Nothing wrong with SPAM Boulevard

Published 12:00 am Friday, March 23, 2001

What’s wrong with SPAM Boulevard? Quite honestly, nothing.

Friday, March 23, 2001

What’s wrong with SPAM Boulevard? Quite honestly, nothing.

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Hormel Foods Corp. wants a special address for their new SPAM Museum that will open later this summer at the new Corporate Office South on Main Street North. They want an address that will have a familiar ring. I guess Main Street North and 11th Avenue NW doesn’t quite cut it. It might help people find the place, but a place of worldwide reputation needs an address that makes people think Austin is king when it comes to SPAM.

The address sought by Hormel Foods for the SPAM Museum is 1937 SPAM Blvd. The number in the address reflects the year the world was introduced to the famous luncheon meat.

The Austin Post Office doesn’t have a problem with creation of the new address for the place where the world can learn about SPAM and the history of what once was better known as Geo. A. Hormel & Co. The post office’s primary concern is that people wandering into town looking for the landmark location won’t be able to find a street called SPAM Boulevard. The museum plans to use the address primarily for correspondence through the mail.

Having a unique address isn’t unprecedented in Austin. The address on Hormel Foods letterhead says "One Hormel Place." We all know the location better as 16th Avenue NE. It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. The firm’s research and development building is better known as "Two Hormel Place."

The SPAM Boulevard address is all fun. The mail will get to the new museum quite fine – whether it has 11th Avenue NW or SPAM Boulevard as its address. It just works that way.

If Hormel Foods wants to direct people to its 1937 SPAM Blvd. Address, it might have to hang some signs at the intersection outside Corporate Office South so people know that 11th Avenue NW is where SPAM Boulevard exists. That’s where city officials have some concerns. The City Council has the last say on whether the street can carry additional signage. There are concerns of commercialism.

There’s another view to be taken to the issue. It’s all about tourism and this community will benefit from the influx of visitors to the new facility when it opens. Maybe people will be roaming our streets looking for "SPAM Boulevard." But maybe we need to seize the opportunity. Not only will people be looking for SPAM Boulevard, they’ll be looking for the roots of SPAM, and where else should it be than on SPAM Boulevard? Sure, people living along the 11th Avenue NW and the businesses along that stretch will retain their addresses, but what harm comes from a street sign hung under 11th Avenue NW that proclaims "SPAM Boulevard?"

One thing you can bet: People will pose under that sign when they visit the museum. Also, Hormel Foods won’t miss the opportunity to sell signs in the new museum of a similar likeness, too.

Is it commercialization or taking an opportunity to draw more visitors to our community? What do you think? Should Hormel Foods be allowed to hang a "SPAM Boulevard" sign at the corner of its Corporate Office South campus? Will a unique address help tourism in Austin? We invite your opinion. E-mail us or write us a letter. We’d like to know what you think.