New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell travels to Los Angeles today to attend and participate in the “New Orleans Corridor” Naming Celebration and Street Festival.
The weekend event is in partnership with the Los Angeles Jazz Festival Foundation and City of Los Angeles.
"This historic weekend will commemorate the deep cultural ties between the cities of Los Angeles and New Orleans and formally unveil a stretch of Jefferson Boulevard as the 'New Orleans Corridor,'" the mayor's office released.
Cantrell says the event is a cultural precursor for the 2024 launch of the Los Angeles Jazz Festival.
“As a native of Los Angeles and now 30-year resident and Mayor of New Orleans, it brings me great joy and pride to join my Sister Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles in celebrating the renaming of a stretch of Jefferson Boulevard to ‘New Orleans Corridor,’ as well as join in the cultural precursor of the 2024 launch of the Los Angeles Jazz Festival,” the mayor said. “The Second Great Migration that was born in the 1900s where millions of New Orleanians and other Southerners migrated westward has evolved overtime into a shared language and cultural connection felt in every corner of the globe, including Los Angeles. I appreciate and welcome this cultural exchange of music, art and ideas, while simultaneously sharing the richness and diversity of New Orleans. Like Los Angeles, the City of New Orleans is an extraordinary place and a city that has made a rich and unique contribution to American culture and history. It is my hope that this will be the start of a new tradition between our two cities and are looking forward to continuing to benefit each other through our cultural and tourism industries.”
This event serves as the first-ever full-scale international jazz festival in the history of Los Angeles.
On Saturday Mayor Cantrell will join Mayor Bass of Los Angeles, Former Mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown, U.S. Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager, U.S. Congressman Ted Lieu, California State Senator Steven Bradford and other dignitaries for a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially name the stretch of Jefferson Boulevard between Holy Name of Jesus Christ Catholic Church to Harold & Belle’s Creole Restaurant as “New Orleans Corridor.”
Saturday evening Cantrell will participate in a panel discussion titled, “New Orleans to Los Angeles: The Historical Migration,” alongside Mayor Bass, Los Angeles City Councilmember Heather Huitt, California State Senator Steve Bradford, Los Angeles Unified School Board Member George McKenna and Vice President of Global Government Affairs for Cruise Prashanthi Raman.
Mayor Cantrell will return to New Orleans on Sunday, June 18.
