Some Cool Things Named After California Legislators

Senator Hall at the dedication of Isadore Hall Drive

On Friday, the City of Compton renamed a street in honor of Senator Isadore Hall, who was born in the city, served on the local school district board, the city council, as well as representing the area in both houses of the Legislature.

Reflecting on this (and having compiled a list of “legislator placenames” a few years ago), I posted on Twitter asking the question “What would you most want to have named after you?”

There were some good responses;

A law. @AlexCVassar “Question: What would you most want to have named after you? Street, mountain, lake, missile sub, redwood grove…”

— Robert Ullrey (@Leg4Business) February 1, 2015

@AlexCVassar airport is highest honor. Nothing like being able to fly from Bob Hope or John Wayne to Reagan.

— Steven McCarthy (@StevenAMcCarthy) February 1, 2015

@AlexCVassar Nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

— Paco Torres (@PacoTorresCA) February 1, 2015

@AlexCVassar bike trail, obviously.

— Paul Mitchell (@paulmitche11) February 1, 2015

California politicians have had some very interesting things named for them including; schools, freeways, bridges, courthouses, libraries, towns and cities,

Some of the most interesting things named for California legislators:

USS Reagan

• Three legislators had U.S. naval vessels named for them; State Senator Mariano Vallejo got a nuclear missile submarine (SSBN-658), Assemblyman Glenard P. Lipscomb an attack submarine (SSN-685), Assemblyman Willis Bradley got a Destroyer Escort (DE-1041 and FF-1041), while Governor Reagan (never a legislator) was the namesake for an aircraft carrier (CVN-76).
• The largest city named for a former California legislator is Denver (24th most populous U.S. city), named for State Senator James W. Denver, who later served as Governor of the Kansas Territory. Incidentally, this means that Denver also had Denver International Airport named for him (15th-busiest airport in the world). I guess you could also say that the Denver Broncos are partly named after him as well. Also, three naval vessels were named after the city of Denver; two light cruisers (CL-16 and CL-58), and an amphibious transport dock (LPD-9).
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  Broderick Boys

  The criminal street gang (the “Broderick Boys”) got their names from their hometown of Broderick (which was itself named State Senator David C. Broderick)

• State Senator Pete Knight had the spacecraft “White Knight One” and “White Knight Two” named in honor of his work as an astronaut.
• Assemblyman William T. Coleman had a mineral named for him; Colemanite (a “borate mineral formed through the combination of borax and ulexite”).
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  Conness 55 backpack by The North Face

  Assemblyman John Conness had a 12,649 foot mountain named for him, but that’s just the beginning. Mount Conness has a glacier, named the Conness Glacier (so that’s a second thing named for Conness). Also, outdoor equipment company The North Face named a line of backpacks after the Mountain; the Conness 52, Conness 55, and Conness 70 packs. The packs are solidly constructed, which seems almost intuitive when you realize that their indirect namesake was one of the toughest men to ever serve in the California Legislature. I love that.