There’s something billed as “Persian Square” over on the Westside – apparently an attempt to acknowledge the contributions of immigrants from Iran.

Many of them, and their U.S.-born offspring, self-identify with the cultural and ethnic designation of Persian.

There are signs indicating Persian Square along the 405 Freeway. The website of Discover Los Angeles, part of the city-funded Tourism & Convention Board, offers a “Definitive Guide to Persian Square” that will tell you it is “located on Westwood Boulevard between Wilshire and Pico,” and often referred to as “Little Persia.”

The names, ostensibly, reflect a concentration of shops and restaurants that both serve and reflect the Persian community that has thrived on the Westside for decades.

There are some problems with all of this, starting with the fact that you could go months in L.A. without hearing anyone say Little Persia. You’re much more likely to hear Tehrangeles, a term used by some with affection and others with an edge – but a more common moniker, in any case.

Next problem: the strip of Westwood Boulevard from Wilshire south to Pico isn’t exactly heavy with shops or restaurants a visitor might readily discern to be Persian. There are a few that obviously offer Persian goods or meals – you do see the script of the Farsi language here and there. There are a few hybrids – a Persian-style pizza shop. And some, such as the Saffron & Rose Ice Cream shop, might be recognized as Persian-influenced only if a visitor already was familiar with the culture. But it’s more a sprinkling of Persian influence than a concentration.

Another stumbler: Persian Square has no definite entryway such as the one Chinatown offers at Cesar Chavez Avenue and Broadway. There’s none of the obvious and often playful signage of Koreatown. None of the architectural and landscaping distinctions of Little Tokyo.

Which leads to the next problem: A strip of a major thoroughfare running six or seven blocks is not a square. There are such things as squares that are both historic and contemporary fixtures of great cities. Think of Times Square in New York, Red Square in Moscow, St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Tiananmen Square in Beijing, or Tahrir Square in Cairo.

That’s a mosaic of cultural heft, and much of that comes from the fact that they are

actually squares – big, open areas where

individuals can mix to raise a cheer of celebration, or meld in mourning, or make a call for change.

That’s a tall order, and the layout along Westwood Boulevard doesn’t really accommodate any such ambition. It’s a nice stretch of the city, to be sure, but simple geography means it falls well short of becoming the sort of place that distills the poetry of the Persian-American presence in Los Angeles into a cultural touchstone.

Reason enough to rethink the name – Persian Path? Silk Road? – as well as the freeway signs and the promotional hyperbole behind Persian Square.