tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post3009884950904342953..comments2023-11-03T06:32:28.410-04:00Comments on Staring At Empty Pages: LandmarksBarry Leibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14205294935881991457noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post-49287143388565183392007-01-18T23:48:00.000-05:002007-01-18T23:48:00.000-05:00I think it's a regional thing. When we lived in m...I think it's a regional thing. When we lived in metro-Boston, everyone used landmarks for directions. People frequently didn't know the name of the streets - just the landmarks. And it was as you suggest - one of the popular "landmarks" was the drive-in movie theater that had been converted to apartments before we even moved to town. Landmarks were good to use - the roads were inane. I would joke that there was a state law about road names. No road could go more than two miles without changing direction by 90 degrees or changing name. Westford Road left town and changed names to Acton Road at the town line. And so on. The roads weren't well marked either - if you belonged here, you'd know the name.<br /><br />Out west (Seattle), things are different. People often don't even give directions - the address can be decoded directly in many cases. There are the odd-ball roads left over from the days of farming communities (Bellevue-Redmond Road, Redmond-Woodinville Road) and the suburban areas have developments where the roads don't go thru. But the directions are usually pretty simple. 12345 NE 124th St is pretty easy to find. Not very romantic, but it does cut down on the number of times that a guy has to ask directions!scouter573https://www.blogger.com/profile/10617089494446058172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post-17774326497582537472007-01-18T14:56:00.000-05:002007-01-18T14:56:00.000-05:00Great comment, Maggie, and thanks.
I'd love to he...Great comment, Maggie, and thanks.<br /><br />I'd love to hear others' interesting "landmark" stories.Barry Leibahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14205294935881991457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21503568.post-46197524843323733932007-01-18T10:37:00.000-05:002007-01-18T10:37:00.000-05:00My parents live in a fairly rural town, in the ori...My parents live in a fairly rural town, in the original farmhouse of a large property that was later divided. Their next door neighbor actually owned most of the original farm, and had built this huge modern brick house that people often mistook for a school. Later, he put a gigantic satellite dish right in the front yard, next to the house. So my father's directions to the house were, "we're 1.2 miles down the road, right after the brick house that looks like a school with a satellite dish in the yard," and it was foolproof. It also helps if the destination is unique -- for a lot of years my parents had a geodesic dome greenhouse attached to the side of the house, and I think people pretty much recognized "the house with the greenhouse," even though it wasn't very large or obtrusive.<br />MaggieMaggiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16681883169121834569noreply@blogger.com