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 2,100 streets – and growing. See FAQ for more information.

Featured Major Street

Moorpark Street

Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Toluca Lake
1874 illustration of Moorpark apricot

Named in 1916 after the Ventura County town of Moorpark, which itself was named after an apricot. (See Saticoy Street for why the Valley has so many Ventura County-derived street names.) Native to China, the Moorpark apricot was allegedly introduced to the West in 1760 when it was cultivated at the Moor Park estate in Hertfordshire, England. (The earliest reference I found to the fruit was in 1780.) Thomas Jefferson had Moorpark trees planted at his Monticello estate in 1791-1792, whereupon the apricot began gaining popularity in the U.S. Here in California, the Moorpark was first propagated in San Jose in the 1860s. The state’s apricot industry not only flourished in Ventura County, where Moorpark was established in 1900, but here too in the San Fernando Valley – at least up until the 1940s, when urbanization and insufficient irrigation spelled doom for local orchards. California still grows 95% of America’s apricots, mostly in Stanislaus County, but Turkey and Iran grow the most in the world.

Featured Offbeat Street

Main Street

Culver City
Main Street, Culver City – all of it
Image courtesy of Mark Tapio Kines

At just 320 feet in length, this claims to be the shortest Main Street in the world. I’m not about to measure every other Main Street to find out. When developer Harry H. Culver announced his eponymous city at an investors dinner on July 27th, 1913, it was still just a “dream town”. But things moved quickly back then and Culver’s Main Street existed in some physical form within five short weeks. It would eventually serve as home to Harry Culver’s offices and his hotel (originally the Hunt, now the Culver). If Culver had held on to all his land, Main Street would have stretched all the way to present-day Exposition Blvd. But he sold off part of his property and it was reclaimed by the City of Los Angeles. That’s why Culver City’s Main Street doesn’t even last an entire city block – it becomes Bagley Ave. at the L.A. border.