Figueroa Street
Figueroa Street is a major north-south street in Los Angeles County, California, spanning from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington north to Eagle Rock. A short, unconnected continuation of Figueroa Street runs just south of Marengo Drive in Glendale to Chevy Chase Drive in La Cañada Flintridge.
Namesake
25.00 mi (40.23 km)
Harry Bridges Boulevard in San Pedro
- Sunset Boulevard / Cesar Chavez Avenue
- Gap in route
- San Fernando Road
SR 134 near Eagle Rock- Gap in route
- Marengo Drive
Chevy Chase Drive in La Cañada Flintridge
On "Mamba Day", August 24, 2020, then-Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson and council member Curren Price announced plans to rename the segment of Figueroa Street between Olympic Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as Kobe Bryant Boulevard, in honor of professional basketball player Kobe Bryant.[1]
Future[edit]
Kobe Bryant Boulevard[edit]
On August 24, 2020, then-Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson and council member Curren Price announced plans to rename the 3-mile (4.8 km) segment of Figueroa Street between Olympic Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as Kobe Bryant Boulevard.[10][11] It would be renamed in honor of professional basketball player Kobe Bryant, who along with his daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020.[12][13] The segment of Figueroa between Olympic and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard passes by the Crypto.com Arena, the home to the Los Angeles Lakers who Bryant played with throughout his entire 20-year career and is dubbed the "House that Kobe built".[14][15] In October 21, 2020, the vote to consider the proposal was delayed by the council, and a new date has yet to be stated as of June 2021.[16]
"My Figueroa" development plan and 2028 Summer Olympics[edit]
The Figueroa Corridor Streetscape project is a city led effort to beautify and improve the boulevard by adding pedestrian friendly amenities. The beautification project began on 7th street in Downtown Los Angeles, by Crypto.com Arena and terminates at Exposition Park at USC. The project began in 2017 and was completed by the end of 2018.[17] It aimed to improve transit and pedestrian access, protected bike lanes totally protected by physical barriers, a more organized and efficient street by adding better signalization and signage, high-visibility crosswalks, transit platforms, more street trees, public art and wider sidewalks. The $20 million Figueroa Corridor Streetscape project was funded by a Proposition 1C grant.[18] After delays, work was expected to commence in the summer of 2016[19] and was expected to be completed by March 2017, when the prop 1C grant expired.[20] The Los Angeles 2028 organizing committee plan to use this corridor as a planned "Live Site", an area dedicated as a central pedestrian corridor, linking all of the Downtown LA venues together during the 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games.[21]
Bonaventure Hotel, 404 South Figueroa
Jonathan Club, 545 South Figueroa
Engine Co. 28, 644 South Figueroa (1912 fire station)
HSBC Building at Seventh Street, 2012
Original Pantry Cafe, 9th Street and Figueroa
Variety Arts Center Building, 938-940 South Figueroa, 1980, Julius Shulman photo
Los Angeles Convention Center at Pico Boulevard and Figueroa
Bob Hope Patriotic Hall, 1816 South Figueroa
Stimson House (1891), 2421 South Figueroa
St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Figueroa at Adams Boulevard (NorthWest corner)
Automobile Club of Southern California, Figueroa at Adams Boulevard (SouthWest corner)
Felix Chevrolet (iconic neon sign), Figueroa at Jefferson Boulevard (photo: John Margolies, 1977)
BMO Stadium, Exposition Park, and historic palm tree
Appearances in popular culture[edit]
The Figueroa corridor was featured by Huell Howser in Road Trip, episode 103.[24]