L Street

L

Lafayette Rd. The street is named for the Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834). The children’s book, Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, published in 2013 and written by Selene Castrovilla tells one of the many stories of our French friend. Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, comtesse de La Fayette (1634 – 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer, the author of La Princesse de Clèves, France's first historical novel and one of the earliest novels in literature. (from wikipedia)

Lafond Ave. https://saintpaulbybike is a fascinating blog by a Saint Paul lover who is bicycling every street in Saint Paul and then posting thoughts and pictures on the blog. Lafond Avenue is covered. The Painter's Daughter: The Story of Sandro Botticelli and Alessandra Lippi is by Carolyn Lafond  and published in 2002.

Lake St. The Lake Poets were a group of English poets who all lived in the Lake District of England at the turn of the nineteenth century. As a group, they followed no single "school" of thought or literary practice. The three main figures of what has become known as the Lakes School were William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey.

Lakeview Ave.

Lane Pl.

Langford Park The street is named for Nathaniel Langford (1832-1911) who lived in Saint Paul in 1854. He became the first superintendent of Yellowstone Park. He wrote several books about his explorations and other activities. One of his books is The Discovery of Yellowstone Park: Journal of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers in the Year 1870 (National Parks) published in 1972. Ruby Langford Ginibi (1934 – 2011) was an acclaimed Bundjalung author, historian and lecturer on Australian Aboriginal history, culture and politics.

Larch St. Dr. Wilbur Larch is the fictional director of the orphanage in the novel, The Cider House Rules written by John Irving (born 1942).

Larpenteur Ave. Forty Years a Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri: The Personal Narrative of Charles Larpenteur, 1833-1872 is a memoir by Charles Larpenteur (1807-1872).    He was the uncle of the street’s namesake. The street, itself, was named for Auguste Larpenteur (1823-1919), one of the first twelve settlers of Saint Paul.  (thanks to Donald Empson and his book, The Street Where You Live, for this information)

Larry Ho Drive The street is named for Laurence Curran Hodgson (1874 – 1937) who was a newspaper journalist, poet, and politician from Saint Paul, Minnesota. He used the name, Larry Ho, when his pencil broke after writing the first O while he was signing his name. His editor suggested he use that name. HOWDY FALKS Selections the writings,verse and speeches of Larry Ho (sic) was published in 1937 and is available over the internet. You can read Larry’s poem about Saint Paul's most famous madam, Nina Clifford, on the ‘net at 3ammagazine.com. Or you can read it in Don Empson’s book at the library or by buying it at your favorite local bookstore. Space and discretion forces the choice of either option.

LaSalle St. The street is named for the French explorer, Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle (1643-1687). His exploits are included in In the Hands of the Great Spirit: The 20,000-Year History of American Indians published 2003 and written by Jake Page.

Laurel Ave. Laurel's Kitchen is a vegetarian cookbook, first published in 1976, that contributed to the increasing awareness of vegetarian eating in the US. Its authors were Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders, and Bronwen Godfrey, and its subtitle was “a handbook for vegetarian cookery & nutrition.” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s family lived at 481 Laurel when he was born. The home is now a National Literary Landmark.

Lawson Ave. Robert Lawson (1892 – 1957) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He illustrated The Story of Ferdinand the Bull and won the Caldecott Medal for They Were Strong and Good, published in 1941 and the  Newbery Medal for Rabbit Hill, published in 1945.

Lawton St. N. Scott Momaday (born 1934) is a Native American author of Kiowa descent. His work House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969. He was born in Lawton, Oklahoma.

Leech St. The Leech Lake Indian Reservation (Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag in the Ojibwe language) is an Indian reservation located in the north-central Minnesota counties of Cass, Itasca, Beltrami, and Hubbard. The reservation forms the land base for the federally recognized Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, one of six bands comprising the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, organized in 1934. (from wikipedia) To Be the Main Leaders of Our People: A History of Minnesota Ojibwe Politics, 1825-1898 by Rebecca Kugel was published in 1998 and includes a discussion of the  Leech Lake Reservation. The street, however, was not named for the reservation but for Samuel Leech, a Saint Paul developer in 1848.

Leland St. Leland Bardwell (born 1928) is an Irish poet, novelist and playwright.

Lenox Ave. The lions flanking the front of the main branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL) are named "Leo Astor" and "Leo Lenox" (in honor of the founders of two of the earlier New York libraries that formed the NYPL, John Jacob Astor and James Lenox).

Leonard Ct. Leonard Cohen, (born 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. Some of you might be familiar with him through the movie, Shrek!. Hallelujah!

Leone Ave. The Book of Negroes is a historical document which records names and descriptions of 3,000 African-American slaves who escaped to the British lines during the American Revolution and were evacuated by the British by ship to points in Nova Scotia as freedmen. Cato Perkins is listed in the book. He was an African-American slave from Charleston, South Carolina who became a missionary to Sierra Leone. The book was assembled during the late 1700's.

Levee Rd. "When the Levee Breaks" is a blues song written and first recorded by husband and wife Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929. The song is in reaction to the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006 documentary film directed by Spike Lee about the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana, due to the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina.

