Named after Abbot Kinney (1850-1920), fabled founder of Venice, although I haven’t been able to suss out just when he picked up this land. A 1913 article about the nearby Seven Hills tract (see Hines Drive) stated that its owners had recently purchased 265 acres from Kinney, so we know that much. That tract even had a Kinney Drive – it became Brilliant Drive in 1928. Kinney Street was named in 1921, a year after Kinney’s death, on a roughly 250 acre tract controlled by Kinney’s sons Thornton and Sherwood. Before cementing his legacy with Venice, millionaire Kinney snapped up property all across the Southland, with parcels in DTLA, West Adams, Pasadena (see Kinneloa Avenue), and Pico-Union (see Constance Street), so it’s no great surprise that he would have holdings here as well. Kinney was also a huge fan of eucalyptus trees and encouraged their propagation across California; in this context, he may have once envisioned these hills as a showcase eucalyptus grove. But that’s just conjecture on my part.
Find it on the map:
