West Anderson Becomes Wes Anderson

The temporary street sign renaming West Anderson as Wes Anderson, celebrating the UT alum filmmaker's latest movie, The French Dispatch (Photo by Heather Kennedy)

What do you get if you cross Wes Anderson with a ticket for The French Dispatch? All the way to the Alamo Village. Sorry, not much of a joke, but then the city of Austin renaming West Anderson as Wes Anderson isn't a joke, either.

Yes, in honor of the seven-time Oscar-nominated UT alum and director of The French Dispatch, Fantastic Mister Fox, and Moonrise Kingdom, West Anderson has been renamed (temporarily, but we should probably fix that) as Wes Anderson for the duration of November. Here's the full, and very official proclamation:

Be it known that:

Wheareas,
Wes Anderson, a native Texan and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, has been one of the most unique and beloved film writers and directors of the past thirty years; and

Whereas,
Wes Anderson's visionary work, from Bottle Rocket in 1996 to The French Dispatch in 2021, continues to inspire students, writers, and filmmakers in Austin and around the world; and

Whereas,
The Village Theater, opened in 1074 and located at 2700 West Anderson Lane, has been run by Alamo Drafthouse since 2001, and is the company's longest-running location in America; and

Whereas,
It has been noted that Wes Anderson's name, which so often graces the screen that the Drafthouse Village, is exactly eleven of the twelves character as seen in the street name "West Anderson"; and

Now, Therefore I, Steve Adler, Mayor of the City of Austin, Texas, do hereby designate West Anderson Lane as Wes Anderson Lane

Obviously, this is a big if temporary (for now) honor, and Anderson himself recorded a special thank you to the Adler, the Alamo, and Austin.

The Drafthouse is also holding a special competition to celebrate the name change. Take a picture of your pet dressed as your favorite character from a Wes Anderson film, post it to Instagram using the tag #WesAndersonLane before Nov. 15, and you could win a trip to the new Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan for a special screening of The French Dispatch. The winner will then be taken to the Press Room bar where, with a special mystery guest, they'll print their own copy of the film's titular newspaper on an original 1938 Vandercook Letterpress. Even if you don't have a pet, you can still dress up yourself before attending a screening of the film at the Village, and get a special prize.

Maybe the city should fully embrace its film history. Willie Nelson got a stretch of Second Street named after him, but where's our Slacker Avenue? Troublemaker Street? Candler Cul-de-Sac? Bob Byington Boulevard?