Big Ben to be Renamed in Honor of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee

[Undertow]

Same thing happened to our farm league field, Sec Taylor Stadium. Originally named after a sports editor at the Des Moines Register, they hit some hard times (as did all of Des Moines in the 80's-90's) and they renamed the sucker to Principle Park. Lame. No one calls it that. No one.

 

[Widebrim]

Great photo Widebrim! Can I assume that was taken under the Triborough on the Queens side at Astoria Park?

Probably, since my mom was from Queens (but I'll have to ask her). Here's another one from the same day (sorry for the small size):

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The worst renaming of all time has to be The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. :doh:
Though at least they won the 2002 World Series as the Anaheim Angels

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's not as bad as the Brooklyn Dodgers of Los Angeles (which was actually seriously considered in 1957-58).

 

[dhermann1]

If they give train stations corporate names, they'll all wind up being refererred to as the Where-the-heck-am-I? station. I mean, stooooopid.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

It could be a lot lot worse. In Boston, they're planning to sell corporate naming rights for subway stations. Budweiser Kenmore Station anyone?

Sadly I can even see such a fate eventually befalling Big Ben (yeah, I know it's just the bell): Carphone Warehouse Tower anyone?

 

[Edward]

Disappointing, but sadly inevitable. At least it won't stick.

 

[Widebrim]

The worst renaming of all time has to be The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. :doh:
Though at least they won the 2002 World Series as the Anaheim Angels

Bothers me each time I hear it. They are not, and never have been, from Los Angeles. California Angels was the best choice.

 

[Widebrim]

If they give train stations corporate names, they'll all wind up being refererred to as the Where-the-heck-am-I? station. I mean, stooooopid.

Even though Union Pacific no longer owns our Los Angeles station, it is still called Union Station. And it was a happy day when Mann's Chinese Theater reverted back to Grauman's Chinese Theater...

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

or...

 

[ButteMT61]

Hoover dam - was Boulder dam. I actually like Hoover better
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

 

[dhermann1]

It started out as Hoover, then Harold Ickes, FDR's Secretary of the Interior tried to switch it to Boulder, but then it got put back to Hoover. Anyhow, that's my understanding. Ickes REALLLY hated Hoover.

 

[HoundstoothLuke]

Disappointing, but sadly inevitable. At least it won't stick.

Corporate names almost never do stick.

For example, most people I know call it the London Eye or Millennium Wheel, not the EDF Eye or whatever it's supposed to be called.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The new hockey arena in Boston is less than twenty years old, and it's been the Shawmut Center, the Fleet Center, the BankNorth Garden, and the TD Garden, but nobody but flacks and shills have ever called it anything but "the Gahden."

 

[Espee]

A "Union Station" is a depot co-owned by two or more railroads. Phoenix had a Union Station, for Southern Pacific and Santa Fe.
L.A.'s Union Station just happened to have Union Pacific as one of the three partners.
(In other cases, a railroad using a station may be a mere tenant of the owning road or roads.)

 

[Espee]

The American League franchise awarded in California for 1961 was the Los Angeles Angels, and they played in that city for five years. Upon moving to Anaheim in 1966, they chose to be called the California Angels, and that's how I first knew them.
They have every right to change, but I hate the current name too. Apparently they projected better sales of caps and jerseys if they had LA on them. However, many who want to display an "LA" are not baseball fans so much. Even though they may carry a baseball bat in their car...

 

[Edward]

Corporate names almost never do stick.

For example, most people I know call it the London Eye or Millennium Wheel, not the EDF Eye or whatever it's supposed to be called.

Actually, I was referring to the OP and the renaming of the Westminster Clock Tower (not Big Ben - that's the bell itself, not the tower) after Liz Windsor, but your point re corporate machinations is quite right. As to the Eye, it was originally sponsored by BA, but they couldn't make their name stick to it, so I can't see EDF having any more success. Mind you, EDF are the company who thought it a good idea to have a mascot that looks like a poo, so... [huh]

 

[rocketeer]

My three favourite/hate renamed buildings.

The Post Office Tower. Now known as the BT tower.

The Millennium Dome. Now known as the O2, In my confusion I once sent some lost tourists to the ExCel, a similar exhibition complex in the area(but looks nothing like the Dome)HaHa

Finsbury Park Astoria. Was a music venue called The Rainbow, now a Pentecostal church. One of the great cinema's of the 1930s-era according to my father.


Maybe a bright star shines in the future for:
The Emirates Stadium. One day this may become Arsenal Football Stadium

 

[dhermann1]

Why don't people who sell building names, especially sports arenas, realizing that they're undermining the value of their own team brand, surely their most valuable possession, for the short term gain of naming rights? Here in New York, Yankee Stadium is Yankee Stadium. Period.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The American League franchise awarded in California for 1961 was the Los Angeles Angels, and they played in that city for five years. Upon moving to Anaheim in 1966, they chose to be called the California Angels, and that's how I first knew them.
They have every right to change, but I hate the current name too. Apparently they projected better sales of caps and jerseys if they had LA on them. However, many who want to display an "LA" are not baseball fans so much. Even though they may carry a baseball bat in their car...

The American League team carries forward the name of the Pacific Coast League franchise that represented Los Angeles from 1903 to 1957, and thus "Angels" was closely associated with LA when Anaheim was just a big orange grove. When the Dodgers came west, there were municipal booster types who were quite upset the team wasn't renamed the "Angels."

Part of the territorial condition imposed when Gene Autry was first granted the franchise was that he would share Walter O'Malley's new Chavez Ravine stadium -- but the rent conditions O'Malley imposed were so onerous Autry refused to put up with it. O'Malley's political influence was such that he prevented Autry from buying any property for his own ballpark within the LA city limits, and Anaheim was as close as he could get. He never intended to abandon Los Angeles -- he was forced out, so if he were living he'd probably approve the return to the team's original name, no matter how marketing-driven it is.