The picture above comes from contributing photographer, Royela, who was walking through Silver Spring at night and thought the statue of Norman Lane would make a good MDP post. I think she’s right.
Norman Lane was homeless man who, in a strange twist, became beloved by his neighbors. He was so well regarded, and so frequently found downtown, that locals affectionately began to refer to him as the Mayor of Silver Spring. Today, this statue sits near an alley that has been named mayor lane, in his honor. I can do little justice to the man’s story as I know nothing that I haven’t read or heard from others.
For that reason, I made a trip to photograph the statue in the daytime and to try to give you a better understanding of Norman by showing you the plaque below his statue.
As you can see, the years since 1991 haven’t treated that plaque very well.
I can offer another picture of the statue that I took in the daylight, and a few links to some other sources of information.
This article has a section about the artist behind the bust and tells a bit of the story of Norman giving flowers to local ladies. http://silverspringhistory.homestead.com/ArtistsEye.html
The downtown silver spring organization has a summary of the statue as well http://www.silverspringdowntown.com/go/the-mayor
at first i thought, this picture was from my cell phone & not up to MDP standards. BUT! then I saw yours and upon further consideration, I think my photo holds its own next to yours. The Mayor of Silver Spring was often drunk. It makes sense his statue be a little blurry. Thanks, MDP!
That reminds me a little bit of this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_barnes
I don’t believe he’s homeless, though.