It’s not named after the legendary seducer but after Rosa Casanova de Ferlin (1839-1884), the “Mother of Solano Canyon”. Born María Rosa de las Mercedes Casanova in Costa Rica, she immigrated to Los Angeles around 1848-1850 with her parents and a family friend named Francisco Solano (c. 1825-1871). Although Rosa was just shy of 15 and Francisco many years older, they were wed in 1854 and had six children. Her husband bought part of what is now Solano Canyon in 1866 and passed away five years later. The widowed Rosa Casanova de Solano married a Frenchman named Auguste Ferlin in 1877, had two children with him, and died of a heart attack at 43. Her son Alfredo “Alfred” Solano (1857-1943), who had grown up to be one of the city’s top surveyors, bought the rest of Solano Canyon and named Casanova Street in his mother’s memory in 1888.
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