Strolling down memory lane...(almost) literally

In today's Honolulu Advertiser, there was an article about Hawai'i (well, technically only O'ahu and Maui) finally making it on the map - the Google street map. During lunch, my coworkers were giddy with excitement, looking up everyone's residences online. After going online and finding my own apartment, I was somewhat freaked out. Isn't it a little...voyeuristic? As I sat and thought about how creepy it was, I shoved Google maps to the back of my brain.

After work, however, other ideas began to surface. With Google street maps, you can literally "walk" down streets and get a good look around you. The first thing I did when I got home was try to find the place I lived (way back in the day!) in Spokane, Washington. We moved to Hawai'i when I was seven, so my memories aren't clear. I remember a park, preschool, and a large rock outside. I had to call my mom to get a few details, but I found it. I "walked" down East Liberty and found the rock (which really wasn't as big as I remember it being) was still there. So was the park. And the Albertson's not too far away.

Satisfied with my discovery, I decided to take a few strolls down other memory lanes. I went to my college campus and though you can't go down the little private roads on campus, you can go down some of the main roads and I took a "walk" from Pearson's Hall to Dwight, down a road past the psychology building and crossed the lake up to Ham and MacGreggor Halls. I was curious to see if the new residence hall was built at the time of the street map, so I hopped over to Morgan street and passed Buckland Hall and the theatre - unfortunately, the new residence hall was still under construction - shucks!

Then I thought about my semester in DC and was able to quickly locate not only where I lived on AU's Tenleytown campus for Washington semester students, I also found the street where my internship was! It was in the same building as the National Press Club and there was a corner store that had the most delicious sandwiches on the planet (google maps reminded me that it was called the "Corner Bakery") and there was a Filene's basement below! Right across the street was my gym, the Washington Sports Club.

I was on a roll, why stop at DC??? My next trip was to Providence, RI where I lived for 3 years after college. I went to my old apartment and then hopped a few blocks up to go to my friend Jen's apartment. It sounds silly, doesn't it? It's completely online, but they are pictures that I can almost "walk" through. I felt like I was really there, walking down Jewett Street, waiting to meet Jen. Then I jumped over to Brown University - to the Arnold Lab - the home of my very first full-time job at the admissions office of the medical school. I was tempted to have a walk down Thayer Street, but then I remembered New York.

Oh, New York. I was only there for the span of a summer internship at an off-Broadway theatre, and it's odd how that really was a blur. I knew I lived in Spanish Harlem so I started there, just poking around. I saw the place where I thought I did my laundry, but I wasn't sure, and there were many laundromats in the area. After being unable to locate where I lived, I dug around in various email accounts, searching for where I lived. I uncovered emails I had sent looking for part time and temp jobs while I lived in NYC and I found my address - roughly around 103rd and Lexington. Many places were still there - a little tiny side park where a Puerto Rican flag flew next to an American flag, and a cafe where an artist once showcased and sold his works. The neighborhood grocery store choke full of Goya products was still there and I instantly recalled many nights of rice and beans with my roommates.

I decided to check out where I actually interned - I couldn't even remember what it was called - but I knew it was on St. Mark's. I was pleasantly surprised to immediately find the bagel shop that I so loved as I "walked" down St. Marks. Then, I found it - The Pearl Theatre. Across the street from that was a pizza place where I can recall buying Italian ice with my fellow interns.

Wow, what a trip. As I "walked" through some of my life experiences, it was quite an odd feeling. Memories, feelings, friends, and experiences came flooding back to me. I remember what it was like to be 22 years old, in a big city, and incredibly lonely; I remember reading a Harry Potter book entirely at a Barnes and Noble (I couldn't afford a hardback book!); I remember the excitement of Times Square; I remember how accomplished I felt as a young intern going into the National Press Club, to IMF/World Bank Conferences, to the Senate gallery; I remember crying into the phone to my mom at the reflecting pond at Lincoln Center; I remember a flood of emotions as I walked past Ground Zero.

So while I do feel it's a little odd that thieves and stalkers now have a much easier way to plan and target their crimes, I have to say that for my purposes, Google street maps have allowed me to, in the span of one evening, take a "stroll" down memory lane and view places from my past that I wonder if I'll ever get to see again - places that I may not have documented as much as I would have liked to - places that I am from.