Nobel-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez died Thursday at his home in Mexico City at the age of 87.
Marquez's stories, such as "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Chronicle of a Death Foretold," have reached tens of millions of readers. He was honored locally in 2003 when part of Clarence Street, which had been home to a Boyle Heights gang, was renamed Gabriel Garcia Marquez Street.
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Gregory Rodriguez, founder and publisher of Zócalo Public Square, came up with the idea. Rodriguez said he wanted to name a street after someone who inspired people to think deeper about what life can be.
"The first person we could think of was Garcia Marquez, whose talents could really sweep you away and take you into other worlds. So the idea wasn't about honoring the specific writer, it was about honoring the artistry that helps elevate humans and make life a little bit more tolerable for people in Los Angeles."