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Everyone else can go home because Delta Air Lines has officially won the niche marketing game. There appears to be a wall-sized ad on Hyperion Avenue near Tracy Street* from the airline advertising their LAX to Mexico flights with the ultimate in creative taglines: "Go where everyone agrees how to pronounce 'Los Feliz.'"
The airline is, of course, riffing on the fact that the Angeleno pronunciation of the neighborhood (los FEEL-uz) is, um, wrong. Or at least it differs from the actual Spanish pronunciation of the phrase (los fey-LEASE).
"Long ago … Midwesterners gave every Spanish-sounding place name in Southern California a Midwestern pronunciation," as historian D.J. Waldie told the L.A. Times a few years ago. That same 2013 Times article also says that the Spanish pronunciations are making a comeback, though we have yet to see evidence of any real switchover. There is also a Reddit thread devoted to the important question of how to pronounce Los Feliz with over 50 comments.
Other L.A. neighborhoods whose names are Americanized versions of Spanish words include San Pedro (the correct Spanish pronunciation should actually be "san ped-droh" not "PEED-droh") and El Segundo.
We reached out to Delta twice to confirm that this is definitely a real ad and not the work of some very dedicated and slightly arcane artist but have yet to hear back. It looks pretty legit, though.
*We are pretty sure that's technically Silver Lake.
Update [11:54 p.m.]: Delta has confirmed that this is, in fact, a real ad. A+ work, guys.
