Street outside Staples Center will be renamed Kobe Bryant Boulevard, Los Angeles City Council says

ByDAVE MCMENAMIN
August 24, 2020, 3:59 PM

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.

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 wore 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 night. 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.