El Paso Honours Roddenberry

El Paso, Texas, last week pulled out all the stops to celebrate its status as birthplace of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

The El Paso City Council installed a plaque at Sylvia's Flowers, which stands on the site where Roddenberry was born in 1921, according to the El Paso Times.

Local politician Anthony Cobos hopes the plaque will entice loyal fans to visit the creator's birthplace. "We can become a big Trekkie town," he said. "We are always trying to be like San Antonio, and other cities, but El Paso has its own history and this is part of it."

Eugene Roddenberry Jr. visited the site and found himself thinking about his father's childhood. "I wondered what it was like before," he said. "I kept looking around, wondering, did he play in the back yard?"

Roddenberry Jr. was in town for the official dedication of the 'Gene Roddenberry Planetarium' which took place on Friday. Several well-known Trek faces, including Michael Dorn (Worf) and Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), were also on hand for the ceremony, together with astronaut Richard Gordon. "It's particularly meaningful because Gene hired us," Dorn told the Associated Press.

Further information can be found in this AP article, at the El Paso Times and here at StarTrek.com. Thanks to John Holt and Walter George for this!

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