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 2,200 streets – and growing. See FAQ for more information.

Featured Major Street

Firestone Boulevard

Downey, Florence-Graham, La Mirada, Norwalk, South Gate

In July 1927, it was announced that the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company would build a $7 million tire factory – its first outside of Akron, OH – on a 40 acre lot on Manchester Avenue between Alameda and Santa Fe. Just one month later, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to change the name of Manchester (that is, its portion east of Alameda) to Firestone Boulevard. The Firestone name rolled over another mile and a half of Manchester, all the way up to Central Avenue, in 1929. The Firestone plant’s groundbreaking ceremony was held in December 1927 – Russell Firestone, son of company founder Harvey S. Firestone, dug the first shovelful of dirt – and the plant itself opened almost exactly one year later. (Their rival Goodrich beat them to the punch.) Firestone shut it down in 1980 and the site has been in limbo ever since, with only one original building remaining.

Featured Offbeat Street

Amos Avenue/Andy Street

Lakewood

It’s not a coincidence. In 1941, real estate agent Charles Blauvelt Hopper (1880-1964) unveiled a new section of his Mayfair tract and called it the “Columbia Unit”, with streets named after CBS radio personalities. (Presumably the network saw some promotional benefit in this.) The intersection of Amos Avenue and Andy Street was a tribute to the Amos ‘n’ Andy radio program. The sitcom, which was broadcast from 1928 until 1960, concerned a pair of stereotypical black men (a trio, actually, including supporting character Kingfish) voiced by its white creators Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who apparently attended the two streets’ dedication on August 2nd, 1941. Today’s listeners would find the show offensive, of course, but Amos ‘n’ Andy was enormously popular in its day. While Gosden and Correll donned blackface for the 1930 movie spinoff Check and Double Check, a 1951 television adaptation starred black actors Alvin Childress and Spencer Williams. It was cancelled after two seasons due in part to NAACP protests.