I was thinkin’ today that we have some places around here whose names are common to us, but to others it might seem pretty weird. For example:
Shakedown Street - a store that sells “smoking accessories”
She Said BOOM! - never been inside, but drove past it in Toronto
I Like Mike - another place driven by but never been in
Van Gogh’s Ear - A club in a nearby town
Philthy McNasty’s - Local restaurant
So what places near you - stores, restaurants, bars, etc… have odd/funny names?
Convenience stores in the Philly area are called Wawa’s.
I can’t say it with a straight face. Every time I hear “Wawa” I see Annie Sullivan holding Helen Keller’s hands under a pump while Helen screams “wawa!! wawa!!”
Chines Restaurant “Hung Far Low” (no, this is not a joke).
English-speaking tourists get a heck of a giggle over our “Couche-Tard” chain of convenience stores.
“Nolan’s Pottery and Used Cars”
when I saw this on friend’s T-shirt in college I thought it was a joke, but he said, no, it was his brother’s business and he used to work there.
Years later we were driving up through Virginia to go to my brother’s graduation at Virginia Tech takin the MapQuest route and suddenly there it was! Nolan’s Pottery and Used Cars! Selling…used cars and …pottery (if you call concrete bird baths and gazing ball stands spray painted neon colors “pottery”) We took a picture.
I don’t remember what the route number was, but if you had to get from Mayberry to Virginia Tech, it was whatever road you’d take to do that.
Wet & Wild Mounting Services Fish and Game Taxidermy. West side of Michigan. Great, great name for a biz.
Fountains of Wayne was kind of a funny name for a store in Wayne, New Jersey that sold garden fountains and water features until a band appropriated it. Now it’s a really funny name.
–Cliffy
The **‘Hung Long’ ** bread shop. Oh, baby!
Well, here in Ballard, there is a barbershop called Scream Barbershop. Back on the east coast, in Canada in my old hometown, there is a barbershop called Jack the Snipper. Really, now, are these business names or warnings? :eek:
Then there’s a smokeshop here in downtown Seattle called Bangmi Smokeshop. I love it.
There’s a small shoestore in Knoxville called Coffin Shoes. I could never resist a joke when I drove by it.
COFFIN SHOES: THE LAST PAIR OF SHOES YOU’LL EVER NEED!
COFFIN SHOES: KICKS FOR WHEN YOU KICK!
We also had a Mexican joint called Burrito Diablo.
Because it’s a devil of a good burrito.
The Dogs Bollox is a popular Irish pub here.
In Fresno, CA there is El Ojo Mistico (The Mystic Eye - I think that is how it is spelled). It is a candle shop that sells those magic candles for casting spells on people. It is very traditional and full of really weird stuff. I actually took a friend there who had to buy a candle for her mom who wanted her brother (my friend’s uncle) to stop drinking.
Cheeba Hut
“Where the only thing fried is the occasional Cutomer”
Well, here in Madison we have the accounting firm of Baker & Launder, CPA.
And when I was in college, there was a wall in front of the theatre with all the names of the corporate and big private donors. The best name on there was awfully funny to an often stoned college kid: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Just this weekend we drove past a shop somewhere around Heyward (way up north) that offered “Taxidermy, Auto Repair and Trailer Sales”
In Rochester, MN I ran across a chain of convenience stores called Pump & Munch
I did not stop for a big gulp.
The Flaming Ice Cube - a cafe/small store specializing in vegan food and natural products.
In the small town of Pakenham, Ontario, there is the inevitable Pakenham Inn.
HA! I love it! 
Dave’s Soda and Pet City .
Yes, Dave sells soda and pets.
My sister recently moved to Virginia. She nearly bust a gut when she saw the name of the local (and my local I mean 20 minutes from nowhere) convenience store: Get 'n Go.
I just remembered, my high school latin teacher once had a seasonal furniture shop on Cape Cod. It was called Espirit Decor.
