Commemorative Street Naming: Fungibility, Ownership, and the Renaming of MLK Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The article discusses the renaming of Santa Barbara Avenue in Los Angeles, California, to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on January 15, 1983, a change driven by civic leaders and civil rights activists to commemorate the civil rights leader. The transformation of street names exemplifies the role streets play in urban commemoration, with street names being both fungible and public, highlighting the dynamic nature of commemorating in the urban landscape and revealing a triangular relationship between place, memory, and identity. The author concludes that understanding the adaptability of commemorative street names can alleviate worries about their removal, as it underscores how change is inherent in the process of commemoration, with street names evolving to reflect contemporary cultural contexts and accumulating meaning over time, even if they remain unchanged.