Beverly Wilshire Opposes Proposed Metro Purple Line Station Name

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — When it comes to identifying subway station, Metro often keeps it simple, naming stops after the nearest major cross street.

But in Beverly Hills, a debate has emerged over the name of one of the city's two future stations being built as part of the Purple (D Line) Extension project.

It's the under-construction station located on Wilshire Boulevard between Beverly and Cañon drives. Metro refers to it as "Wilshire/Rodeo" on maps of the extension project, but that's just a placeholder.

The City Council gets to give any proposed name the final OK. Through a series of public outreach and studies, officials determined the most popular name choice is "Wilshire/Beverly Dr," according to a city staff report.

But not everyone is happy with the name.

"Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, respectfully requests that the name 'Wilshire/Beverly' not be used as or within the name of the metro station," the hotel's general manager wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to the City Council.

The Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau and Rodeo Drive Committee also endorsed the Beverly Wilshire's request, city documents show.

The hotel's representatives told officials that the "name similarities would negatively impact the hotel’s branding and marketing efforts," according to a city staff report.

So officials came up with an alternative: "Wilshire/Cañon Dr." But the Metro Ad Hoc Committee still found "Wilshire/Beverly Dr" was the best option — noting that the inclusion of "Dr" in the name makes it clear that the mass-transit station refers to the street, not a flipped-around arrangement of the hotel's name.

The City Council will consider whether to sign off on either name at its meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m.