Talk:Main Street

Merge

Main Street and High Street are different names for the same thing. Both should be discussed together, with an appropriate section for distinctive cultural differences between Main/High Streets around the globe. The important question would be which name to use? SilkTork 18:00, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

I oppose the proposed merge. Main Street and High Street have strongly different connotations as a result of the divergent historical development of the United States and the United Kingdom. Thousands of American cities also have a High Street---I just ran a search in Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005, a map product sold as packaged software by Microsoft with detailed street data for virtually every part of the United States, urban and rural. The American version of High Street is not accorded the same respect or prestige as Main Street.

Essentially, I believe the proposed merge is nearly as silly as merging apple with orange. The two things are simply so different because of the car-oriented design of Main Street in the United States. For example, a large number of Main Streets traditionally have diagonal parking on the street itself (as illustrated by Los Altos), around a town square at one end of the street, or in an attached parking plaza behind the storefronts on each side of the street. Diagonal parking enables more visitors to park in front of their destination businesses and shields the businesses from traffic noise (because the businesses are then farther offset from the main line of traffic). I haven't seen any similar arrangements during my travels in Europe or Asia.

Also, as noted in the article, the mythology surrounding Main Street is tightly interwoven with American culture. Sinclair Lewis's book is well-known among most American intellectuals, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. Trying to do a "merge" of Main Street with High Street reeks of "original research" in violation of the strict no original research policy. You need to find an article by a sociologist or historian that actually analyzes Main Street alongside High Street. As the party proposing the merge, the burden is on you to produce evidence why your merge is not original research. --Coolcaesar 18:38, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

German Bahnhofstraße Not an Equivalent

Although many German, Austrian, and Swiss cities do have a (often centrally located) Bahnhofstraße, there simply is no concept in German that compares to the American Main Street or British High Street. The section is baseless and should be deleted. --69.168.244.161 04:22, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Funny, I was under the impression from my tour guide's explanation last year that it was an equivalent. He was an English expat who has lived in Switzerland for over 30 years (and raised two children there with his American wife). But I don't have the time right now to dig up a cite (I'm trying to bring Lawyer to featured status and clean up the incredible pigpen in Expressway and Freeway) so I don't mind if you or anyone else insists on deleting the section. --Coolcaesar 04:52, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse is that city's main retail street. However, it's really more Fifth Avenue than Main Street. I know of no other Bahnhofstraße of equal prominence, not in Basel or Bern (in Switzerland), nor in Vienna (in Austria), Munich, Hamburg, or Frankfurt (all in Germany), just to name a few of the major cities. Berlin has half a dozen Bahnhofstraßen at least, but those are all in the outer districts, far from the city's major shopping streets in the center. [1] (rightfully) claims that of about 100 Bahnhofstrassen, Zurich's is the only famous street with that name. As far as small towns are concerned, the "main drag" is more likely to be named Hauptstraße (Main Street), Breite Straße (Broad Street), Breiter Weg (Broad Way), or—by far the most likely—something else altogether. In any case, a Bahnhofstraße almost always will either lead to or run alongside a railway station. Since these streets typically were built when the railway stations were constructed, they often are too narrow to serve as major thoroughfares and thus have been superseded by newer major streets nearby. In any case, if the article's section on Bahnhofstrasse indeed is based on something the author heard from a tour guide, it would seem to violate the Wikipedia:No original research prohibition and should be deleted regardless or merit. --ThorstenNY 14:43, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

After not seeing any counter-arguments for over a week, I just removed the whole bullet point on German street names. Yes, many German towns with a railway station do have a Bahnhofstraße, and Hauptstraße is another common name for a main thoroughfare. However, none of this has anything to do with the American cultural concept of "Main Street." --ThorstenNY 22:14, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I Ponder

Dear Reader,

How many of these main, fore... streets are there? Does every town have one? The answer is no. Why then? Maybe towns before a certain era earn the title. Certainly, the title referes to a central location (in some sence of the word central but I ponder...

Then...I say Tomayto Tomaato. We give significance to a certain avenue in signification of that place as a somewhere of importance. That at one time (or at present) such a location serves the community as a focal meeting place.

Why then argue what to call it? They are cultural gems! The remaining relics of a time when disscussion had nothing to do with fingers or buttons or computer screens. Communication happened on the street. The Main vein of life...

75.109.123.232 13:34, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

I think it's all the same —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.175.75.181 (talk) 07:23, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Diversify American examples.

Both photos of American main streets are from Western states, and therefore show roads that were designed with automobiles in mind, thus lending a sense of Disney Land-esque artificiality that plagues recently built cities and suburbs of North America. To remedy this, might I suggest replacing one with a proper New England main street, such as Nantucket's http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2009/05/15/1242442680_3877/539w.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.19.26.248 (talk) 02:34, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Both examples date from the 1830s-1850s, when there weren't a whole lot of automobiles around. I think the point is to show a typical example (which Nantucket, however beautiful it may be, is very much not), not one from every region. 70.36.134.11 (talk) 04:31, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Front Street?

and some sections of Canada, the usual term is Front Street

I disagree. The term "Front Street" usually refers to the street on whichever side of town is closest to the water, ie: "Water Street" or "River Street". In Ontario:

• Toronto: Front Street used to be near the waterfront before the Harbourfront area was filled in. It is the southernmost point on TTC's subway and home to the CN Tower and Skydome. Like Fort York, it is no longer waterfront and is now cut off from the waterfront by the Gardiner Expressway. It is not the main street (that would be Yonge Street, Ontario Highway 11 to Barrie)
• Belleville: Front Street and North Front Street (Ontario Highway 62) follow the Moira River. In this case, coincidentally this is a main street.
• Kingston: Front Road is a waterfront street which extends from King Street West to the airport, with a dead-end at a conservation area. It is not the main street (that would be Princess Street, Ontario Highway 2 to Toronto). Some *very* old maps dating back a century have modern-day Ontario Street as Front Street (downtown, waterfront) and Bagot Street as "Rear Street" (then the furthest street from the shore, a whole four blocks back in a day when half of the downtown hadn't been built or was on one library map written off as "principally fit only for a quarry") 66.102.83.61 (talk) 18:46, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

This is my experience too. The only Front Street I know is in New Westminster and it's right along the tracks by the water - it's sort of an industrial street, the road the trucks use. It's actually an alternative to the main shopping street, which is Columbia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.180.199.227 (talk) 17:53, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

"Main Street" as political construct

I recall the New Democratic Party, a Canadian labour party, using an address on "Main Street, Toronto" at one point... this was marketed to signify "standing up for Main Street" (ie: working classes and small business) vs. "standing up for Bay Street" (Toronto corporate investors, like Wall Street in NYC). Admittedly, "a town where the main street is still called Main Street" as an expression refers to small towns (for instance Bath, Ontario) and in many large cities the "Main Street" name ends up on something that's just an ordinary street, or on the main street of a smaller entity which was lost to annexation to the city years ago. Municipalities where the town line has been bloated to encompass an entire county (like Ottawa) may have multiple streets ("Manotick Main", for instance) with the name in each village that has been forced into this huge amalgamation. 66.102.83.61 (talk) 18:55, 27 March 2012 (UTC)