Classic Or Dud: "Unofficial Mayors"

POSTED JULY 5, 2005 -- Take a tour of one of the hottest cities in the "Dirty South." Who better to show you around the city, than the unofficial "mayor" himself - Jermaine Dupri? You'll see the vibrant downtown scene, major clubs, major rap crews, and a few up and comers in the game. Find out why Atlanta has become the home of the MOVEMENT in Hip Hop. Watch “Welcome to Atlanta” this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT).

63-year-old Yoshisuke Nagamine was introduced to most of America this past week in a Washington Post article entitled, "Seeking Shelter in Japan." Many in Japan may have never heard of this former air-condition repairman, but people reading the Washington Post now know him as the "unofficial mayor" of Osaka castle. According to the article, Nagamine has been the "unofficial mayor" since 1993.

But the U District remained McCune's first love and primary concern as its unofficial "mayor" in the 1960s. He and the district initially welcomed the baby boomers who flooded the district as University of Washington attendance swelled in the mid-1960s, but merchants also feared the growing numbers of "Beatniks," "Fringies," "Hippies" and other Bohemian-wannabes who loitered on the Ave and filled early coffee houses such as the Eigerwand and Pamir House and used bookstores such as The Bookworm and The Id.

They call him Mayor, though Trinidad has never had a municipal government.

The city hall? Well, the townspeople figure you must mean Faulk's Cafe, because that's where the big shoots get together when there is anything to be done.

"My title's unofficial, of course," says 62-year old T.S. Daniel, who divides his time between keeping books for the Texas Power & Light Company, running a harware store and fishing.

"How did I get it? You see, it's this way: When a man gets gray and develops a bay window folks start calling him 'pop' and asking for advice, That's how I qualified."

At first, Bruce E. Young, proprietor of Bogie's pet store, was cool to
the idea.

``You're the unofficial mayor of Centerville,'' I told him.

Young didn't want to take the credit for pursuing the dream of turning
the old Fremont community's downtown into a latter-day Pleasanton, Los
Gatos or Willow Glen with book stores, coffeehouses and restaurants
with white tablecloths.

After all, there are the old-timers who have spent more than a decade
struggling to transform an abandoned auto row into an elegant downtown
that would attract strollers, families, lovers and hey, maybe even
poets and artists.

Maybe the old-timers, such as Lisa Banaag of the Depot Cafe, or Dirk
Lorenz at Fremont Flowers, Gary King at Tri-City Properties or Greg
Ross at Centerville Presbyterian, would be the real unofficial mayors,
he suggested.

``Hey, aren't you the president?'' I asked him.

``Well, yes,'' he admitted.

``That's like mayor. Maybe better,'' I said.

So Young, the new president of the Centerville Business Association,
as of Saturday, humbly accepted the proffered title of unofficial
mayor.

Now he's going to clean up this town.

June 2001: Robert De Niro (the unofficial mayor of TriBeCa) announces his intention to open a new hotel in the neighborhood next door to his TriBeCa Grill.

We will now go to the Burnt Corn's best known resident, the Sam Lowery House. Sam Lowery was considered the "unofficial mayor" of Burnt Corn.

Apparently, the only qualification for the job is being able to sit on your ass in one spot every day for decades until someone calls you the "unofficial mayor". I'm all for sitting around a lot, so I'm leaning toward classic, but the cutesyness makes me lean toward dud.