Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

I’ve always liked the way they name neighborhoods in cities. New York, for instance, is amazing with this, which is about the only thing I like about New York. They name their areas things like “Soho,” south of Houston Street; Alphabet City because the streets are lettered; and so on. There’s something neat about that.

I like when we do it in Lock Haven, too, and I don’t think we do enough of it. We have some cool neighborhoods, and even a few excellent names for them. I’m proposing we think up some more.

Personally, I live in the Hill Section. That’s how people refer to it—When they say it, you can hear the capital letters in their voice. At the point from South Jones Street, about where Bellefonte Avenue begins to curve up the hill, that’s the Hill Section. We’ve got Carter Towers here, the William Elliott House, and the Charles Wait House, the oldest one on South Fairview Street.

Down on East Water Street, in the 100 and 200 blocks, we have Lawyers’ Row. I’ve always liked how perfect that name is. To the best of my knowledge, that neighborhood has almost always been Lawyers’ Row—I think an 1883 history book refers to it that way. When the courthouse was built on East Water in the 1800s, all the local lawyers settled along that stretch in proximity. Even before the courthouse was moved to that location, there was a lawyer’s office where the courthouse now stands—An attorney named Orrin Noble. The attorneys are pretty entrenched along that stretch.

Down in the neighborhood of West Water and Main Streets, there’s the Historic District. You can tell where this is, because there are some of the most elaborate homes in the city. When Lock Haven was growing in the mid-1800s, every local business owner had to have a bigger and more beautiful home than anyone else, and it led to some amazing buildings. That’s the Historic District.

And if there’s one Lock Haven neighborhood that the residents feel especially vehement about, it’s the First Ward. The eastern portion of the city from Jay Street to the city limits, some of it is the oldest part of Lock Haven.

And the people who live there are very vocally in favor of it. I once had a woman in a trivia contest refuse to answer questions that weren’t about the First Ward specifically. I’ve actually received nasty e-mails from people when, Heaven forbid, I refer to that area as the “East End” in my columns. In spite of the fact that it is literally the east end of Lock Haven.

I’ve always felt we should do more of this. Let’s name a few more sections of Lock Haven. How about we call the western portion of Lock Haven “Mathtown” because it’s got all the numbered streets?

The possibilities are endless! The southeastern part of town could be “Sobe,” because it’s South of Bald Eagle Street. Wouldn’t that be cool to say? “Want to join me for dinner tonight? I’ll meet you at that place in Sobe.”

I think this shows potential. It’s a lot better than my usual method of giving directions, which is to refer to buildings by their historic names. “Okay, I’ll meet you at the place by the James Jefferis House. It’s right near where the courthouse used to stand.” Nobody ever understands this.

Let’s name all the neighborhoods! There’s a lot of fun potential here. Right now, I’m going to start on my next column, writing from here in Arbyloho—“Area by Lou’s House.”