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

Union Avenue

Historic Filipinotown, Pico-Union, Westlake

Detail of 1884 map showing Union "Street" at center

There’s an old theory that Union Avenue was named in 1876 to mark the U.S. Centennial. That’s cool… except that I found the street mentioned in a November 1875 newspaper. Maybe the people who named it jumped the gun by a few months, or more likely they just chose “Union” because it’s one of those go-to street names for American cities. (Nearly two years earlier, there was an attempt to change Grasshopper Street to Union Street; Grasshopper ultimately became Figueroa.) At any rate, Union started out between present-day 6th Street and James M. Wood Blvd. (Back then they were called Ward and 9th streets, respectively.) It was located on the Fairmount tract, owned by the “Real Estate Associates of Los Angeles”, a group – or union, if you will – of 26 investors. The land’s previous owners were mayors Prudent Beaudry and John G. Nichols. There’s also a good chance that Union Ave. was named earlier in 1875 on the adjoining Fairview tract, owned by merchant tailor Jacob Strelitz.

Featured Offbeat Street

Wealtha Avenue

Sun Valley

Named for Wealtha Rempp (1887-1978) on 1923’s Stonehurst Manor tract, established by her husband Albert Paul “Pep” Rempp (c. 1882-1961) on land owned by Thelma Davis. Wealtha Louise Harris, a Michigander, was living in Los Angeles when she married Rempp, a German-born hotel waiter, in 1909. The newlyweds soon moved up to San Francisco and then Suisun City, where Rempp opened a bar. “Pep” was a cagey sort – he variously gave his birth year as 1882, 1885, and 1891, and often claimed he was born in Chicago – and trouble followed him: he was arrested in 1914 for selling booze to minors, then again in 1916 for embezzlement. This second charge may have provoked the couple to relocate to the Windy City, where Rempp got into real estate. They were back in L.A. by 1922… and Rempp was convicted of mail fraud four years later. Wealtha, fed up with Pep’s nonsense, dumped him by 1930. She found work as a housekeeper and officially secured her divorce in 1943. (Three years earlier, in the 1940 census, Rempp was residing in Oakland with his “wife” Julia.) Wealtha wed baker Norman Beard in 1944 and spent her final years in Banning.