Let’s get one thing straight: Los Feliz does not mean “the happy”. Although feliz does translate as “happy” in Spanish, this street and neighborhood were named for a family – happy or not, who can say? Vicente Féliz (c. 1741-1822) was a Mexican-born corporal in the Spanish Army who, with three other soldiers, protected the first non-native settlers of Los Angeles – the 44 pobladores – along their westward march from Mission San Gabriel in 1781. He was then placed in charge of the little pueblo. Sometime around 1800, as thanks for Féliz’s service, the Spanish crown granted him a 6,647 acre chunk of land here: Rancho Los Féliz. (There’s no hard evidence that Féliz gave it any other name.) So in short, los Féliz means “the Féliz family”. The rancho went through numerous owners until Griffith J. Griffith purchased the majority of it in 1882; Los Feliz Avenue was born six years later and was widened into a proper boulevard in 1912. Now, about that pronunciation: longtime locals say “loss FEE-liz”, younger transplants say “lohs fuh-LEASE”, and some split the difference and say “lohs FEE-liz”. Who’s right? Depends on what you mean by “right”.
Find it on the map:
