Sunny Day
Sweepin’ the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet
Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street
So how many people in the 12MC audience remember that infectious little theme song from Sesame Street? I guess it signifies people of a certain age and location. However, variations do exist around the world including Vila Sésamo (Brazil), Plaza Sésamo (Mexico), Sesamstraße (Germany), Sesamstraat (Netherlands), Rue Sésame (France), Barrio Sésamo (Spain), Svenska Sesam (Sweden) and Rechov Sumsum (Israel).
Right There in Richmond
Why would Sesame Street come to mind after multiple decades removed from my childhood? Even my children are too old for Sesame Street now. It happened when I noticed that WCVE — the Public Broadcasting Service television and radio station for Central Virginia — was located at 23 Sesame St, Richmond, VA.
Yes, that’s right, a PBS station on Sesame Street. Perfect. Sesame Street, the show, began its association with public television at its debut in 1969. It remains a staple of educational programming for preschoolers even today. So WCVE chose to honor that history by naming the access road leading up to its broadcast facility after Sesame Street.
Plus it’s not the only one. WLVT, the PBS station for Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley sits at 839 Sesame Street in Bethlehem, PA (map).
A Few More Sesames
One can safely assume that any PBS television station located on a Sesame Street happened deliberately. But are there other instances of intentional homage? I discovered a handful of possibilities although it was more likely to be coincidental. Then I found a few unrelated oddities amongst the numerous standalone Sesame Streets.
- Middleburg, Florida: here Sesame Street intersects with Hemp Court. What?!? Talk about a mixed message. They combined children’s television with a drug reference. Just say no, Cookie Monster! It all suddenly makes sense, doesn’t it?
- Skowhegan, Maine (map): This naming was intentional. Sesame Street and Big Bird Street serve as paths through a trailer park. 12MC loves trailer parks. They are never afraid to use street names that would be completely unacceptable in more uppity neighborhoods.
- Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (map): This offered a more typical example of a genre of subdivisions named for herbs and spices. I found several instances scattered around the nation. This one included peppercorn, tarragon, nutmeg, curry, thyme, marjoram, parsley, celery, paprika, cayenne, and of course sesame, with a neighborhood bisected by Spice Drive. It offered a veritable spice rack combined within a single, compact housing development.
- Opa-lacka, Florida (map): I found an unusual neighborhood with an Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves / Arabian Nights kind-of theme. Naturally I’ll assume that Sesame in this context referred to “Open Sesame.”
Even Australia!
None of those were my favorite examples, though. For that, I had to cast my eyes towards Australia. Apparently Sesame Street had run for decades on Australian television in an undiluted form, with Americanized Muppet characters rather than something customized specifically for the Australian market. I think they may have even used original voices rather than dubbing them with an Australian accent.
Can any 12MC readers from Australia think back to their childhoods and confirm that? I based my guess on one of the comments from the article I linked (“A generation of Australian children have grown up unsure if z is pronounced zee or zed“).
Check out the wonderful Street View image I captured at the intersection of Sesame Street, Ernie Street and Oscar Crescent! There can be no mistake. Someone named those streets intentionally for characters on the television program. I simply never expected to find that in Australia.
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