CV Street Name Origins – Part 2

Last week I asked readers to send in what they’ve heard about origins of street names, and I’ve already received two.

Steve Goldsworthy wrote: “I grew up on Henrietta. Named for his three daughters, Henrietta, Gertrude and Frances. We had a street reunion back in late ’60s and a little old lady showed up. It was in fact, Henrietta. The original house is still there in the 2700 block.”

Steve is talking about the Biescar family. Henry Biescar was a successful businessman in Los Angeles. He came to the valley in 1915 for his health, and bought 11 acres above Foothill to the west of La Crescenta Avenue.

The other comes all the way from Indianapolis. Larry Blaszczak grew up in CV, but coincidentally now lives in the old neighborhood of the city where many of CV’s original residents came from. He has interesting theories about our street names, all related to old Indianapolis street names.

Our main street, Foothill Boulevard, was until 1930 called Michigan Avenue. Local lore has it that when Lanterman and Williams purchased the valley in 1875, they named the main road they laid out down the center Michigan Avenue after their home state of Michigan. Larry hypothesizes that Michigan Avenue was named after Michigan Street in Indianapolis, a street where some our early residents had lived. Nearby main streets in Indianapolis are Pennsylvania and New York. Larry also says that another nearby Indianapolis street is “Ransdell Street.” He surmises that Ransdell got changed to Ramsdell, in the same way that Dunsmoor got changed to Dunsmore.

Let’s continue to meander among the street names above Foothill.

Ocean View Boulevard Pretty obvious. You can see the ocean from it.

Castle Road and Rock Castle Drive Both are just to the east of Ocean View. They refer to the Gould Castle built in 1892 near the top of today’s Ocean View. It was a gorgeous stone structure, built like a Spanish castle. It sat abandoned for most of its existence and was finally torn down in the 1950s.

Rosemont Avenue A wealthy minister in the late 1800s established his retirement estate near the top of today’s Rosemont Avenue. He named his estate Rosemont. We can assume the street was named for the estate, but not sure.

Laughlin Avenue In 1910, a lawyer named J.B. McLaughlin bought the Rosemont estate. He raised pure-bred collies and prize-winning goats.

Kemper Avenue Named for M.D. Kemper, a home-builder in CV and longtime president of the Mountain Water Company.

Janvier Way and El Moreno Street – Mrs. Janvier and Mrs. Brown co-owned property above Foothill between Briggs and Rosemont. El Moreno (Spanish for “brown”) was named for Mrs. Brown and Janvier Way for Mrs. Janvier. Mrs. Janvier donated the land for St. Luke’s Church.

La Crescenta Oddly enough, when Dr. Briggs laid out the streets of the La Crescenta, there was no La Crescenta Avenue. That street was called Los Angeles Street, and was much later renamed La Crescenta.

Fierro Circle Up at the top of La Crescenta Avenue is a tiny little dead-end street. It was named Fierro back in the 1960s in honor of the 19th century epic poem “El Gaucho Martin Fierro” by Argentine poet Jose Hernandez. Obscure! The book “The Way of the Gaucho” by Herbert Childs, later turned into a feature movie, was loosely based on “Martin Fierro.” Herbert Childs lived on Briggs Terrace, so there must have been a connection.

Frederick Avenue The inventor Frederick Robinson had his home in this area, near the top of New York Avenue. In the late-’20s he ran a radio station out of his house, KGFH, or “Radio La Crescenta.”

Lowell Avenue Lowell was an early landowner in the area and a contemporary of Dr. Briggs.

Foothill Boulevard Previously named Michigan Avenue, it was changed to Foothill Boulevard in 1930 to conform and connect to the other Foothill Boulevards that ran along the base (or “foothills”) of the San Gabriel Mountains. By 1936 Foothill was designated State Highway 118, extending from Route 66 in Pasadena to Oxnard.

More next week. Email me if you have more info!