There are false reports that Winnetka was named by chicken farmer Charles Weeks (1873-1964) after his hometown of Winnetka, IL, a suburb of Chicago. In fact Weeks hailed from Swayzee, IN, and although he did establish a poultry colony here on Winnetka Avenue in 1922, the street was named five years earlier – before Weeks even came to Los Angeles. It was born Walnut Avenue in 1910; after the City of L.A. annexed the Valley, a street name commission changed it to avoid conflicts with another walnut-themed roadway. “Winnetka” might have been selected simply because it also started with “W” although it’s certainly possible that one of those commissioners had ties to that Illinois town. Weeks initially called his SFV poultry colony “Runnymede No. 2” – No. 1 was located in East Palo Alto – so at least we know he named Runnymede Street. Then quite rural, this neighborhood was alternatively known as Weeks Colony and Weeks Community until February 1935, when it was officially designated as Winnetka. (Weeks and his family had shoved off to Florida by that point.) Winnetka, IL allegedly takes its own name from a Native American term meaning “beautiful place”.
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