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Õllepruuli (Õllepruul)
Brewer. Pruul from MLG brūwer or brūere, brewer. Known as Brauereistraße or Пивоваренная (Pivovarennaya) in 1907, one year before its Estonian naming, then Brauereigasse in 1942 (due to a higher local Wort ratio…) In 1958, the street seems to have ceased to exist, although today it’s the road leading to Laidoneri Villa, named for Johan Laidoner (1884-1953), one of Estonia’s most notable military men, deported to Siberia in 1940, and died in the infamous Vladimir Central Prison used for political prisoners of the Soviet regime.
Lätte A. (Aleksander Läte, 1860-1948)
Composer and Estonia’s first music critic. Name changed due to fortunate similarity. Either way, back to the fons in 1991. Soviet occupation renaming (1948?-1991) of Lätte.
Lõkke (Lõke)
Blaze, fire, bonfire, campfire. After the sort of things Soviet Young Pioneers (pre-Komsomol scout-like associations) would build (see street next door, Pioneeride). Previously Bienert-Straße (1879) and Erbestraße (1882) after local land-owners Friedrich Ernst Bienert, apothecary, and Eugen Eduard Erbe, town councillor.
Laulupeo (Laulupidu)
Song festival (one of the great events in the Estonian calendar). Try and imagine over 100,000 people all singing the same songs, mostly from memory, for hours on end. In comparison, a recent survey found that the average Brit knew 4.74 words ad nauseam of Auld Lang Syne. Rare in Tallinn, the street has changed its name only once (1923) since its creation as Laulupidu (see Pidu for discussion of genitive pidu/peo) in 1921 (KNAB) although TAAK says it was built for the VIIth song festival in 1910, making it even longer. Singing means something to Estonians...
