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South Los Angeles, following in the footsteps of neighborhoods like WeHo, NoHo and DTLA, might be getting a snazzy new nickname: "SOLA."
Councilmember Bernard C. Parks, who represents the 8th District, is leading the charge in rebrand the neighborhood formerly known as South Central, according to the L.A. Times. While some residents have only mentioned to Parks in passing that they'd like the name change, they got a chance to speak up about it in a City Council meeting today.
"They see these other communities reinvigorated by these contemporary names,” Parks said. "And they wonder, at times, why their community is lagging behind."
Council president Herb Wesson referred the motion to a neighborhood committee and said he'd like to give the public more time to comment on it before moving ahead, according to the Associated Press.
Gloria Walton, head of Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education, told the Times that it's important that the city has a "true focus group" to see if the name change is something residents actually want. "But it begs the question: Who is the name change really for? It is really for the residents who live here now or is this about gentrification?"
Curbed LA reports that the "SOLA" name first got popular after it was announced that a massive mixed-use development dubbed "SoLA Village" would be built in the Historic South-Central. The 1.66-million-square-foot complex is expected to have residential units, a hotel, grocery store and retail space.
Back in 2003, the L.A. City Council officially changed "South Central Los Angeles" to "South Los Angeles" because of the neighborhood's notoriety after the 1992 riots.
