I CHALÅN-TA : PICK-A-NAIL ROAD

 

You won't find a street sign calling it PICK-A-NAIL ROAD.

You won't find a street sign calling it anything. No street sign survived the last typhoon.

And although officially it is GUERRERO ROAD (some say DRIVE), a lot of people still call it by its old name : PICK-A-NAIL ROAD (some say STREET).

How did this street get such an unusual name?

A MESSY, INDUSTRIAL PLACE

As you can see from the satellite map of Pick-A-Nail Road, it lies in the middle of heavily built-up, commercial Tamuning.

That particular area of Tamuning has always been the site of warehouses, industrial and mechanical supply stores, dredging companies, automobile services, roofing companies....you get the idea.

So the road back in the day was a bit messy, with nails, screws, bolts....you name it.....strewn about.

Joe Murphy, a columnist for the Guam Daily News (and later the Pacific Daily News), wrote in 1968 that someone decided to name the street himself and put up a sign saying PICK UP A NAIL STREET.

In other words, the street was so cluttered you could go and pick up a nail there anytime. Or maybe, help clean up the street by picking up a nail!

Sometime in the 1990s the street was officially named GUERRERO ROAD (or DRIVE). But a lot of people still call it by its old name.

Modern maps even put both names down, the old and the new.

OLD AND NEW NAMES TOGETHER

For those who may not be familiar at all with Pick-A-Nail Road, just remember that it lies in between AK and Denny's on Marine Corps Drive.

So, is Pick-A-Nail Road still so messy? Nope. I guess the Guerrero name has some magic to it, because, as the recent pic shows, the street isn't more messy than your typical Guam street in a commercial area. The street is so clean now, you can't even pick up a nail there anymore.

NOT A NAIL IN SIGHT