Named in December 1952 after Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994), who had just been elected Vice President of the United States. The Yorba Linda-born, Whittier-educated Nixon would of course be elected President in 1968 and in 1972, only to resign in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Marshall Boyar, son of Lakewood developer Louis H. Boyar, is credited with naming Nixon Street. He wanted to name two more Lakewood byways in honor of President-elect Dwight David Eisenhower but was allegedly denied by county civil engineers. (Arcadia’s Eisenhower Avenue has existed since 1946, but it’s hard to believe there would have been any confusion over the two streets, more than 20 miles apart.) So instead he dedicated Mamie Avenue to Eisenhower’s wife.
Find it on the map:
