This is for Valley Commentary Page--Wendy : Civic Pride Is Fine, but Just Say NoNo to NoHo

First there was the Steel Cloud, that pile of steel that was touted as the Gateway to L.A.

Now there is an equally dumb idea, closer to home, called NOHO.

A committee of the Universal City-North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce started calling North Hollywood NOHO. It was supposed to be a cute takeoff on SoHo, the arts district in New York.

Unlike some of my neighbors, I do not say I live in Toluca Lake. I live in North Hollywood and have for the last 11 1/2 years. This is my community.

I understand that none of the members of the Chamber of Commerce committee live in North Hollywood, although one or two may own property here. Almost none of the people I’ve talked with who love NOHO live here.

Now there is a NOHO News, and an arts festival coming next month is called the NOHO Arts Festival. The chamber is using the funny name to promote North Hollywood as an arts and theater district.

I am in favor of creating an arts and theater district. But why not name it after someone who was an artist or celebrity associated with North Hollywood?

Bing Crosby lived here. Bob Hope still does. (OK, OK, Toluca Lake. But he and I are in the same ZIP code.) Call it the Helen Hayes district. Name it after Jonathan Winters, Ernie Ford, Phyllis Diller or W. C. Fields.

Would you name your child NOHO? Would Liz Taylor call a new fragrance NOHO? Would you call any new product (except maybe a gardening product) NOHO?

If you were hiring, would you seriously consider a graduate of NOHO University?

Think about it. Embarrassed by those terrible acne scars? Try NOHO! Drugs? Just say NOHO! What I’m saying is: NOHO is negative-sounding.

It reminds you of negative things.

Remember World War II and you’ll recall TOJO, the enemy--cruel and terrible.

Howard Johnson tried HOJO. Didn’t sell.

OSCO, the drugstore name, bombed. The name stinks.

Why NOHO reminds me of MOHO, the Mohorovicic discontinuity, the boundary between the Earth’s crust and the mantle. Ugly! My point is, NOHO sounds terrible.

The people who are promoting it do not live here. I do. I would not go where the NOHO advocates live and promote a name change, especially to one as bad as NOHO, for their neighborhood.

They should leave mine alone.