Has this one been mentioned yet? It's a map of London that gives the 15 most common surnames for each neighborhood. Looks like there are some Welsh neighborhoods where I could be pretty anonymous if I upped sticks and moved there.
It's interesting to note how many of the street names have been changed.
I had always assumed that Grant Avenue (the traditional main drag in Chinatown) had been named that soon after the Civil War and/or Grant's presidency.
But the map illustrates that it was called Dupont in the mid 1880s, and it turns out that it wasn't renamed until after the earthquake (when the entire area covered by the map burned and was then rebuilt).
Thanks for that; the original, or an expensive reprint anyway, is for sale at a maps shoppe on upper Dupont Gai, sort of across from Dupont Thai yes that's very cute, and i can barely even afford to walk through there never mind shop[pe]. But Italian-French is still there for ciabatta rolls, and the recent wine-and-cheese thing a block up lets me buy eighths of their truffle-cheese, both of which coupled with a 750ml stainless water-bottle full of $4 Chilean Carménère make for a nice afternoon.
I love the alleys. That's one of my favorite things about San Francisco. You pop into the alleys and you can all but see the little kids playing stickball or hop-scotch while momma hangs out the laundry on a line and the pot of chicken stew cooks on the gas stove.
Comment