The Mayor's Promenade.

Memorial Bust To the Homeless Mayor

Silver Spring, Maryland

Everybody in downtown Silver Spring knew Norman Lane. He wore a hard hat, he had a catchphrase ("Don't worry about it!"), and he would give roses to women that he met on the street and at the train station. The small change he got in return would be used to buy Pall Mall cigarettes and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.

Norman Lane.

He would also occasionally do odd jobs, such as groundskeeping at Bethesda Naval Hospital. It was on one of those jobs that he met President Lyndon Johnson, who was so charmed by Norman that he later sent him a personally autographed President Lyndon Johnson photograph.

In 1979 the TV show "Real People" asked the citizens of Silver Spring if they would vote for Norman for mayor. Every single person answered yes. From that point until his death eight years later, "Mayor" Norman was a celebrity. And on October 11, 1991, four years after Norman's passing, sculptor Fred Folsom unveiled a life-sized bronze bust of him in the former alley that was one of his favorite hangouts.

It's now known as "The Mayor's Promenade" or "Mayor Lane."