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 Figueroa Street sign in Los Angeles | |
| Namesake | José Figueroa |
|---|---|
| Maintained by | Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and local city jurisdictions |
| Length | 22.2 mi (35.7 km)[1] |
| Location | Los Angeles County, California, United States |
| Nearest metro station |  : |
| South end | Harry Bridges Boulevard inSan Pedro |
| Major junctions |
|
| North end | Chevy Chase Drive inLa Cañada Flintridge |
Figueroa Street is a major north-south street inLos Angeles County, California, spanning from theLos Angeles neighborhood ofWilmington north toEagle Rock. A short, unconnected continuation of Figueroa Street runs just south of Marengo Drive inGlendale to Chevy Chase Drive inLa Cañada Flintridge.
One of the longer streets in the city, it runs in a north/south direction for more than 30 miles (48 km) from its southern terminus at Harry Bridges Boulevard in theWilmington neighborhood to Chevy Chase Drive in the city ofLa Cañada Flintridge at the north end.
From its south end at Harry Bridges Boulevard todowntown Los Angeles, Figueroa Street runs north parallel to theHarbor Freeway (Interstate 110) inSouth Los Angeles. The only portion of this segment of Figueroa Street that lies outsideLos Angeles city limits is in the city ofCarson. South of the Los Angeles Financial District, Figueroa Street passes well-known locations including theUniversity of Southern California, theLos Angeles Convention Center, andCrypto.com Arena/L.A. Live.
BetweenOlympic Boulevard and 3rd Street in downtown Los Angeles, Figueroa Street forms aone-way pair with Flower Street, with northbound traffic staying on Figueroa and southbound traffic diverting to Flower.
After passing through downtown nearBunker Hill andSouth Park, the southern portion of Figueroa Street ends near the overcrossing ofSunset Boulevard over theArroyo Seco Parkway (SR 110) inChinatown. The northern portion of the street resumes atSan Fernando Road in Cypress Park. An early routing of Figueroa Street in this area was originally part ofU.S. Route 66, today a part of theArroyo Seco Parkway (State Route 110).[clarification needed] The notedFigueroa Street Tunnels were once a part of that same stretch of roadway.
After resuming at San Fernando Road, Figueroa continues to run roughly parallel to the Arroyo Seco Parkway until it reaches York Boulevard inHighland Park. Afterwards, it heads north to its terminus near theScholl Canyon Landfill just past its junction with theVentura Freeway (State Route 134) inEagle Rock. A short, unconnected continuation of Figueroa Street runs from a residential area just south of Marengo Drive inGlendale to end at Chevy Chase Drive just over the city limit line inLa Cañada Flintridge.
Early maps produced by theAutomobile Club of Southern California measured distances to Los Angeles from the club's headquarters at the intersection of Figueroa Street withAdams Boulevard.[2]
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The street is named for GeneralJosé Figueroa (1792 – September 29, 1835), theMexican governor ofAlta California from 1833 to 1835, who oversaw thesecularization of theSpanish missions in California.
Figueroa Street was originally calledCalle de los Chapules, which translates to "Street of the Grasshoppers".Chapules is the plural of"chapul", which is not the standardSpanish word for grasshopper (that being"saltamonte"), but rather a word from theNahuatl ofDurango andNayarit (also known asMexicanero).[3]
Later in the 1880s it became known as "Pearl Street". Figueroa Street originally was a few blocks west of Pearl but joined Pearl Street further south. Pearl Street was changed to Figueroa and the northern portion of the old Figueroa Street was renamed Boylston.[4] The section of what is now Figueroa in Highland Park above Avenue 39 was known as "Pasadena Avenue" until Figueroa was extended through Elysian Park. The portion of what is now Figueroa between the Los Angeles River and Avenue 39 was originally known as Dayton Avenue until the Arroyo Parkway went through.[5]
Prior to construction of theHarbor Freeway, Figueroa St. carriedU.S. Route 6 to Pacific Coast Highway south from theFour-Level Interchange.
Until 1977, theGuinness Book of Records deemed Figueroa to be the longest street in the world. At the request of writer Jay Myers, it was supplanted byYonge Street in Toronto.[6]
On April 2, 2011, a portion of Figueroa Street atJefferson Boulevard was blocked off for the "Orange Carpet" and the grandstand for the broadcasting of the2011 Kids' Choice Awards.