Lexington Pkwy. Ruth Sawyer (1880 –1970), was a storyteller and a writer of fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. She is  the author of Roller Skates, which won the 1937 Newbery Medal. Her daughter, Peggy, married children’s author and illustrator, Robert McClusky. He illustrated Ruth Sawyer’s book, Johnny Cake Ho! Ruth Sawyer was living in Lexington, Massachusetts, at her death.

Lightner Pl. Candace "Candy" Lightner (born 1946) is the American organizer and founding president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Honor Them All  is a musical CD tribute to MADD and includes artists such as Carly Simon and Carole King.

Lincoln Ave. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was an American poet and essayist. Abraham Lincoln’s death affected him greatly. Two of his most well-known poems deal with Lincoln’s death: O Captain, My Captain! and When Lilacs Last In the Dooryard Bloom’d.  The second poem begins:     When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,      and the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night,    I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

Linden St In Swann's Way, the first book of Marcel  Proust's (1871-1922) In Search of Lost Time, the narrator dips a petite madeleine into a cup of Tilia blossom tea. The aroma and taste of cake and tea triggers his first conscious involuntary memory.Tilia is the genus from which the Linden tree belongs. Proust’s novel is seven volumes long. This author has read the first and loved it. He plans to get through the rest when he comes to his dotage.

Linwood Ave. Linwood Barclay (born 1955) is an American-born Canadian author. His popular detective novels are bestsellers in Canada and internationally, beginning with No Time for Goodbye in 2007.

Litchfield St. Joe Paddock (born 1937) and his wife, Nancy Paddock, are poets and environmental writers who live in Litchfield, Minnesota.

Livingston Ave. Henry Livingston, Jr. (1748 - 1828) has been proposed as being the uncredited author of the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", more popularly known (after its first line) as "The Night Before Christmas." Credit for the poem was taken in 1837 by Clement Clarke Moore, a bible scholar in New York City, nine years after Livingston's death. It wasn't until another twenty years that the Livingston family knew of Moore's claim, and it wasn't until 1900 that they went public with their claim. Since then, the question has been repeatedly raised and argued by experts on both sides. In 2000, Professor Don Foster made a strong case for Livingston's authorship, while Professor Stephen Nissenbaum and manuscript dealer Seth Keller, who had owned a Moore manuscript copy of the poem at the time of Foster's book, argued for Moore. Fifteen years later New Zealand scholar and Emeritus Professor of English Literature, MacDonald P. Jackson, invested over a year of research statistically analyzing the poetry of both men. His conclusion: "Every test, so far applied, associates "The Night Before Christmas" much more closely with Livingston's verse than with Moore's." (from wikipedia)

Loeb St. The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb (1867-1933)) is a series of books, today published by Harvard University Press, which presents important works of ancient Greek and Latin literature in a way designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience, by presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each left-hand page, and a fairly literal translation on the facing page.

Lombard  Ave. Carl Sandburg (1878 – 1967) was an American poet, writer, and editor who won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. He is a graduate of Lombard University in Galesburg, Illinois.

Londin Circle

Long Ave.

Loretto St. Andrew Lang (1844 – 1912) was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. He attended Loretto School, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland.

Longfellow Ave. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy and was one of the five Fireside Poets.

L’Orient St.

Louis St. Louis is the main character in The Mysterious Tadpole, a children’s picture book by Steven Kellogg.

Louise Ave. Louise Erdrich (born 1954) is an American writer of novels,poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, a band of the Anishinaabe (also known as Ojibwa and Chippewa).

Lower Afton Rd. The town of Afton, Minnesota, takes its name from the poem, “Sweet Afton” by the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, (1759-1796). The first verse is as follows: Flow gently, sweet Afton! among thy green braes, Flow gently and I’ll sing thee a song in thy praise; My Mary’s asleep by the murmuring stream, Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

Lower Hidden Falls Dr.

Lower St.

Ludlow Ave. Patricia D. Ludlow is a children’s book illustrator. Dear Santa: Please, Don't Come This Year, published in 1994 is one of hers.

Luella St. Louella Parsons (1881 – 1972) was the first American movie columnist. She was involved in a court case with Hedda Hopper. The story is told in Vanity Fair's Hollywood, edited by Graydon Carter and David Friend and published in 2000.

Lacrosse Ave. The Creator's Game: A Story of Baaga'adowe/Lacrosse is a children's book written by Art Coulson with illustrations by Robert Desjarlait. It was published in 2013 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. The illustrator, Robert DesJarlait (Anishinaabe, Red Lake), cofounder of Protect Our Manoomin, is an artist and activist who illustrated Meridel LeSueur's children's book, Sparrow Hawk. Meridel Le Sueur (1900-1996) was a writer and activist. She is commemorated in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the Meridel Le Sueur building in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. She published many books which can be searched for on the internet.

Lafayette Fr. Rd.

Lyon St. Lyon, France, is the home of the Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport. The airport is named after Lyonnais aviation pioneer and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), the author of The Little Prince.

Lyton Pl. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (May 1803 – 1873), was an English novelist, who coined the phrases "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", "dweller on the threshold", as well as the infamous opening line "It was a dark and stormy night" from his novel, Paul Clifford.” His name is not spelled the same as the street but the reference is the best this author can find.

Luther Pl. Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport is a children’s picture book biography published in 2001.