Too Much Name Dropping – or The Name Game

I deemed it appropriate to give this article two names. There’s the original and the revised. In one of my stories about Tujunga’s first theater, The Jewel on Sunset, someone reached out and inquired, “So was the theater in Tujunga or on Sunset Boulevard?” My response was, “Yes and yes.” The confusion stems from the fact that Commerce Avenue, Tujunga’s main thoroughfare, was previously known as Sunset Boulevard prior to 1932. More on that in a bit.

Let’s start with the valley name itself. 

When I was first asked to document history for the Crescenta Valley Weekly, I was concerned that my knowledge was primarily based west of Lowell, which I considered the Tujunga Valley. Mike Lawler expressed that, for him, the Crescenta Valley extended all the way from Lake View Terrace to La Cañada. So I’m on board with that. After all, without Sunland-Tujunga, the Crescenta Valley would be more of a comma valley or an apostrophe. Combined, we present to the world a beautiful crescent-shaped valley.

The name Tujunga Valley goes way back. The Spaniards, who were here in the late 18^th century, were well aware of the native American village of Tujunga that had been just south of the modern intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Orcas Avenue. Many early maps document this. Then Sunland was founded in 1885, but with a different name. Sunland began life as Monte Vista. Maps then began to reflect the name Monte Vista Valley or the Vale of Monte Vista.

Sunland Park was once known as Tujunga Park, then Monte Vista Park and, finally, Sunland Park. The primary story regarding the name change from Monte Vista to Sunland involves an early employer, the Adams Olive Cannery, founded at the western end of Wentworth Street in 1892. When Monte Vista’s population had grown to warrant a post office, word came that the name had been rejected. In the Bay Area, a Monta Vista post office had beaten them to the name. Despite the slight spelling difference, the U. S. Post Office determined it would create confusion. It’s said that the townsfolk then turned to the name printed on the Adams’ olive cans. It was their best seller: the Sunland green ripe olive.

Tujunga also started with a different name – the Little Landers Colony. Despite its utopian ideals, the Colony quickly lost its mojo and began to decline not long after it was established in 1913. Residents seemed to desire a name change and, only years later, Tujunga became the choice, honoring the former native village and long past days.

The tallest mountain within Los Angeles city limits towers over our valley, Mount Lukens. That too had an earlier moniker: Sister Elsie’s Peak. Ancient lore regarding Sister Elsie has her being hoisted to the top of this mountain by indigenous peoples in the mid-1800s. It’s said that she derived strength from looking upon its peak and, upon her death, the native people whom she had helped felt she belonged at rest there.

Regarding changes, in the opinion of this researcher nothing is worse than the multitude of streets that have different names. The reason for this is annexation. When Los Angeles expanded its map, any roadway with a name matching one already in the city had to be amended. This resulted in a great number of changes.

Foothill Boulevard was originally Michigan Avenue. There’s a Michigan Avenue near downtown Los Angeles that leads to the gates of Evergreen Cemetery, the oldest existing cemetery in Los Angeles, so our Michigan Avenue had to go. As I mentioned earlier, Commerce Avenue in Tujunga was Sunset Boulevard. Most of us know of the other Sunset Boulevard.

Nearly 100 street names in Sunland-Tujunga were altered during the 1920s and 30s. Among them, Apperson was originally Los Angeles Street, Valmont was El Centro, Fenwick was Central Avenue, Wentworth was North Street, Oro Vista was First Street … and the list goes on and on.