InSouth Los Angeles, Figueroa Street has the highest number ofprostitution-related arrests in Los Angeles.[7]
The Los AngelesLakers, the Los AngelesKings and Los AngelesRams have used Figueroa as the parade route for their respective championships in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010 for the Lakers, 2012 and 2014 for the Kings and in 2022 for the Rams.[8][9]
On "Mamba Day", August 24, 2020, then-Los Angeles City Council PresidentHerb Wesson and then council memberCurren Price announced plans to rename the 3-mile (4.8 km) segment of Figueroa Street betweenOlympic Boulevard andMartin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as Kobe Bryant Boulevard.[10][11] It would be renamed in honor of professionalbasketball playerKobe Bryant.[12][13][14][15] In October 21, 2020, the vote to consider the proposal was delayed by the council, Wesson is now retired and Price is being investigated by the FBI for corruption. No new voting date has been scheduled by the city council as of January 2025[update].[16]
The Figueroa Corridor Streetscape project was a city led effort to beautify and improve the boulevard by adding pedestrian friendly amenities. The beautification project began on 7th street in Downtown Los Angeles, by Crypto.com Arena and extended into Exposition Park by USC. The project began in 2017 and was completed by the end of 2018.[17] It aimed to improve transit and pedestrian access, it added protected bike lanes with physical barriers, a more organized and efficient street by adding better signalization and safety signage, high-visibility crosswalks, transit platforms, more trees, public art and wider sidewalks. The $20 million Figueroa Corridor Streetscape project was funded by a Proposition 1C grant.[18] After delays, work commence in the summer of 2016[19] and was expected to be completed by March 2017, when the prop 1C grant expired.[20] TheLos Angeles 2028 organizing committee plan to use this corridor as a planned "Live Site", an area dedicated as a central pedestrian corridor, linking all of the Downtown LA venues together during the 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games.[21]
| Location | mi | km | Destinations | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | John S. Gibson Boulevard | Continuation beyond Harry Bridges Boulevard | |||||
  Harry Bridges Boulevard toI-110 | Southern end of Figueroa Street | ||||||
 SR 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) | |||||||
| Carson | Sepulveda Boulevard | ||||||
  To Main Street /I-405 south | Frontage road; no access to I-405 north | ||||||
| Los Angeles | Rosecrans Avenue | ||||||
| El Segundo Boulevard | |||||||
| Imperial Highway | |||||||
| Century Boulevard | |||||||
| Manchester Avenue | FormerSR 42 | ||||||
| Florence Avenue | |||||||
| Slauson Avenue | |||||||
| Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard | South end of proposedKobe Bryant Boulevard | ||||||
| Washington Boulevard | |||||||
| Pico Boulevard | |||||||
| Olympic Boulevard | North end of proposed Kobe Bryant Boulevard; south end ofone-way pair where northbound traffic stays on Figueroa Street, and southbound traffic joins from Flower Street then Olympic Blvd. | ||||||
| Wilshire Boulevard | |||||||
  5th Street toSR 110 (Arroyo Seco Parkway) | |||||||
| 3rd Street toSR 110 (Arroyo Seco Parkway) | North end ofone-way pair where northbound traffic stays on Figueroa St. and southbound traffic diverts to 3rd Street then Flower Street | ||||||
| Sunset Boulevard /Cesar Chavez Avenue | |||||||
 SR 110 north / Alpine Street | |||||||
| Gap in route | |||||||
| Los Angeles |  San Fernando Road / Riverside Drive toI-5 south (Golden State Freeway) | ||||||
 SR 110 south (Arroyo Seco Parkway) | |||||||
| Avenue 26 toI-5 south (Golden State Freeway) /SR 110 north (Arroyo Seco Parkway) | |||||||
| Colorado Boulevard | |||||||
 SR 134 (Ventura Freeway) | |||||||
| Scholl Canyon Road | Continuation beyond SR 134 | ||||||
| Gap in route | |||||||
| Glendale | Marengo Drive | ||||||
| La Cañada Flintridge | Chevy Chase Drive | North end of Figueroa Street | |||||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||||
TheMetro C andJ lines operate astation underneathInterstate 105 at Figueroa Street.Metro Local Line 81 operates on Figueroa Street between Colorado Boulevard and Interstate 105 andTorrance Transit Line 1 between Interstate 105 and theHarbor Gateway Transit Center. TheMetro E Line has 5 stations nearby. Two of which are shared with theMetro A Line, one being a major hub connecting to theMetro B andD lines. The Metro J Line runs on Figueroa Street in Gardena and between 23rd and 6th Streets in Downtown: Northbound J line trips toEl Monte station continue north on Figueroa Street to serve the7th Street/Metro Center station and finally turn right on 6th street, leaving Figueroa Street. Southbound J Line trips to theHarbor Gateway Transit Center or San Pedro run south on Flower Street from 5th Street to the Harbor Transitway. There are 6 J Line street stops located on Figueroa Street: Figueroa/190th/Victoria;Northbound only: Figueroa/23rd, Figueroa/Washington, Figueroa/Pico, Figueroa/Olympic, and Figueroa/7th . In addition, there are 7 Metro J Line Stations served on theHarbor Transitway and Harbor Freeway close to Figueroa Street:37th Street/USC,Slauson,Manchester, Harbor Freeway (with C Line connection),Rosecrans,Carson, andPacific Coast Highway. The Harbor Transitway is located on the I-110 freeway, between Figueroa Street and Broadway. There are also three otherMetro A Line stations near Figueroa Street:Lincoln/Cypress (atAvenue 26),Southwest Museum, andHighland Park (atAvenue 57).
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Grasshopper Street – Calle de los Chapules – is now Figueroa which, in turn, is a tip of the hat to the former Mexican Governor Jose Figueroa.
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