This street was originally called Speedway Drive, in honor of the Beverly Hills Speedway, a wooden(!) automobile racetrack that existed here from 1920 until 1924. (See Durant Drive for more on the Speedway and the streets named after its directors.) The name was changed to El Camino – Spanish for “the way” – in 1930. Some city official must have felt that motorists were misinterpreting “speedway” as permission to race down the street. Nitpickers’ note: This street is officially just El Camino, full stop. Or at least it was – BH’s more recent street signs have it as “S. El Camino Drive”, and in fact various maps were adding the “Drive” even back in the 1930s.
Find it on the map:
