Doña is a Spanish honorific, sort of like “Mrs.” but preceding a woman’s first name, not her last (e.g., Doña Penélope, not Doña Cruz). You’ll find 23 “Doña” streets in the Studio City hills. The first dozen were named west of Laurel Canyon Blvd. in 1958 as part of the Laurelwood tract, managed by prolific builder Milton Whitebook (1919-2006). The rest, east of Laurel Canyon, came about in 1960. I found no namesakes in Whitebook’s family: his wife’s name was Caroline, and there’s no “Doña Carolina Drive” here. Some have surmised that the streets honor prominent 19th century Californio women, but that’s unlikely, especially given nonsense monikers like “Doña Pegita”. So either the streets are Spanishized versions of the names of developers’ loved ones (e.g., someone’s wife Peggy inspired “Pegita”) or these nombres were pulled out of thin air. Tilde trivia: The Doñas were originally the “Donas”, without the squiggle over the “n”. In 2001, Spanish-born resident Santiago Pozo successfully petitioned the City to add proper tildes to the street signs.
Find it on the map:
