Waterloo always sounded like an exotic place to me, an English garden oasis dotted with fountains and plum trees and those little stone statues of naked angel-babies. The name suggested a swan pond, croquet matches, and crustless triangle sandwiches served at 3 p.m. for tea. Little did I know that the \u201cWaterloo\u201d Ray Davies was singing about in the Kinks\u2019 \u201cWaterloo Sunset,\u201d which first topped the pop charts 51 years ago this week, in fact referred to a bustling train station in the center of London, far removed from the green gardens I’d imagined.<\/span><\/p>\n

It took living in London to come to this realization. Prior to moving there at 21, I had a vague and filmic idea of the place, which would be better described as ignorant and romantic. I had no perception of London as a real metropolis. Like my relationship with New York before moving here, I simply knew I would love it. I decided<\/em> to love it. And most of that preemptive love came from the British music I listened to as a child and into my teenage years. The influence of U.K. rock stars and punk urchins so influenced my tastes that as a middle schooler I dreamt up a future business plan that paid homage to my heroes across the pond. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I was about 12 or 13, I let my dad in on this grand scheme of mine. I told him that when I was older, I was going to open a concert venue (\/record store\/clothing store\/cafe, obviously). I would call it, \u201cThe London Underground.\u201d My dad, a person who had actually <\/span>been <\/span><\/i>to London, as well as many other places, explained to me that this name was already taken, and the use of the word \u201cunderground\u201d in that name did not mean \u201cobscure\u201d or \u201cedgy,\u201d but \u201cunderground\u201d in the most literal sense. This was because that name belonged to the London metropolitan commuter train, which was in fact, subterranean. It would take me a decade to experience what he was talking about firsthand, but by then I\u2019d at least figured out that owning your own brick and mortar business was a pain in the ass, anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n