Council to Discuss Renaming Artesia

The Redondo Beach City Council will discuss a possible motion to change Artesia Boulevard to Redondo Beach Boulevard at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Councilman Pat Aust proposed the idea at a recent North Redondo Beach Business Association meeting, and several members of the NRBBA felt the name change could be a successful one for Redondo Beach.

"The positives are an improved identity, which represents local control," said Councilman Steven Diels of the possible name change. "Extending a Beach Cities street name into the Beach Cities is great for local and regional identity."

As it stands currently, Redondo Beach Boulevard runs diagonally and hits Artesia Boulevard at the mall.

If the name change were to take place, the stretch of Artesia Boulevard west of where Redondo Beach Boulevard and Artesia intersect would be renamed.

When asked about possible negatives that could come along with a name change, Diels did not think there enough to create drastic opposition to the proposal.

"There are no negatives—only challenges—which are opportunities," Diels said.  "Address changes will be necessary of the affected stretch of Artesia. Cooperation among the Beach Cities of Lawndale, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach is necessary. But again, it's just an opportunity to work together."

"Local businesses have championed the idea," Diels added. "We proposed it at the strategic plan meeting and it was approved. I have local business owners who want to help, so off we go. But we wouldn't and couldn't do it without local support."

One of those local business owners is John Gran, owner of Fish Window Cleaning in Lawndale and NRBBA treasurer.

Gran's business is currently located on Hawthorne Boulevard, but Gran maintains that the name change would have a positive impact on local business citywide.

"I think the business community would be very well served if we changed the name to Redondo Beach Boulevard," Gran said. "It seems like a very interesting idea since Redondo Beach does not have a Redondo Beach Boulevard. It seems like a great thing."

Gran also commented that Artesia Boulevard, in the eyes of many, comes equipped with a bit of a negative connotation.

"It has nothing to do with Redondo Beach," Gran said. "The thought process about Artesia Boulevard is it has a lot of stoplights and people try to avoid it. I think we can draw people to it by putting a North Redondo Beach branding to it."

Aside from the fact that the name change may possibly reinvigorate the Redondo Beach business climate, both Gran and Diels acknowledged that some businesses might incur certain difficulties, having operated at a particular address for a substantial period of time.

Councilman Matt Kilroy commented that if the name change does indeed come into effect, the city must be careful not to start a tidal wave of city alterations.

"I would just hope we don't get into a situation where every city starts to rename a section of their boulevards because that's expensive for people to have to redo all their envelopes, business cards, whatever has the address," Kilroy said. "There already is a couple other Redondo Avenues as it is."

Kilroy also mentioned that if this project were to take shape, it would call from participation across the South Bay, not just in Redondo Beach.

"Can we make it Redondo Avenue or Redondo Boulevard all the way through Manhattan Beach?" he asked. "That's what I’d like to do.

"I'd like to get Manhattan Beach on board so that it's Redondo all the way to PCH."