I was recently back up in Chicago, and I was sad to see that the Bryn Mawr theater where I used to see a triple feature for $1.50 is now a grocery store, with a studio apartment above. The sign is still there, though. I got a nice picture of it.
The Bryn Mawr, by the way, was mentioned in Cecil’s first column.
There’s a Bryn Mawr theater in Chicago? How odd—was there a Welsh population there? I come from Bryn Mawr, Pa., named that in the 1860s when the Pa. Railroad people were trying to create a resort town—they created a bunch of communities along the “Main Line” of the rail west of Phila. and gave a lot of them Welsh names, as there were a lot of Welsh farms and mills in the area. Wynnewood, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Gladwyne, etc. It was odd visiting Wales last year—I felt like I was back home!
The theater probably took the name from the famous women’s college, one of the Seven Sisters.
There’s also a Bryn Mawr Bookshop on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (502 East 79th Street), and another in New Haven, Connecticut.
“She’s all I know about Bryn Mawr, and all I WANT to know about Bryn Mawr.” – Well-known James Thurber cartoon.
“She’s all I know about Bryn Mawr, and all I WANT to know about Bryn Mawr.”
—Hmmm . . . Watch it, buck-o, or I’ll make some cracks about Yalies . . .
Eve, oddly enough, it’s not a coincidence. The original early-20th Century developers of the Edgewater neighborhood named a bunch of east-west streets after stops or towns along the Main Line.
Just to name the ones that are also stations on the CTA Red Line, there’s Berwyn, Bryn Mawr, Thorndale and Granville. Naming non-station streets, there’s Devon,* Rosemont, and Ardmore.
*Devon Avenue is pronounced deh-VAHN here in Chicago. The ethnically-Irish streetcar conductors refused to pronounce it in the British style, DEH-vuhn, and as deh-VAHN was the only pronunciation most people heard in the days before radio, it stuck. Or so the story is told.
Dude from Philly’s western suburbs here –
If I recall correctly, Bryn Mawr women had a certain, er, reputation for a particular talent, shall we say.
Almost as good as Cathlic girls, but rich Daddies too.
Homepage: http://www.bigfuckinboatwithbadassplanes.mil
Occupation: Swabbie Pounder, First Class
Location: Anywhere you feckless landlubbers ain’t.
Interests: Navy Chow, Port of Call, The Head, Air Superiority
ICQ Number: CVN69 – An UncleBeer Profile
“Avast and ahoy, landlubbers! Shore leave’s in August. Hide your women.” – A WallySig
John—Cool! So from Wales to the Main Line to Chicago, huh? I wonder if any other town has Welsh names taken from Chicago neighborhoods?
Chief—Didja get my E-mail? Oh, and us Bryn Mawr girls have a LOT of talents, which one were you thinking of?
Quick quiz: what does “Old Maids Never Wed And Have Babies” mean? And no, it’s not the title of my autobiography . . .
Also checking in from Pennsylvania - I work in St. Davids (west to east on the Main Line down Lancaster Avenue it’s Wayne, St. Davids, Radnor, Villanova [Home to Villanova University], Bryn Mawr, Haverford). I used to work in Bryn Mawr, for a guy that owned much upscale rental/retail property in Bryn Mawr and most of the Main Line.
It’s a nice place to visit, but I really hate it here.
Esprix
Ask the Gay Guy! (or, if you prefer the Jesusfied version, Asketh the damn Priest Guy!)
Hmmmmmm…obviously a mnemonic. Not for the Seven Sisters, no Vassar. Not for colleges in the Philly area…no Swarthmore.
For the Philadelphia suburbs?
Esprix, why do you hate the Main Line? I love it, have never felt at home anywhere else. Can’t move back there, though; I’m in publishing, which means I’m stuck in New York.
You bascially got it, Ike—it stands for the train station stops from Philadelphia to Bryn Mawr: Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr. Very handy to remember, as they come up very quickly. “Oh jeez, is this Wed? And is next!”
Too ritzy/hoity-toity/snobby for me. Don’t get me wrong - I love Philly, I just don’t like the Main Line area. I’ve worked here long enough to see the parts of it I don’t like (I live in southern Delaware County, close to the more friendly Media).
'sides, I’m thinking of moving to San Diego anyway.
Esprix
Ask the Gay Guy! (or, if you prefer the Jesusfied version, Asketh the damn Priest Guy!)
Ukulele Ike wrote:
I have a strong hunch that it was named after the street it’s on. 
Ah. Well. You see, NOTHING is “too ritzy/hoity-toity/snobby for me.”
—Mrs. Rittenhouse
There’s a Bryn Mawr Street in Chicago? Come on! You know and I know that Chicagoans can’t pronounce “Bryn Mawr”…
Uke
Ukelele Ike wrote:
You don’t pronounce it, maaaan, you live it!
What about the “Big Hill”? That is what Bryn Mawr means in Welsh. Sigh. User + one post count.
HUGS!
Sqrl
SqrlCub wrote:
There is no big hill on Bryn Mawr, though you do occasionally see big hillbillies.
Good God - you made movies with the Marx Brothers? 
Esprix
Ask the Gay Guy! (or, if you prefer the Jesusfied version, Asketh the damn Priest Guy!)
I’ve finally gotten around to putting up a picture of the Bryn Mawr Fruit Market in case anybody’s interested.
