Rancho Mirage paves honor to Dean Martin

06/07/2007 8:32 PM, AP


An honor for Dean Martin has added another celebrity street name to one of Southern California's desert playgrounds.

Dean Martin Drive joins a long list of thoroughfares named after celebrities such as Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, Ginger Rogers, Kaye Ballard, Gerald Ford, Gene Autry and Frank Sinatra.

Dean Martin Drive, formerly 35th Avenue, was dedicated Thursday, which would have been the late crooner's 90th birthday. Martin's son, Craig, was on hand.

The City Council approved the name change last year, city spokeswoman Beth Williams said.

Born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, on June 7, 1917, Martin became an entertainment legend as a singer, actor and comedian. He owned a home locally at the Thunderbird Country Club in the 1950s.

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