— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Bernalwood recently came across this ridiculously rad logo for the now-defunct South of Army Mission Merchants Association on an empty storefront on 30th and Mission. Just look at the damn thing: mighty, classic drawings of some our favorite SF landmarks, bold typography, and that line He Knows You-You Know Him? Gold.
But it also reminds me of something that's been bugging me for some time now: can we stop calling Cesar Chavez Street “Army” already? I get that you've been living here Before the Boom, and that's nice and much respect for that, but this isn't exactly a town known for supporting militarism and other such macho bullshit. And it's not like Cesar Chavez was a bad guy.
Can't we all just be, you know, happy we no longer have to salute the Army every time drive to BevMo? I live in San Francisco and buy shit whiskey by the crate to forget about the woes of the greater world, not remember we're fighting four wars.
Comments (18)
For someone who blogs about San Francisco you sure seem out-of-touch with native San Franciscans. Army is Arm and Candlestick is Candlestick. Get over it.
You go ahead and call it whatever you like Kev.
I often call it “Army” if I’m not actually thinking about it. I try to call it Cesar Chavez, but in my head I still think of it as Army Street, not for any political reason, rather just because that’s what it was named when I first encountered it on a regular basis, so that’s what it was imprinted on my brain as, I suppose.
Many streets have been renamed in this city over the years, people only fixate on this one because it was recent and it’s a major street.
The map data sets in some new-ish car GPS systems still refer to Army Street. My parents get confused every time they try to drive in from the suburbs. Or maybe Lexus is just that hipster. I bet their car pronounces it vuhLEN-shuh, too.
pop quiz: do you know that this city’s motto is?
And here it is-the post that finally convinced me to dump this blog. I’ve been getting annoyed with the hipster bullshit writing for a few weeks now but this one is the cherry on top. And here’s why:
1. Who gives a shit
2. Your lame writing style (“rad”, “and that’s nice and much respect for that”)
3. Trying to turn it into some sort of political statement of Cesar Chavez vs. Army, when the real reason people call it that is because that’s what the street was called not that long ago. I know as a hipster, you have to be quick on your feet to follow whatever is newly cool that day but people with lives and substance tend to take a little longer to switch things over.
4. You are obviously not from here
Unfortunately, if shit like this continues to get printed by douchebags taking over the Mission, I’ll have to dump my neighborhood along with this blog.
Perusing Kevin’s bio, the conclusion would be: who could care what he thinks about anything?
The idea that by supporting the armed forces that we are somehow supporting how they are used is unfortunate, especially during this weekend. I know this sounds trite and people like to bash this all the time, but your blog is brought to you courtesy of the armed forces.
SF first and foremost was an army town, then a navy town. This Bay Area would substantially responsible for winning WWII in the Pacific.
A bit of consideration by all members of society for what our armed forces have done for good and honorable reasons, would be a nice gesture.
While we sip on Blue Bottle coffee and play on our Macs, real nice honest young Americans are serving our country. You may not agree with the war, but you have to respect that there is a segment in our society that puts their lives at risk for our country.
People disagree with the police forces of our country, but 98% of the time, they are trying to keep us safe, and help us when things go wrong.
Call a cop a pig, never call and get a police report when your fixie is stolen. Throw a brick at a cop at a demonstration, don’t report the beating you took by some guy mugging you on the street or ask them to come by your house when you were robbed. Happy we have friends in Europe? Thank a veteran. In fact, Europeans probably love our Army better than some of us do.
Keep in mind that our military has remained completely out of politics. Completely. They might slip a comment in now and again, but it is completely civilian controlled. See how many countries in the world whose military is involved in politics.
Also keep in mind that we don’t have mandatory service. Most of Europe does. So, all of you that bag on the military, just realize that if you were in Europe, or most parts of the world, you’d be serving your two years of mandatory service. Instead, you get to spend it in Dolores Park bitching about how shitty things are.
Honoring the Army with a street is hardly an unworthy thing. Re-naming it after Chavez, while a worthy individual of honor, is almost a serious kick in the nuts that wasn’t really warranted and really strikes deeply at those that feel that the Army has been used for good things.
I mean, if you want to honor Chavez who fought against exploitation of the worker, hell, why not rename Market Street? That seems like a better alternative if you are trying to make a point.
I call it Army because when I was growing up, it was called Army Street. It shouldn’t be that complicated, even for a wicked smaaht masshole turned left coast hipster.
PS: I still call Davies Medical Center its old name Franklin Hospital. And if you ask me about the CPMC on California, I’ll still call it Childrens, and not b/c I oppose child labor laws.
Krystal, I hope you’re a chick. Because I’d hump you in one second. If a dude, two.
I still call it Army street out of habit. Even so, what separates me from the real old school natives is that I don’t call 26th St. by its old name of “Navy Street”
Apparently, they were named such because the streets terminated at the old Army and Navy piers
As a native Yerba Buenan, having been born here in 1769, my opinion is superior to all of yours. As such, I refer to Cesar Chavez/Army as simply, “one of the many streets that did not exist before all the native San Franciscans and hipsters moved here.”
I never quite got renaming Army St. to Cesar Chavez…I always thought that since we already have Van Ness, why not rename South Van Ness? Or would that have been too, you know, logical?
Every once in a while I will catch myself thinking “Army” when I give directions to someone, but always articulate “Cesar Chavez”.
I say call it whatever you want. For the most part, I think people know what you’re talking about, either way.
I was born at St. Luke’s hospital, which my birth certificate says is located at 3555 Army st. I don’t care what anyone else calls it, it will always be Army st. to me.
It will always be Army St. Just like Oakland Ave in Dallas will always be Oakland Ave, not Malcom Shabazz X St. In New Orleans it’s I refuse to call Martin Loova X St ANYTHING other than Melpomine St. It’s time to stop erasing US History by naming streets after Socialist Agitators, Anti-Semetic & White hating Negro kooks and MLK. Why do MLK & Caesar Chavez get streets in the ghetto and farmer’s market where they did most of their work. That’s where they belong instead of on major thoroughfares that have a real history behind them.
Happy April Fool’s Day to you, too, troll.
it’s Army st. dont get your panties in a pinch.