L.A. Street Names – Los Angeles Street Names – their origins, their histories, their meanings

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

Buena Vista Street

Burbank

Because of Buena Vista’s long association with Walt Disney Studios, which is headquartered on the street, some may wonder: did Disney name the street? Nope. This street’s name – which means “good view” in Spanish – was coined by 1916. (It wasn’t the Southland’s first Buena Vista Street, either: part of L.A.’s Broadway went by that name in the 19th century.) Walt Disney moved his animation studio here from Hyperion Avenue in 1939, after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He didn’t establish the Buena Vista Film Distribution Company – the first of Disney’s many Buena Vista-branded entities – until 1953. It was a means of releasing Disney films autonomously after the termination of the studio’s distribution deal with RKO Radio Pictures.

Featured Offbeat Street

Louella Avenue

Venice

Louella Irene Sibley (née Bright, 1858-1926) named this street after herself on a 1905 tract she called Walgrove. Born in Wisconsin and raised in Cleveland, Louella and her first husband Dr. Henry Taft moved to St. Louis c. 1879 and had a daughter, Irene Belle. His livelihood sapped by tuberculosis, Henry overdosed on opium in 1883; he was only 28. Louella took Irene to Los Angeles six years later and married the 11-years-younger George Sibley on Christmas Eve 1892. They settled in Lincoln Heights and had another daughter, Louella Marie, but an undisclosed illness afflicting the elder Louella drove the family to Santa Monica in 1900. The ocean air clearly restored her vitality as she soon forged a successful career as a real estate agent – one of the first local women in that field. In 1905, she established the Guaranty Realty Company, appointed herself its president, and constructed offices on the northeast corner of Windward and Pacific (then part of Trolleyway). The building still stands. Ultimately, Louella Sibley prioritized her work over her marriage, and George sued for divorce in 1909 on the grounds of desertion.