Meet Me In Frisco

I was both amused and happy to see the hue and cry over your use of the word Frisco to describe that grand Western metropolis (“Correspondence,” September/October). But I take exception to the statement that no one west of the Mississippi calls it Frisco. In all fairness we might attribute such ignorance to the fact that the now-merged St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (which was intended to run from St. Louis to San Francisco) used the logo Frisco, not to mention Rita Hayworth’s singing the unforgettable “Put the Blame on Mame,” whose heroine’s shimmy and shake caused the “Frisco quake,” or the less memorable “I Left Frisco Kate Swinging on the Golden Gate.”

But then, I can sympathize with the natives. I grew up in St. Louis, where no one would say “St. Louie”—yet remember Judy Garland singing “Meet Me in St. ‘Louie,’ Louie,” not to mention the unforgettable “St. ‘Louie’ Blues.” What I really relate to and rejoice in is the fact that so many Americans still have so much pride in their local heritage, which is really the whole reason for your tremendous publication. Keep the vital juices flowing.