WORCESTER — For the past few weeks, Worcester residents have been beaming with pride as all eyes have been on Stephen Nedoroscik at the Paris Olympics. The Worcester native has won multiple medals on the men’s gymnastics team for Team USA, but it’s his energy and his glasses that seem to steal the spotlight.
Now nicknamed “Clark Kent” due to his thick glasses and superhuman skills on the pommel horse, Nedoroscik is enjoying his newfound fame and status as a super(hero) star.
As the Superman memes continue to surface, many fans are wondering: who is his Lois Lane? Nedoroscik is dating Tess McCracken, who has also embraced the Superman/Clark Kent memes and recently gained viral fame. In a recent interview with NBC’s “Today,” McCracken said people have been calling her Lois Lane, a nickname she doesn’t mind.
But did you know that in Worcester there is another Lois Lane “waiting” for “her” Clark Kent?
The short private street runs along That’s Entertainment at 244 Park Avenue and was renamed in 2012 after the owner of the “pop culture department store” filed a petition to change the name of what was then Marmon Place.
“It was just like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we changed the name?’ So we started asking customers and they supported the whole idea, which led to a petition, and eventually we had a big ceremony to unveil the sign,” said Pete Beaudoin, manager at That’s Entertainment. “We really weren’t sure how the city would react, but they were all really excited.”
Worcester Mayor Joe Petty, who has been mayor since 2012, remembers the decision fondly, saying that while comics were never his personal passion, Superman holds a special place in his heart as he grew up watching the Kryptonian on television.
“Worcester has a lot of quirky places,” he said. “This is one of many. It was great to be part of the process of renaming Lois Lane. I’m always amazed at the influence comics have on today’s youth.”
The street sign itself is almost identical to any other street sign in Worcester, even featuring the iconic heart. There is one difference – the sign is the only one in the city that spells out “Lane” instead of the traditional abbreviation “Ln.”
“When they made the sign, they formed the word ‘Lane,’ and that really gives the audience the full impact,” Beaudoin said. “It’s just that little bit of whimsy in Worcester, it’s wonderful.”
Lane first appeared in Action Comics #1 in June 1938. She works alongside Clark Kent as a reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet and has been Superman’s greatest lover for more than 80 years.
According to DC Comics, she is one of the most famous and celebrated reporters in the world and “a hero in every sense of the word.” During her career between the pages of comics, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist was also a wife, mother, costumed vigilante and political activist.
At the corner of Park Avenue and Lois Lane, the street sign has disappeared several times, but has been “rescued” each time and returned to its rightful place.
“We were building and one of the workers put the sign down for a moment and someone picked it up,” Beaudoin said. “It was actually a customer who took it upon himself to find the sign, which he did, and it was put back in its place.”
The store sells everything from comic books to records, board games to sports memorabilia and even has a small bumper sticker with the now-iconic “Follow me to Lois Lane” street sign. Aside from the bumper sticker, Beaudoin says the store’s best seller is a T-shirt that reads “Worcester: Paris of the ’80s,” a slogan coined sometime in the 1980s to attract people to Worcester.
Now Nedoroscik is back from Paris, having landed in Sarasota, Florida earlier this week. He is expected to head to Worcester at some point, where everyone, including Lois Lane, will welcome him with open arms.
T&G Engagement Editor Sarah Barnacle gets to know Central Mass. by exploring some of the best places to visit and things to do in Worcester County. If you have an idea or suggestion, please email [email protected].
