My mom always said, "In Los Angeles, the Main Spring is Broadway..." She always gets these kinds of things wrong, but she managed to work in one more street.
Re: the second poem, Figueroa to Alameda is west to east, no?
Wow, I'm fourth generation Angeleno and I never learned the poem.
My uncle did teach me the Crips song though:
"Uptown, downtown, all around, underground
Crips and thangs-
Rolling bars and stealing cars."
He said he learned it at Virgil Jr. High in the early 70s.
(just in case, i'm from nowhere)
confusing, but interesting
Post a Comment