Proposal to Honor Challenger Astronaut : Little Tokyo Torn Over Renaming of Street

A proposal to rename Little Tokyo’s Weller Street to honor Ellison S. Onizuka, the Japanese-American astronaut who died in the space shuttle Challenger explosion, has touched off controversy between supporters of the change and the merchants who would bear the expense.

Speakers at a public hearing Tuesday before the Public Works Committee of the Los Angeles City Council were unanimous in favor of honoring Onizuka. But representatives of the merchants along Weller Street--most of whom either work for Japan-based firms or are immigrants from Japan--argued in favor of creating a statue in the astronaut’s memory, rather than changing the street name.

Supporters of the name change, which was proposed by Mayor Tom Bradley in February, said at the hearing that nothing less than a name change would be sufficient to honor Onizuka. The street, which runs diagonally from 1st Street to the corner of 2nd and San Pedro streets, is lined by shops catering largely to Japanese tourists, and by the Weller Court shopping mall.

“By changing the name, we force people to use the name, like Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (which used to be Santa Barbara Avenue). That’s more important than any statue,” said Young Oak Kim, a Korean-American who is prominent in the Japanese-American community because of his World War II service with Nisei soldiers in Europe.

Kenzo Okubo, who spoke as a representative of the Little Tokyo Business Assn. and the Little Tokyo Community Development Advisory Committee, said that “the vast majority of the community wholeheartedly supports the name change to Onizuka Street.”

In a letter and petition dated March 17, representatives of 22 Weller Street businesses said that changing the street’s name would cost them thousands of dollars in new advertising expenses and replacement of materials bearing the old name. Petition signers stated, however, that they “are strongly in favor of honoring Mr. Onizuka . . . and are willing to express our sentiments through financial endorsement of a suitable memorial.”

Toshio Asakura, an assistant vice president of Ryowa Corp. USA, said Tuesday, however, that media accounts portraying the merchants as being “against changing the name of the street because of the expenses we face” were incorrect. The merchants believe that a statue would be more effective in honoring Onizuka because “a statue will never be forgotten,” he said.

Al Henken, who spoke on behalf of his wife, Tamako Henken, owner of Kiyono Fashions on Weller Street, expressed essentially the same position as Asakura in favoring a statue. They were the only two speakers opposed to the name change. Five people spoke in favor of it. Others on both sides of the issue were in the audience but did not speak.

Katsumi Kunitsugu, executive secretary of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, said in an interview that, while she personally supports the name change, she also understands the concerns of merchants and regrets the divisiveness caused by the controversy.

“Of course the merchants on Weller Street are upset, because they have spent a lot of money advertising Weller Street, especially in Japan,” Kunitsugu said.

“Simply a name change, I don’t think is worth all the ruckus and divisiveness it’s caused in the community.

“There is a gap (between Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants or business people from Japan) and we’re trying to narrow the gap, not open it.”

The committee deferred action on the issue until Aug. 26.