The city of Los Angeles renamed a four-mile stretch of Rodeo Road “Obama Boulevard,” officially unveiling the street sign at a ceremony on Saturday, May 4.
What We Know…
- The stretch of Rodeo Road that was renamed runs through Rancho Cienega Park, where Obama held his first campaign rally in 2007.
- City Council President Herb Wesson submitted the motion to rename the street in 2017. In the motion, he explains that Los Angeles voters showed overwhelming support for Obama in 2008, and Obama has ties to the city as he began his education at Occidental College.
- Obama wrote in a letter read on his behalf at the ceremony Saturday that he is hopeful for the predominantly black neighborhood’s future generations. He said that while he is humbled by the street, he knows the homage is more about community mobilization than his individual work.
- This is the 14th street to be named after Obama around the world, the first of which is in Spain, named “Avinguda Barack Obama” in 2008. In the United States, California, Illinois, Missouri, Florida and Indiana all have streets named after Obama.
- While naming streets after presidents is popular around the country, Washington is still the most common presidential street name, followed by Lincoln and Jefferson.
The city of Los Angeles hopes to commemorate Obama’s historical presidency with this street name.
