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Photos: Highland Park Goes Gaga Over President Obama's Visit

While we're used to President Barack Obama hitting up the Westside whenever he makes a visit into town, today he made a very special trip through Highland Park and Eagle Rock. Local residents were really, really excited despite all the heinous traffic his visit has caused.
Obama was in Highland Park this morning for an interview for the "WTF With Marc Maron" podcast, which is recorded inside the Marc Maron's home garage. Obama's cool cred just went off the charts because we don't know any other President who would do an interview in someone's garage.
Maron tweeted this out this morning after someone tagged him in photo tweet of Obama's plane landing in Santa Monica:
Okay. Getting dressed. Thanks for the heads up. https://t.co/KE9PxUiAFq
— marc maron (@marcmaron) June 19, 2015
Excitement was bubbling through the closed-off streets of Highland Park and Eagle Rock. There were crowds waiting outside of Maron's house to get a glimpse at the President.
Kids held adorable signs wishing Obama a Happy Father's Day. We just let out an audible, "Aww!"
#cuteness pic.twitter.com/JK1L2mn5GK
— Nedra Pickler (@nedrapickler) June 19, 2015
People in #highlandpark waiting for #presidentobama to pass in Ave 51 & Coringa Dr. @jackieguzman pic.twitter.com/Mf7CqBMOFf
— EGP News (@egpnews) June 19, 2015
He was even greeted by a zumba class, because what President doesn't like zumba? These folks know how to do it right:
President Obama visits #HighlandPark/#EagleRock. He has Zumba dancers ready to greet his motorcade! pic.twitter.com/Oy4k7t3jjf
— Jennifer Thang (@jenniferthang) June 19, 2015
People made videos of Obama's motorcade coming through:
There was even this Photoshopped image of Obama and his dog, Bo, outside of a Highland Park tattoo parlor:
This isn't the first time that Obama has reached out to millennials through the stuff the cool kids are into. He was on comedian Zach Galifianakis' web series, Between Two Ferns, served as host of the day for Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, and went viral when he filmed a video for BuzzFeed. But we might get a little more out of the president this time around with Maron's podcast.
"We think this is an opportunity to have an extended candid conversation, not necessarily about news of the day items, but I think this is going to be much more about areas of the president’s life that don't always get reported in the news," principal deputy press secretary Eric Schultz told reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday en route to Los Angeles, according to City News Service.
Maron even has a little souvenir from the President after the interview ended:
[h/t: The Eastsider]
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