Folk speech – Streets of Downtown LA

Remembering the streets of Downtown LA

From MAIN we SPRING to BROADWAY, then over the HILL to OLIVE! Oh! Wouldn’t it be GRAND if we could HOPE to pick a FLOWER on FIGUEROA.

My informant learned the song/chant from her teacher in elementary school. The song is supposed to be a way to help remember the streets of Downtown Los Angeles. The rhyme was obviously effective since she still remembers the rhyme today many years after she originally learned it.

The song is something that only someone from LA would know so it creates some unity between people from the city. My informant says that her friends who are also from LA between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five are also familiar with the rhyme.