Welcome to L.A. Street Names, the origin stories of street names across Los Angeles County, from the shortest cul-de-sacs to the longest boulevards. Mysteries solved, myths debunked, scandals exposed, history revealed. This is an ongoing project with more than 1,600 streets – and growing. See FAQ for more information.

Featured Major Street

Kittridge Street

San Fernando Valley
Charmian Kittredge and Jack London

Originally K Street, this road was renamed in 1917, supposedly in memory of Captain Willard Kittredge (1829-1886), proprietor of San Fernando’s first hotel. The press often misspelled his name “Kittridge” – and his tombstone reads “Kitteridge”! – so the discrepancy is allowable. At any rate, Willard Kittredge was born in Maine, came to California in 1851 to be a miner, then joined the Army in 1861. He was stationed in Salt Lake City, where he married 19-year-old poet Daisy Wiley in 1866. They moved to Wilmington the following year and Willard became a hotelier. Daughter Charmian was born in 1871 – more on her in a moment. Willard opened the Railroad House Hotel in 1874 during San Fernando’s rowdy young days, and opened another hotel (Kittredge House) in 1877. That would prove to be a grim year, with Daisy dying of consumption, Charmian being sent off to Oakland to be raised by her aunt and uncle, and Willard going bankrupt and losing his hotel. He spent his later years fighting ill health, while his daughter grew up to be a writer, feminist, and bohemian. In 1905, Charmian Kittredge married The Call of the Wild author Jack London (1876-1916) and would edit and promote his later work. She died in 1955.

Featured Offbeat Street

Blue Jay Way

Hollywood Hills West
The view from Blue Jay Way
Image courtesy of Mark Tapio Kines

The Bird Streets, the fabled celebrity nest above Sunset, was established in 1924 by developer Cooley Butler (1868-1965), whose brother Pierce was a Supreme Court Justice. Silent movie actor Eddie Lyons and his wife Virginia were investors, and Butler’s new wife LaRue Wallace Butler reportedly hatched the streets’ names, which alluded to their bird’s-eye views of the city: Bluebird, Bobolink, Flicker, Kinglet, Mockingbird, Nightingale, Oriole, Robin, Swallow, Tanager, Thrasher, Thrush, and Warbler. (Osprey, Peacock, Vireo, and Waxwing were planned but never materialized.) Blue Jay Way – the very street immortalized in a Beatles song – joined the flock in 1960, as did Skylark Lane in 1964. More recently, the former Pinto Place was rechristened Hummingbird Place in 2017 to capitalize on the Bird Streets pedigree. As for the Beatles’ “Blue Jay Way”, George Harrison was renting a house on Blue Jay Way in the summer of 1967. One foggy night, trying to stay awake while waiting for Beatles publicist Derek Taylor to arrive, Harrison wrote the song on a Hammond organ in the corner.