Los Angeles approves changing name of Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard

William Cummings | USA TODAY

It's official: Rodeo is being renamed Obama.

OK, it's not the world famous Rodeo Drive of Beverly Hills, but Los Angeles has approved a move to rename Rodeo Road of the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw area for former President Barack Obama, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced in a tweet Tuesday.

"We’re thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President @BarackObama when traveling across L.A.," Garcetti tweeted, after the city council voted in favor of naming the road Obama Blvd.

The 3.5-mile road runs through a predominantly African-American residential area and past Rancho Cienega Park, where Obama held a campaign rally on Feb. 20, 2007, in his historic campaign to the White House.

It’s official: our City Council has voted to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard!



We’re thrilled that Angelenos and visitors will forever be reminded of the legacy of President @BarackObama when traveling across L.A. pic.twitter.com/gnVNgBgndn — Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) August 29, 2018

L.A. City Councilman Herb Wesson, who proposed the name change in June 2017, noted that the proposal was approved on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. Tuesday was also the anniversary of the day Obama became the first African-American presidential candidate for a major political party in 2008.

Also #OTD in 2008, @BarackObama became the first African-American presidential nominee from a major political party. Today our council gave final approval to our motion to rename Rodeo Road to Obama Boulevard. Proud to take this next step on a day that meant so much to so many. pic.twitter.com/fpGqikmQtD — L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson (@HerbJWesson) August 28, 2018

The Los Angeles Times noted that Rodeo Road was not the first stretch of L.A. asphalt to be named in honor of the 44th president. In 2017, the California legislature passed a resolution renaming a portion of the 134 Freeway after Obama.