Studio City : Intersection Named for Yitzhak Rabin

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to honor slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by naming the Studio City intersection of Lankershim and Ventura boulevards after him.

At the request of Councilman Joel Wachs, the council agreed to name the much-traveled intersection “Yitzhak Rabin Square.” Wachs first proposed the measure soon after the Nobel Peace Prize winner was assassinated Nov. 4.

“I am very thankful to my fellow council members for approving my request,” Wachs said after the vote. “We have united behind a symbol of peace. When we salute Yitzhak Rabin, we honor his endless courage and the cause of peace that he championed.”

Wachs said the intersection was chosen because it is well traveled, in part by visitors to nearby Universal Studios, and it is near a planned Metro Rail station.

Wachs said he plans to send a signed copy of the council’s motion to Rabin’s wife, Leah. “This way, we can convey to the entire Rabin family our immense grief at their loss,” he said.

This was not Wachs’ first proposal to honor a Nobel Peace Prize winner. In 1990, Wachs had the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Ventura boulevards in Studio City designated to honor Andrei Sakharov, the late Soviet dissident.