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 1,900 streets – and growing. See FAQ for more information.

Featured Major Street

Hayden Avenue

Culver City
Samuel and Ann Hayden after their 1958 robbery

The Hayden Tract, known for its postmodern buildings designed by Eric Owen Moss, was born in 1945 as the Hayden Industrial Tract. Samuel Hayden (c. 1884-1965) owned the land with his wife Katie, son Barney, and Barney’s wife Myrtle. Hayden was a Russian Jew who immigrated to Chicago around the age of 19; there he married Katie Blumberg and they had three children: Barney, Yetta, and Rose. Although details are scant, it appears Hayden made his first fortune as shareholder/director of the Club Aluminum Company. (Some claim he was a glass manufacturer; I found no such proof.) The Haydens moved to Beverly Hills the same year they set up their namesake tract in Culver City, but Sam would soon shift his focus to a much larger development at Century and Aviation with partner Charles Lee. In 1955, horror struck when the Haydens’ maid murdered Katie in their kitchen with a hatchet: the two women had been arguing over how to cut a bone from a roast. Sam remarried just three months later. In 1958, he and second wife Ann were robbed at home of $100,000 in valuables. Being rich isn’t always easy.

Featured Offbeat Street

Watseka Avenue

Culver City, Palms

This street was born in 1915 as Warner Avenue, a nod to Charles Henry Warner (1872-1944), speedometer manufacturer and early Culver City investor. Once it entered Los Angeles city limits, however, it conflicted with an existing Warner Ave. near USC and so a name change was demanded. (Ironically, that Warner no longer exists.) The new moniker, Watseka, can only come from one place: Watseka, IL, an Iroquois County town some 80 miles south of Chicago. My guess is that L.A. civil engineers chose “Watseka” simply because it started with the same letters as “Warner” – they did that a lot back then. As for the Illinois city, it was named in 1865 after a well-known Potawatomi woman whose name was actually Watch-e-kee (c. 1810 – c. 1873). There’s almost zero hard data on her, but her first husband Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard was a credible witness and he told an Iroquois County historian her saga in 1880.