The Official Name of the Corner of Westwood and Rochester Is Women Life Freedom Square
By Dolores Quintana
A few days shy of the year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, which was on September 16, 2022, the Los Angeles City Council approved, in a unanimous vote, to rename the corner of Westwood Boulevard and Rochester Avenue as Women Life Freedom Square. The corner is located in the center of the Iranian community in Los Angeles, also known as Tehrangeles. We reported on the effort to rename the square earlier this year.
The new square is located only a block away from Persian Square at Westwood and Ohio. It said a lot that the Council’s vote was 15 to 0, and while the square itself is not named after Mahsa Ahmini, it is dedicated in her honor.
Council District 5 City Council member Katy Yaroslavsky said, “While her death was horrific, it was not in vain. In the one year since Mahsa’s death, millions of women in Iran and millions more across the globe have stood up and protested the oppressive Islamic regime. Hundreds of women have been murdered, and hundreds more are at risk of execution. Yet, these women have not backed down.”
Amini was only 22 years old when she was arrested by the Guidance Patrol, a religious morality police force that is part of the Iranian government. She died under mysterious circumstances after being taken into custody for not wearing a hijab. The religious police claimed that she had a heart attack and died, but witnesses said that they saw that the young woman had been severely beaten.
According to Roozbeh Farahanipour, a member of the Westwood Community Council and community leader, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation will inform them when the official signage will be installed at the corner.
