San Fernando Valley : Memorial to Rabin Proposed by Wachs

Studio City will have its own memorial to slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin under a proposal introduced Tuesday by Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs.

Wachs, who represents parts of Studio City, made a motion to designate the intersection of Lankershim and Ventura boulevards as Yitzhak Rabin Square.

This was not Wachs’ first proposal to honor a Nobel Peace prize winner. In 1990, Wachs proposed renaming Ventura Place in Studio City to Andrei Sakharov Street, in honor of the late Soviet dissident.

But the owners of small businesses on the street protested, saying the change would hurt business and force them to change advertising.

Ultimately, Wachs backed down and had the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Ventura boulevards designated Andrei Sakharov Square.

Wachs conceded that when he proposed dedicating the square to Rabin he sought to avoid the problems he ran into when he proposed renaming Ventura Place. “This is a lot cheaper and causes no disruptions,” Wachs said.