Yes, this is totally for real. Yes, we apologize to anyone not in New York for being like, “Huh?”
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It is of course supposed to be ‘Mercer’ Street, which runs south from 8th St. and has, as far as I know, always been Mercer.
The etiology is very different as well, as ‘Mercer’ denotes a family that procured mercenaries for the King, while ‘Merser’ denotes a family that spent much of their time immersed in water or other fluids, generally early sanitation worker clans.
The One-Way sign is at least pointing the right direction (South), but in another clear error, there is no graffiti or other vandalism visible at all.
Also it’s pronounced House-Ton not Hews-Ton and apparently the person it’s named after spelled their name slightly differently (Howston or something).
Houston Street was named after John Houstoun (1744-1796), delegate to the Continental Congress and two-term governor of Georgia. The county in Georgia and the street in Atlanta are also spelled Houston but pronounced House-ton.
That isn’t as bad as the photo I took of an Essex Street sign that was partially blocked by another sign on the same pole. Guess what the remaining letters spelled out?
Thanks Mike, Houstoun indeed, knew it was something like that.
So ironically, the Mercer sign above is incorrect by recent sign painting error, and the Houston sign is incorrect by a naming error over a century ago. But what’s in a name? A Rose by any other name would be Gladys or Susan.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:38 am
merser st. is spelt wrong. how could someone let that slide??
April 15th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
The prior poster is either an idiot, or a small scale comedic genius.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
It is of course supposed to be ‘Mercer’ Street, which runs south from 8th St. and has, as far as I know, always been Mercer.
The etiology is very different as well, as ‘Mercer’ denotes a family that procured mercenaries for the King, while ‘Merser’ denotes a family that spent much of their time immersed in water or other fluids, generally early sanitation worker clans.
The One-Way sign is at least pointing the right direction (South), but in another clear error, there is no graffiti or other vandalism visible at all.
Also it’s pronounced House-Ton not Hews-Ton and apparently the person it’s named after spelled their name slightly differently (Howston or something).
April 15th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Whoa.
There used to be a sign at the corner of “Bleeker” and Leroy in the West Village…
April 15th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Mr. Stackhouse,
Houston Street was named after John Houstoun (1744-1796), delegate to the Continental Congress and two-term governor of Georgia. The county in Georgia and the street in Atlanta are also spelled Houston but pronounced House-ton.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
That isn’t as bad as the photo I took of an Essex Street sign that was partially blocked by another sign on the same pole. Guess what the remaining letters spelled out?
But wait, the world is coming to an end this summer anyway, so why all the bother? See
http://staringatstrangers.typepad.com/staring_at_strangers/2008/04/the-end-of-the.html
April 15th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Thanks Mike, Houstoun indeed, knew it was something like that.
So ironically, the Mercer sign above is incorrect by recent sign painting error, and the Houston sign is incorrect by a naming error over a century ago. But what’s in a name? A Rose by any other name would be Gladys or Susan.