Inside Staples Center, Kobe Bryant’s Nos. 8 and 24 have hung from the rafters since 2017. And now outside Staples Center, a portion of Figueroa Street will be renamed in the former Los Angeles Lakers star’s honor.
Figueroa Street will be unveiled as Kobe Bryant Boulevard between Olympic Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to Los Angeles City Council member Herb J. Wesson Jr.
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
Wesson Jr. made the announcement on Monday, Aug. 24 — 8/24 on the calendar — which is officially known as Kobe Bryant Day in Los Angeles and Orange County. Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, were among nine people who died in a helicopter crash in January.
The Lakers will wear special “Black Mamba” uniforms to remember Bryant and his daughter for Game 4 of their first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday. Sunday was Bryant’s birthday. He would have been 42.
A portion of West 11th Street, which intersects with Figueroa and separates Staples Center from the plaza at L.A. Live, was already renamed Chick Hearn Court after the longtime Lakers play-by-play announcer in 2002.
