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 2,200 streets – and growing. See FAQ for more information.
Featured Major Street
Main Street
No, Olvera is not the oldest street in Los Angeles. That distinction goes to good old Main Street – well, sort of. (It should really be Aliso or Cahuenga or Wilshire if we’re counting prehistoric paths.) The most plausible theory holds that Main began as one of the two anonymous roads that led from the original pueblo’s central plaza in 1781. It came to be known as Calle Real, then Calle Principal, then Main Street once the English speakers came to town. (It was first referenced in print in a May 1851 newspaper.) Alternatively, some historians have posited that surveyor Edward O.C. Ord made a mistake while laying out his famous map, or “plan”, of Los Angeles in 1849: they believe the young city’s Calle Principal was actually present-day Los Angeles Street and that Ord the non-Angeleno ascribed the “Main” name to a lesser street. I don’t agree with that hypothesis myself, but regardless, Ord’s Main is our Main.
