A King in the City of Angels

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King speaks to a crowd of 4,500 on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles on April 27, 1965

Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but as in so many cities and towns throughout the country, his impact on Los Angeles was strong and far-reaching. King visited L.A. on numerous occasions to speak about equal rights and encourage voter participation, sometimes under tense, and potentially life-threatening circumstances. When he visited the city, thousands would turn out to hear this great orator and Nobel Peace Prize winner. King was comfortable speaking anywhere and seems to have welcomed every opportunity to get his message out. The venues he appeared in were wildly varied, such as the Los Angeles Sports Arena, the Second Baptist Church, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the Hollywood Palladium.

In the wake of King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, the city mourned the fallen leader, and then eulogized him with memorial services held at the Los Angeles Coliseum and the First Methodist Church. In 1983, Los Angeles officially honored the activist by renaming Santa Barbara Avenue as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, three years before his birthday was declared a national holiday. The nearby city of Lynwood followed suit in 1989 by rechristening Century Boulevard with King’s name.

Over half a century following his untimely and violent death, King’s presence in Los Angeles is still apparent. In addition to King Boulevard, where the Kingdom Day parade is held annually, his name is affixed to places around the city like schools, parks, a community college library, and a medical center. Los Angeles may have not been King’s home, but that didn’t stop countless residents of the city from welcoming him and his ideas.

Martin Luther King Jr. with actor Dick Van Dyke
Martin Luther King Jr. at the Los Angeles Coliseum on June 1, 1964. On the speakers' platform are, from left, actor Dick Van Dyke, radio-television personality Walter O'Keefe, the Rev. John H. Burt, and the Rev. Father Joseph Francis, S.V.D. (Photograph by Bob Miller, Valley Times Collection/Los Angeles Public Library)
MLK at the LA Coliseum
Reverends King and Kilgore with their families
MLK honored at the palladium
MLK at UCLA podium in front of a crowd of students
A Los Angeles resident collapses in grief while reading the details of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination
MLK tribute at the Colosseum
Cesar Chavez gives tribute to MLK
long line of people paying tribute to MLK
A crowd marches to city hall for MLK
Lynwood city council members under a new MLK blvd sign