Mike Nesmith Had a Texas Street Named After Him, Long Before Finding Fame With The Monkees
Before finding fame with The Monkees, Mike Nesmith was recognized with his own street located in San Antonio, Texas. This unlikely circumstance occurred long before Nesmith became a superstar recording artist with the wildly popular 1960s music group as well as a television star. How did Nesmith achieve such legendary status in San Antonio? It all had to do with a family member with big plans as a developer.
Mike Nesmith attended college in San Antonio, Texas
Nesmith began his career in the entertainment business as a folk singer while a student at San Antonio College. He performed at an Alamo City venue, the Teen Canteen, and won the school’s first talent competition with fellow musician John Kuehne reported the San Antonio Current.
He first came to the area after joining the air force in 1960. Nesmith did basic training at Lackland AFB. In San Antonio, he met his first wife, Phyllis, with whom he would have three children: Christian, Jonathan, and Jessica.
After realizing his talent for performing, Nesmith and Phyllis moved to LA, where he became the “hootmaster” at the Troubadour nightclub. But he was also a songwriter and performed at folk music clubs until late 1965 when he auditioned for and landed a part in the TV series The Monkees. He co-starred in the series for two seasons alongside Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones.
How did Mike Nesmith have a street named after him in San Antonio, Texas?
Nesmith was the nephew of former Leon Valley Mayor Richard C. Adair, a retired developer who built most of the homes in the neighborhood of Castle Estates.
Adair named the street after his nephew before Nesmith found fame as a Monkees member. “I think we called Mike Nesmith Street in 1956,” Adair told the San Antonio Express-News in 1991.
Mike Nesmith Drive occupies a block of flats off Wurzbach Road in the Castle Estate development in Leon Valley. Roadside America‘s website recognizes Nesmith’s street as a unique place to stop and remember his contribution to American popular culture.
The entertainer would go on to become infamous for other groundbreaking contributions to the entertainment industry
Nesmith would go on to become famous for many other groundbreaking contributions to the entertainment industry. In 1969, he formed the First National Band with old friend Kuehne, session drummer John Ware and steel guitar player Orville “Red” Rhodes. The group significantly influenced the burgeoning country rock scene of the early 1970s.
Through the remainder of the 70s, Nesmith focused more on the production end of the entertainment industry. He founded Pacific Arts Corporation to manage his music and television projects. These included a television show, PopClips, which combined music videos with commentary from a veejay-reported NPR. MTV would later duplicate this format.
Nesmith won the first video of the year Grammy for Elephant Parts, a TV special with a similar format. A short-lived 1985 NBC summer series titled Television Parts included early appearances by comedians Garry Shandling, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Whoopi Goldberg, and Arsenio Hall.
The series also gave fans a first look at the “Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey” skit, later a staple of Saturday Night Live. Handey discussed his collaboration with Nesmith for The New Yorker.
Between 1991 and 1998, the comedy sketch series included “Deep Thoughts” between sketches, introduced by Phil Hartman and read live by Handey.
