A portion of Figueroa Street near Staples Center will be renamed Kobe Bryant Boulevard, City Councilman Herb J. Wesson Jr. announced Monday.
“Figueroa Street will soon be Kobe Bryant Boulevard between Olympic (Boulevard) & (Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard). Kobe’s legacy is bigger than basketball. #KobeBryantBlvd will be a reminder to everyone, young and old who drive down it, there is no obstacle too big and that with the #Mambamentality, anything is possible,” Wesson said via Twitter. It remains unclear when the renaming will occur.
The late Los Angeles Lakers superstar would have turned 42 on Sunday. And Monday, or 8/24, in 2016 was declared Kobe Bryant Day (Bryant wore No. 8 at the beginning of his career and then switched to No. 24). Numerous professional athletes and teams, such as the Dodgers, paid tribute on Sunday. The Lakers will wear special patches during Monday night’s playoff game against the Blazers.
Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in January, an event that sent shockwaves through the country and the world.
Vanessa Bryant on Sunday remembered her late husband, expressing how much she loves and misses him in a social media post. “To my baby~ Happy birthday. I love you and miss you more than I can ever explain. I wish you and Gigi were here to celebrate YOU,” Vanessa wrote in part, including a photo of her and Bryant. “I wish I could make you your fav food or a birthday cake with my Gigi.”
To help commemorate the late basketball legend’s birthday, Nike teamed up with Kendrick Lamar for a 90-second video highlighting Bryant’s Mamba Mentality of always striving to be better.
Figueroa St. will soon be Kobe Bryant Blvd. between Olympic & MLK.
Kobe’s legacy is bigger than basketball. #KobeBryantBlvd will be a reminder to everyone, young and old who drive down it, there is no obstacle too big and that with the #Mambamentality , anything is possible. pic.twitter.com/gvekIFOU5u
— Herb J. Wesson, Jr. (@HerbJWesson) August 24, 2020
