Hollywood: Mix-up in Naming of Square

As the sponsor of the proposal to create Raymond Chandler Square in Hollywood, I wish to clarify a misperception implied by a recent letter (“Hollywood: Street Name Change Draws Fire,” Matthew L. Lesniak, Sept. 4).

The letter complained about the spate of street name change proposals in Hollywood, in which a historic name may be pasted over with that of a more recent figure. In the same breath, the letter linked my just-adopted project to a wholly unrelated proposal in a different City Council district (to rename a one-block portion of Tamarind Avenue in honor of L. Ron Hubbard).

Your readers should know there is absolutely no connection between these two projects. In proposing that the intersection of Hollywood and Cahuenga boulevards be designated as Raymond Chandler Square, I determined to avoid any disruption caused by a street name change. Raymond Chandler Square is not a street name and not part of any official address (though I hope residents and visitors will come to use the name informally).

Consideration of Raymond Chandler Square underwent the same deliberative process employed in the designation of any historic or cultural site as a city monument. My argument to the Cultural Heritage Commission focused on Chandler’s place in the city’s literary pantheon, and on the fact that the location approximates that of Philip Marlowe’s office--the starting point for a series of legendary journeys through the troubled soul of Los Angeles. The commission unanimously approved the proposal at two separate meetings, as did the City Council’s Arts, Health and Humanities Committee and ultimately the full council. Raymond Chandler Square is now Historic-Cultural Monument No. 597 of the City of Los Angeles.

Chandler, the author of such novels as “The Big Sleep” and “The Long Goodbye,” died in 1959, with all his books substantially set in Los Angeles. No one opposed honoring Chandler with his own square. To the contrary, city officialdom turned out to be packed with Chandler aficionados, as Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg and cultural affairs chief Al Nodal immediately embraced the proposal.

By designating Hollywood and Cahuenga as Raymond Chandler Square, Los Angeles has in a small way acknowledged its debt to the writers who have struggled to depict this most complicated of cities. Rather than erase history, Raymond Chandler Square celebrates it.

JESS BRAVIN

Los Angeles