Yolanda was originally two separate avenues called Acacia and Chester. Both had to be changed after Los Angeles annexed the Valley (in 1915) in order to avoid conflicts with like-named streets elsewhere in the city, so Yolanda was chosen in November 1916. Who was Yolanda? Probably nobody: a news report that month merely stated that the new street name was “more sweet sounding [than Chester], and might suggest all sorts of romantic things.” Since I found no Yolandas in L.A. at the time, and since civil engineers with the City borrowed street names from all manner of sources, it’s certainly possible that they were inspired by Princess Yolanda of Savoy (1901-1986), daughter of Victor Emmanuel III, second-to-last king of Italy. She regularly popped up in L.A. newspapers, especially in 1916, when rumors were spreading that, at fifteen, she was to be engaged to the Prince of Wales – the future King Edward VIII (1894-1972). Obviously those rumors were false.
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