I found no Rubios associated with either Rancho Los Encinos or the Encino Acres tract, where Rubio Avenue was christened in 1916, so I believe it’s actually named for a Ruby – Ruby Hamilla Hay (1902-1979), to be precise. She was the eldest daughter of Encino Acres developer William Hamilton Hay (see Hayvenhurst Avenue) and he may have coined Rubio and Libbit avenues to playfully honor her and her sister Elizabeth (1904-1987). That’s just an educated guess; there’s no proof that “Rubio” and “Libbit” were their pet names. Anyway, Ruby Hay was active in student affairs at UC Berkeley – Elizabeth was her sorority sister – and earned her BA there in 1924. After a year in Paris, she worked as a librarian, then married UCLA history professor John Whipple Olmsted in 1929 and became a homemaker. The Olmsteds moved to Riverside in 1953 after John was hired as UCR’s very first professor. They had two sons, William W. and John D. (a prominent naturalist), but it appears they were separated by 1966.
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