El Porto? No Mas!

You've heard the chatter for however long – El Porto needs a new image.

Now it's official: "El Porto" is no more. It'll be "North Manhattan Beach" from now on, thank you.

That's the decision of residents, businesses and even the City Council. And they'll be backing it up with flags, landscaping, even a celebratory re-paving of Highland Ave. (See this almost perfect Daily Breeze story for more.)

Who are we kidding here? No one will adopt a formal mouthful like "North Manhattan Beach" to describe El Porto. The old name – come on, the permanent name – is an easy quip. It may have downscale connotations, but if you want something cosmopolitan, you'll have to come up with something better – by which we don't mean a name, we mean an area that's not choked with traffic, offers zero parking except on alleys, houses most business in crusty old buildings and still has some of the air of a beach-bum ghetto.

If MBC had a vote, we'd have gone for "El Norte."

But the area might have been better off selling naming rights. How about, "The North End by El Tarasco."