What's in a Prague street name

Pod sokolovnou was built in 1933. Its name translates as ‘under the Sokol’, which had been opened eight years earlier.

For the story of the Sokols, see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-114-sokolska/.

In communist times, the powers-that-be decided that the Sokols should be replaced with the joyful-and-spontaneous-as-they-sound Czechoslovak Union of Physical Education.

From 1948 until the end of the communist regime (when the Sokols were revived), the former Nusle branch was used by Slovan Orbis Praha, a basketball club.

SOP did well in their time, though: the men’s team won the Czechoslovak championship twice, whereas the ladies won nine times between the 1953-4 and 1964-5 seasons, i.e. 75% of the seasons that took place in that timeframe.

They (the women’s team) also reached the final of the European Cup (nowadays EuroLeague Women) on three occasions.

Nice little history on the Nusle Sokol’s website (in Czech): https://tjsokolnusle.cz/o-nas/historie/.