diff --git a/src/mzscheme/src/places.c b/src/mzscheme/src/places.c
index 4760193948..80cf1c7d34 100644
--- a/src/mzscheme/src/places.c
+++ b/src/mzscheme/src/places.c
@@ -159,14 +159,9 @@ static void *place_start_proc(void *data_arg) {
   stack_base = PROMPT_STACK(stack_base);
   place_data = (Place_Start_Data *) data_arg;
 
-  /* create a pristine thread */
+  /* create pristine THREAD_LOCAL variables*/
   null_out_runtime_globals();
 
-  REGISTER_SO(scheme_current_thread);
-  REGISTER_SO(scheme_first_thread);
-  REGISTER_SO(scheme_main_thread);
-  REGISTER_SO(scheme_thread_set_top);
-
   /* scheme_make_thread behaves differently if the above global vars are not null */
   scheme_place_instance_init();
   a[0] = place_data->current_library_collection_paths;