Westminster’s new street signs honoring Charlie Kirk go viral

Driving home from his UC Irvine class to southeast Los Angeles, Vincente Perez decided to make a pit stop in Westminster.

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Standing at All American Way and Westminster Boulevard, Perez snapped a picture of newly installed street signs declaring “Charlie Kirk Way.”

“I saw it on TikTok and from a news article that I got recommended on my Google feed,” he said Tuesday afternoon, May 5. “I’m at a loss for words right now, seeing it in person. Wow, it’s real.”

Perez wasn’t alone. Onlookers gathered and several drivers slowed down to photograph the tribute installed by the city to the slain conservative activist; two more signs along the stretch of All American Way between Westminster Boulevard and 13th Street also bear Kirk’s name.

The Westminster City Council voted 4-1 in November to augment All American Way street signs in that area with Charlie Kirk Way, the installations costing around $3,000.

Kirk, 32, a prominent Christian activist and founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit focused on reaching young people in high school and college, was killed Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University.

Seven months after Kirk’s assassination, Westminster raised the new signs April 24, and multiple videos have since been posted onto social media showing people gathering to take photos, some even climbing the pole several feet into the air and hanging from the stoplight.

The Westminster Police Department is aware of “the people climbing the pole and loitering in the area,” said spokesperson Andy Stowers, and had received five calls for service as of Tuesday, but “we haven’t made any arrests at this point.”

Truc Truong, an Irvine resident, commuted with her partner to have a photoshoot by one of the signs, saying “we heard about this online and were like, ‘Wait, that’s not real.’

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“We decided, let’s just go and see,” she said.

Mayor Charlie Chi Nguyen, who introduced the idea of augmenting All American Way in November, said the signs are about honoring Kirk’s “patriotism” and his efforts “trying to promote freedom of speech and opportunities for young people to communicate and learn from each other.”

“From my standpoint, and from the council’s standpoint, the city of Westminster should promote the freedom of speech,” Nguyen said, “and this is the right way to honor Charlie Kirk for what he did for the country.”

The chosen “street is very important, too,” Nguyen said. “It leads to City Hall, to the Vietnam memorial, the city library, the police station, as well as the Westminster courthouse.”

Councilmember Carlos Manzo, who months ago cast the lone vote in dissent, called the signs a “distraction.”

“I’ve seen the kids climbing, which is not safe at all whatsoever, for traffic as well,” Manzo said. “I know there’s folks who are fans of Mr. Kirk, but all the attention this is bringing, to me, it’s negative attention. It’s not doing anything to progress our city, and it’s causing more chaos.”

Before resuming his commute home to Los Angeles, Perez said he “felt there was only a matter of time until somebody vandalizes or steals (the sign).”

“Seeing how much popularity and attention it has gotten,” he said, “I don’t know what the lifespan of this commemorative signage is going to be.”

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