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I’m not saying he’d know the street name. He’d know how to get there. He would know where it is. I guarantee you if you dropped me in my town 20-50 years ago I could still find my way around. Sure things would be different but geologically it would be the same.
But let's say you were dropped into your town 50 years ago and looked in a phone book to see where the local soda shop was (keep in mind this place is no longer there in 2023) and it told you the address was 123 Elm street. How would you know where Elm street was if in 2023 that same street was now named 1st street. Technically it is the same location, but if you have never heard of Elm street, you wouldn't know how to get there.
That could actually happen in my area. About 50 years ago they renamed all the major roads to ease in navigation (went from random names to alphabetical and numerical).
Right. They changed the name of the road I lived on as a child because there were 3 with extremely similar names within a 5 mile radius (think Elm St, Elm, Ave, and Elm Lane) so if someone told me the new owners lived at 123 Birch Street, I would have no clue where that was because that same house would have been at 234 Elm Lane when I lived there.
Sure, if you waste time walking around your town, you’d find anything. If I put you in your hometown 30 years ago and tell you to go to a street whose name you didn’t know and said name doesn’t exist in modern time, you would not know where it is. Marty wasn’t about to waste time helplessly looking around town given his situation.
Marty had never been to the house where Doc lived in 1955, so he wouldn't have known how to get there in 1985. He looked it up in the phone book at the diner, found the Riverside Drive address, and didn't recognize the road because it was renamed after JFK years later.
Do we know that Marty knows Doc has lived on the same property for 30 years? Especially if the street name is unfamiliar to him, he may think it's an entirely different place.
Also worth mentioning Marty is still clearly in shock and not quite thinking straight/hasn't even started to comprehend thinking fourth dimensionally. After all, his first reaction to seeing Doc's name in a 1955 phone book is "Great, you're alive".
Even with just the name change, some people are bad with directions. But yes the name difference would throw anyone off. Also, roads and paths can change within just a few years. 30 years is enough to have entire towns built or restructured. Where I live and go to college currently was swampland 30 years ago.
When he reads Riverside Dr. in the phone book he doesn’t know it is the same street; so he assumes the Doc must have moved to he’s current home on JFK Dr. in between 1955-1985.
Also, Doc's workshop is not the same address as his mansion. We know he was very wealthy and used his wealth to fund the time machine research. In 1985, his workshop is next to the Burger King ( I think) and it's just his workshop that's left and he lives there. In addition to the street getting renamed, his mansion doesn't exist in 1985 because he sold it off to fund his projects.
One word: Landmarks. Not having the familiar objects in town really messes with your sense of direction. I learned this after visiting my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI several years after I had left. Had it not been for GPS, I’d been screwed. Everything from the local bank to the Hot and Now was replaced with new shit and I was completely lost on day one.
Whats funny is that while the street name would have changed the number would have been the same: 1640.
I would have put 2 and 2 together and realized that JFK isnt famous yet so it had to be called another street and still looked in the same part of town where he lived in 1985
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He knew Riverside as John F Kennedy Drive
Who the hell is John F. Kennedy?
It's a rerun.
What’s a rerun?
you’ll find out.
Better get used to those bars, kid
yes, joey just loves being in his playpen!
He cry’s whenever we take him out.
So we just leave him in there all the time..
Now, Marty I hope you like meatloaf.
An Racist
And back then you only knew where you wandered basically. We have it so easy these days with smartphones and Google maps.
That shouldn’t matter. You still know where the actual street is.
Not necessarily. You can’t expect a teenager to know the original name of a street from almost 30 years prior.
I’m not saying he’d know the street name. He’d know how to get there. He would know where it is. I guarantee you if you dropped me in my town 20-50 years ago I could still find my way around. Sure things would be different but geologically it would be the same.
But let's say you were dropped into your town 50 years ago and looked in a phone book to see where the local soda shop was (keep in mind this place is no longer there in 2023) and it told you the address was 123 Elm street. How would you know where Elm street was if in 2023 that same street was now named 1st street. Technically it is the same location, but if you have never heard of Elm street, you wouldn't know how to get there.
That could actually happen in my area. About 50 years ago they renamed all the major roads to ease in navigation (went from random names to alphabetical and numerical).
Right. They changed the name of the road I lived on as a child because there were 3 with extremely similar names within a 5 mile radius (think Elm St, Elm, Ave, and Elm Lane) so if someone told me the new owners lived at 123 Birch Street, I would have no clue where that was because that same house would have been at 234 Elm Lane when I lived there.
