Recently I had conversation with a fellow merchant from the Mass Avenue district. I was telling him about our store at 52nd and College. That's when it became clear to me that this area is suffering with an identity crisis. I've known it for a while but that conversation confirmed it. I told him my store was in Broad Ripple (because that's what everyone on Mass Ave calls it). But not really, it's in SOBRO (South Broad Ripple). But not really, it's technically in Meridian Kessler. But really, it's in a newly melded locale called Midtown. Whew! Because I'm a purist I tell everyone we are located in Meridian Kessler because that is fact. Commercially speaking is it better and more hip to default to Broad Ripple and the upcoming newbie SOBRO? Probably so. People in other areas identify more with BR. When I first opened my store here there were those in the Meridian Kessler Neighborhood Association who reacted as if hearing fingernails on a chalk board when their places were dubbed to be in Broad Ripple. If the Indianapolis Star did a feature on a Meridian Kessler business and said it was in Broad Ripple, whoa to them. It was a territorial thing. Meridian Kessler did not want to cede to Broad Ripple. It was clear they wanted to preserve their own identity. I think they are losing the battle. Broad Ripple is moving south, like it or not. Then along comes Midtown, which in its early formation went by the name of HARMONI. This began as a group of individuals who decided that it would be best if several different neighborhoods would be lumped together in order to go after different initiatives, seeking associated grants, donations and monies. So Meridian Kessler, Mapleton-Fall Creek, Broad Ripple and Butler Tarkington got rolled into one. (Are you confused yet?) I can remember when saying you lived in the inner city was not a good thing. I can also remember the first time I realized that with the development of the suburbs, what is now called Midtown had become the inner city. Prior to becoming the inner city, and now becoming Midtown, we were said to be on the far Northside. Residentially speaking, and being a purist, it makes me crazy when apartments at 52nd and Monon are said to be in Broad Ripple. Making me even crazier is saying 52nd and Monon. The last I heard Monon is not a street. It's 52nd and Winthrop. That's spelled WINTHROP. Poor little Winthrop. Nobody remembers it anymore. It has totally been lost to the Monon Trail. But I remember it and I remember it well. I grew up at 55th and Winthrop and that is why I am a purist. I was interviewed on the evening news two years ago to get my opinion on the city developing a dog park at 25th and Monon. I so badly wanted to say, "don't you mean 25th and Winthrop?", but I bit my lip. I also had to bite my lip to keep from saying "don't take your Chihuahua, take your German Sheppard".

When I was a kid I would love to go to sleep waiting for the Monon train to come rumbling down the track. I lived across the street on the west side of Winthrop. The train came through every night at the same time and it was wonderful to hear the whistle blow at the intersection at 54th street. The passenger trains were lit up against the dark of night and you could see the riders inside. The wheels were loud and the house shook. I can only imagine what it must have been like living against the track. Those houses today must have cracks in their walls. Sometimes we would lay pennies on the tracks and later go look for them to see if they were melted or flattened. On the other side of the track was Carvel Avenue (somehow it hasn't lost its identity) and where Canterbury Park is was a swamp that was gross and complete with snakes. I remember my brother bringing one home. At age thirteen, I moved to Butler Tarkington close to Hinkle Field House. The tearing up of the tracks and the end of the Monon train escapes me. I wish some of these new businesses would give honor to my old street and name something after it. How about The Winthrop Café, or The Winthrop Brewery or something similar? I wonder where the name Winthrop came from? I guess I could look it up. Maybe you know. Maybe you also remember the trains speeding down the tracks.