Phelan, California was names after James D. Phelan who was the mayor of San Francisco (1897-1902), then a California Senator (1915-1921). He was a deeply racist man that had campaign slogans reading "Keep California White". While he served as mayor to San Francisco he tried to move all traces of Chinatown to the outskirts of the city because he did not want to see Chinese people in his city. He felt that Chinatown was 'offensive' to the white citizens of the city.

With the Chinese Exclusion Act in place, many immigrants were now arriving from Japan. Phelan may have disliked Japanese people more than Chinese. A quote from him in 1907 sums up his racist beliefs: "As soon as Japanese coolies are kept out of the country there will be no danger of irritating these sensitive and aggressive people. They must be excluded because they are non-assimilable; they are a permanently foreign element; they do not bring up families; they do not support churches, schools, nor theatres; in time of trial they will not fight for Uncle Sam, but betray him to the enemy." Around the time he was running for US Senate he wrote an article titled "The Japanese Evil in California" and talked about the "Silent Invasion".

The University of San Francisco renamed a building on campus that bared Phelan's name. Phelan Ave in San Francisco was also renamed to Frida Kahlo Way recently. It's time Phelan, CA steps up and decides to rename the town. This could be a great way to get the community together and involved in coming up with a new name that celebrates the town and takes away it's racist namesake.