LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A South Los Angeles street was renamed in honor of former President Barack Obama during a festival Saturday, featuring musical guests Doug E. Fresh, Yo-Yo, BJ the Chicago Kid, Battlecat and Kurrupt.
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted in August to rename a 3.5-mile stretch of Rodeo Road as Obama Boulevard.
“I'm thrilled that Los Angeles will be home to Obama Boulevard,” City Council President Herb Wesson said last month. “Our history is important and this is one way that we will ensure that America's 44th president's legacy is shared for generations to come for Angelenos and visitors alike.”
The thoroughfare is in Wesson's council district and near “President's Row,” a series of streets named after former presidents. It includes Washington Boulevard, Adams Boulevard and Jefferson Boulevard.
“In this moment of political tumult on the national level, it's important to take stock of the tremendous accomplishment that was Barack Obama's presidency,” county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said. “His ascent to our nation's highest office represents, in some ways, the fulfillment of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream.”
When Wesson proposed the name change in 2017, he noted that then- candidate Obama held a campaign rally at Rancho Cienega Recreation Center on Rodeo Road in 2007.
The location of the naming ceremony was where Obama Boulevard intersects with Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Wesson's Public Information Officer, Jasmyne Cannick, told City News Service that about 100 Obama Boulevard signs will be erected along the route in the coming days.
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