Dear "Swami":
I read last week where you were picking on Six Flags for putting those $1 lockers at ride entrances, and a little while back you were said the new Six Flags mascot is lame. What is your problem with Six Flags, anyway?
Ashley in Gurnee
Dear Ashley:
Rather than address the big picture here, The Swami is going to focus on a single hidden element in your complaint: your use of the term "Six Flags" to describe the amusement park that is now, always has been and always shall be GREAT AMERICA.
Evidently, seeing that your name is one of the most popular U.S. girl names from the 1990s, you are a member of this younger generation that calls our local theme park "Six Flags," as mandated by Madison Avenue. This is wrong on so many levels, not the least of which is the fact that the history behind the name "Six Flags" has everything to do with Texas (home of the original theme park under that banner) and nothing to do with Illinois, the Chicago Metro Area, Lake County, Warren Township or Gurnee.
Young lady, long before there was a "Six Flags Great America," it was known as "Marriott's Great America," and for a short time it was technically "Bally's Great America." At no time did anyone call the park "Marriott's" or "Bally's." It was simply Great America. That's all you had to say, and no one confused what you were saying with Kiddieland or Old Chicago. Or Six Flags Over Mid-America, as they used to call the one in St. Louis.
So join The Swami in a new and ambitious campaign to educate the current and coming generations on the proper name for that little corner of $54.99 heaven on Grand Avenue. It is called Great America -- just as it will be when, not if, Six Flags sells the naming rights to U.S. Cellular or WaMu.
Ah yes, the inevitable corporate names that come with major venues! It can be hard sometimes to switch one's thinking when a venue has been known as something else for years and years.
Case in point. How many people still call Allstate Arena in Rosemont the Rosemont Horizon?
And a number of people haven't adapted to calling the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park by its newest moniker (established in 2006) because they knew the venue as the Tweeter Center, the New World Music Theatre and/or the World Music Theatre.
I also know a number of readers still refer to the SouthtownStar by its former separate entities -- the Daily Southtown (or Southtown Economist, as many longtime readers still refer to it) and Star Newspapers (or the Star Tribune as some knew it).
The latest hang-up I've noticed in the corporate name game is downtown Chicago's Bank of America Theatre, which used to be the LaSalle Bank Theatre. But people seem to be catching more quickly onto this new name. Maybe this is because both have corporate bank names, and it might also have something to do with those pronounced red Bank of America signs that have replaced the LaSalle Bank signs everywhere.
Drop me off at Santa's Village.
I worked at Great America in 1079, 80, 81 and 82 and it was referred to as both Great America AND Marriott's buy employees and guests alike. And if you want to get really technical, the entrance may be on Grand Ave., but the address is actually Rte. 21.
Have a Great day!
Maggie