'Willis Tower' name will live in shadow of 'Sears Tower'

[Libertas1776]

Source: Chicago Tribune

First came the puzzled looks. Then the confused glances. And finally the questions. "You mean the Sears Tower?"
On the day that the nation's tallest building was officially renamed Willis Tower, at least a few Chicagoans were still in the dark -- or, at the least, denial -- about the skyscraper's new identity. Residents, visitor guides and even some taxi drivers responded with blank stares when asked for directions to the Willis Tower.
"We don't have Willis Tower. There is no Willis Tower here," said Momansor Hassan, 43, a cabdriver for 19 years.

<snip>

Others acknowledged the building's new moniker brought back memories of another name change: Marshall Field's to Macy's.
"The new Sears Tower," said Sue Becker, 53, who splits her time between Chicago and St. Charles. "They still call it Marshall Field's, so it's always going to be Sears Tower."

<snip>

Stan Ferstadt, 69, of Milwaukee knew exactly where Willis Tower was when asked. He works for the sign company that changed the iconic landmark's name.

When asked what he would call it, he didn't hesitate.

"Sears Tower."

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-willis-tower-sears-towerjul17,0,5588239.story

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Sold the naming rights of America's tallest building and a national icon to a London based insurance brokerage, Willis Group. Gee, What a surprise. What is this some kind of slow naming rights take over by British corporations. I mean, Barclays is already working on getting the naming rights to some subway stations in NY. They can change the name of it a million times, it is still going to be the Sears Tower to everyone whether some Brits in suits like it or not.

[izquierdista]

1. Whatchootalkingbout -- Willis?

[wallwriter]

5. Beat me to it. Nice. nt

[WorseBeforeBetter]

2. Marshall Field's -- now THAT was a department store.

Federated/Macy's, Inc. has destroyed all the good ones. Definitely miss Lord & Taylor...

Edit: Oh, and National Airport will ALWAYS be National Airport, not this Reagan crap.

[truedelphi]

4. Didn't realize Field's was gone.

A bit of nostalgia here. Store displays that rivalled the museums at Christmas, etc.

[Still Blue in PDX]

7. Like Meier & Frank. I still can't get used to it being Macy's. nt

[madmom]

3. What a good scam. They sell the naming rights, but people will always call/know it as Sears Tower.

[tomm2thumbs]

6. What is next? Citibank's Mt. Rushmore?

Actually, perhaps it is appropriate as when I think of Citibank I think of 4 stoned heads.

[mopinko]

8. i believe they sold the actual building, not just the naming rights.

sears has not occupied the building for over 20 years. they have been trying to unload it all that time.

but, yeah, it will be sears tower for at least a generation.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. Big Willie? hardly. No way. NEVER.

does Willis have some kind of penis envy?

[ovidsen]

10. Reminds me of the name of that airport on the Potomac.

It had been always known since its opening as a commercial airfield as Washington National Airport, or to locals and travelers as "National Airport", or just "National".

Then in 1998, in a fit of naming almost everything that didn't move* but accepted federal money after our 40th President, Congress (in it's dubious wisdom) renamed it Reagan National Airport.

Funny thing is, only a few professional sticklers and die-hard Reaganites call it "Reagan National" or "Reagan Airport". To the vast majority of people who work there, fly in and out of there, or live near there, it remains "National Airport", or simply "National".

May it always be so.

*I said almost everything that didn't move. The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) is a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that entered the fleet in 2008. How ironic that a ship that cost $4.5 billion dollars to build was named after a man who championed himself as a leader in the battle against excessive government spending.

[tabasco]

11. George Washington isn't good enough for the radical repukes.

Saint Ronnie the Corporate Puppet is their god.

[3waygeek]

12. I was listening to an NPR story about the new name

on Thursday afternoon -- at least one person interviewed referred to the tower as the "big Willie".