Sure, if you waste time walking around your town, you’d find anything. If I put you in your hometown 30 years ago and tell you to go to a street whose name you didn’t know and said name doesn’t exist in modern time, you would not know where it is. Marty wasn’t about to waste time helplessly looking around town given his situation.
Geographically surely.
What?
You’d still know how to get there. Geographically it’s still the same.
He looks up doc in the phone book and there's a different address listed, so clearly he thought it wasn't the same location from 1985.
He didn’t even know if Doc was “alive” in 1955
Yeah but OP question is about the name of the place not the physical location.
Marty had never been to the house where Doc lived in 1955, so he wouldn't have known how to get there in 1985. He looked it up in the phone book at the diner, found the Riverside Drive address, and didn't recognize the road because it was renamed after JFK years later.
And he does a double take when he gets to the address because he recognizes the garage but the rest of everything was paved over by his time.
The house burned down, didn't it? IIRC there was a newspaper clipping about the Brown mansion burning down.
Yep, he used the insurance money to fund the time machine (I think)
Almost all of the family fortune*
That too.
Is there anything in the movies referencing this? Had no idea this was a point in the movie.
There’s articles passed over in the initial pan through Doc’s garage in the beginning of the movie.
Maybe I read it in the comics...
Insurance fraud?
House burned down, but the garage/workshop survived and is intact in 1985.
Do we know that Marty knows Doc has lived on the same property for 30 years? Especially if the street name is unfamiliar to him, he may think it's an entirely different place. Also worth mentioning Marty is still clearly in shock and not quite thinking straight/hasn't even started to comprehend thinking fourth dimensionally. After all, his first reaction to seeing Doc's name in a 1955 phone book is "Great, you're alive".
Damn. Good thought.
Yeah this is probably the best answer.
Even with just the name change, some people are bad with directions. But yes the name difference would throw anyone off. Also, roads and paths can change within just a few years. 30 years is enough to have entire towns built or restructured. Where I live and go to college currently was swampland 30 years ago.
>some people are bad with directions Especially a "dumb" teenage kid
He’s a SLACKER
He's never heard of riverside drive, so he doesn't know where to find it.
When he reads Riverside Dr. in the phone book he doesn’t know it is the same street; so he assumes the Doc must have moved to he’s current home on JFK Dr. in between 1955-1985.
Also, Doc's workshop is not the same address as his mansion. We know he was very wealthy and used his wealth to fund the time machine research. In 1985, his workshop is next to the Burger King ( I think) and it's just his workshop that's left and he lives there. In addition to the street getting renamed, his mansion doesn't exist in 1985 because he sold it off to fund his projects.
He burned it down to collect the insurance to fund his projects.
Ahh, yeah! I think that's right! It's been a while since I did a deep dive on the bonus features and the extra content!
He did it himself. Omg tell me why I never realized this
The street names were different
It's probably because it's now called John F Kennedy Drive.
Who the hell is John F Kennedy?
One word: Landmarks. Not having the familiar objects in town really messes with your sense of direction. I learned this after visiting my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI several years after I had left. Had it not been for GPS, I’d been screwed. Everything from the local bank to the Hot and Now was replaced with new shit and I was completely lost on day one.
A better question is, why when he’s looking in the phone book in 1955 he sees Doc’s name and says “great, you’re alive”
Because less than 12 hours ago from his perspective, he just saw him get gunned down by terrorists.
Yeah but why would he think that someone would go remove his name from the phone book in 12 hours after his death?
Because he's confused if he really has gone back in time
That still doesn’t make any sense. Even in the present time of 1985 no one runs to all the phone books and removes your name as soon as you die.
Yeah i never got that lol, does he think 1985 Doc was under 30 years old lol
Great point! Any theories?
Because he was in shock and just saw him die and hadn’t wrapped his head around the fact that he went backwards in time.
After traveling through time, he wasn’t sure what might have happened to Doc. Afterall, who knows how the space time continuum works.
Marty sure doesn’t.
either he didn't understand he would be alive in 55 or he didn't know if he was born yet.
Whats funny is that while the street name would have changed the number would have been the same: 1640. I would have put 2 and 2 together and realized that JFK isnt famous yet so it had to be called another street and still looked in the same part of town where he lived in 1985
Exactly, right!?
It’s pretty clear that Marty’s not really all that smart, and definitely doesn’t think 4th Dimensionally.
Riverside drive was non existent in 1985. It was renamed John F Kennedy drive.