Stop Renaming Neighborhoods

"The real action, though, was on the side streets, populated by the myriad businesses needed to produce a garment, making everything from fabric to pins and needles. There machines and people worked day and night filling the orders left by buyers from across the country. I remember pushing my way through the hundreds of master cutters and patternmakers who crowded the sidewalk along 38th Street at lunchtime, dodging the hand trucks carrying stylish garments that later appeared on the backs of women from east coast to west. This is what the words 'garment district' meant. Every one recognized the garment district not just as a geographic designation, but also as a living entity."
—Jewelry historian Jean Appleton argues against a business association proposal to change the name of Manhattan's Garment District to the "Fashion District." Doing so, she said, would "erase a vital part of New York's past." I still can't over how anyone thought it could be a good idea to change the name of neighboring Hell's Kitchen to "Clinton." Hell's Kitchen is the greatest neighborhood name in the history of the planet.