A grassroots effort is underway to restore Little White Oak Bayou’s historic name: Hollywood Bayou.
Little White Oak Bayou feeds White Oak Bayou, a major waterway running southeast through Houston before joining Buffalo Bayou. Houston’s bayous also provide habitat for a range of wildlife, including river otters, alligators, turtles and frogs.
Organizers say the renaming effort centers on a formal proposal that will be presented to the U.S. Geological Survey, while the petition is intended to supplement the application by demonstrating community backing.
“We’ve been informally gathering support for about a year and a half,” said local changemaker Taylor Chapman, “As conversations about improving access and adding the Bayou Greenway progressed, the idea kept coming up: if we’re investing in this bayou’s future, we should also reclaim its historic name.”
Chapman, a venture capitalist by profession, is a co-founder of the Hollywood Bayou Trail Coalition and serves as a bayou director with Friends of Woodland Park, among several other bayou-related volunteer roles.
“Hollywood Bayou briefer, prettier, less confusing, and more historic,” Chapman said.
In Houston Tentative Plans for its Development (1913), Arthur Coleman Comey’s report to the Houston Park Commission describes “Hollywood Bayou” as a tributary of White Oak Bayou and noting it is “sometimes known as the Little White Oak.”
This supports the idea that the two names were at least used interchangeably in some early civic documents.
Houston’s bayous provide habitat for a range of wildlife, including water fowl, alligators, turtles and frogs. (Photo by Taylor Chapman)
Angela Ma, a 17-year-old intern with the Hollywood Bayou Trail Project and a student at St. John’s School, is among those leading the petition to restore Hollywood Bayou’s historic name. Ma, who has an interest in historical preservation and architecture, became involved through her school’s Community Service Office.
“It’s not about getting a specific number of signatures, but more about making sure that there’s a variety of interest, from like local citizens and genealogical groups, different kinds of like historical groups or volunteer groups that are related to the bayou,” she said.
The name Hollywood is not connected to the film industry, but came from the holly trees in the area, Ma and Chapman said.
“We want as many signatures as we can get, but the number itself isn’t the determining factor,” said Taylor Chapman. “What matters is showing that the name was historically used and that it is in common use today. People already refer to it as Hollywood Bayou from time to time. The group will also be reaching out to relevant leaders—city council members, the mayor’s office, Harris County, Flood Control, and other elected officials. Letters of support and petition signatures help bolster the case and show strong backing.”
Cleanup efforts along Hollywood Bayou have become a visible part of the movement. Volunteers regularly remove trash, plastics and other debris from the water and its banks. While industrial pollution has declined since the passage of the Clean Water Act, challenges remain.
“During flooding events, aging sewer infrastructure can still leak into the bayou,” Chapman said. “And then there’s non-point source pollution—trash, dog waste, things that wash in from everywhere.”
Despite those challenges, wildlife is slowly rebounding. Otters have recently been spotted along Houston’s bayous—an animal that had largely disappeared from the area decades ago.
Otters have recently been spotted along Houston’s bayous—an animal that had largely disappeared from the area decades ago.(Photo from Glen Park community Facebook page)
“It’s significantly better than it was 20 years ago,” Chapman said. “There’s still a long way to go, but we are seeing progress.”
The long-term vision, he said, goes well beyond a name change.
“I’d love to see it clean enough that people could swim in it someday,” Chapman said, pointing to once-polluted waterways in Paris, Copenhagen and Chicago that have since reopened to swimmers. “It’s doable. It just takes sustained effort.”
The annual Little White Oak Bayou Hike from Woodland Park to Moody Park, organized by Friends of Woodland Park will take place this year on January 24, 2026.
To support Little White Oak Bayou’s official name restoration to Hollywood Bayou, sign the petition at tinyurl.com/HollywoodBayouPetition.