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Post offices to be named for Marilyn Monroe, Ritchie Valens

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed resolutions renaming two post offices in the Los Angeles area in honor of Marilyn Monroe and rock ’n’ roll legend Ritchie Valens.

The Los Angeles Daily News reported Thursday that the Van Nuys Civic Center postal depot will be renamed the Marilyn Monroe Post Office. The Pacoima post office will be named the Ritchie Valens Post Office Building.

Democratic Rep. Tony Cardenas introduced the resolutions to rename the two facilities.

Monroe was raised in Van Nuys, attended Van Nuys High School and was discovered while she was working at Van Nuys Airport during World War II. She starred in films like “Some Like it Hot," and “The Seven-Year Itch.”

Monroe, whose real name was Norma Jean Baker, was 36 years old when she died of a drug overdose in 1962.

Valens attended San Fernando High School and was discovered in 1958 at the American Legion hall in Pacoima. His hits included “La Bamba,” an adaptation of a Mexican folk song. A film about his life with the same title was released in 1987.

Valens was 17 years old when he died in a plane crash in Iowa with two other rock stars in 1959.