Los Angeles Wants to Rename Rodeo Road ‘Obama Boulevard’

A Los Angeles city councilman has proposed renaming a 3.4-mile segment of Rodeo Road, between Jefferson Boulevard and Arlington Avenue — already known as “President’s Row” — after former President Barack Obama.

Although his frequent visits to the Golden State during his presidency created some of Los Angeles’s worst traffic jams, “Obama Boulevard” likely won’t be the cause of much congestion.

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson proposed the name addition. If it is approved by the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti, Obama’s name would be added to a succession of streets named for Presidents George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Wesson reportedly first met Obama on Rodeo Road. He told the Daily News of the encounter, “[I]t was history. And who knows how people report history, but when they talk about his first official campaign stop in California, it’s going to be in an area that’s off a street that we named after him. That will live on longer, after me and him.”

Obama Boulevard would not be the first place in California named after the nation’s 44th president.

Breitbart News reported in December that State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) and a group of Democrats in Los Angeles proposed renaming California’s route 134 freeway after Obama.

Also in December, the City of Pasadena unveiled a sidewalk plaque outside the apartment Obama used to live in while attended Occidental College, before he transferred to Columbia University.

Several California schools have also been named after the 44th president. They include the Barack Obama Charter School in Compton (renamed after him in 2009), the Barack Obama Academy in Oakland (renamed after him in 2009), and the Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy in Los Angeles (built in 2010).

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.