Can’t say how hazardous this street is but its name refers to Henry Thomas Hazard (1844-1921), lawyer, developer, and mayor of Los Angeles. Hazard was born outside of Chicago and came to L.A. with his farming family in 1853. He spent a few years back east to get his law degree at the University of Michigan and returned to hang out his shingle. He eventually became city attorney of Los Angeles and ultimately a patent attorney. In 1887, Hazard subdivided his acreage here as “Hazard’s East Side Addition”, yet it seems Hazard Avenue wasn’t named (as Hazard Street) until 1896. In the interim, Hazard was elected mayor and served two terms, from 1889 until 1892. (L.A.’s mayoral terms were shorter then.) Hazard and his wife Carrie (née Geller, 1855-1914) were married in San Gabriel in 1873; it was a childless union. Five years after Carrie’s death and two years before his own, Hazard impulsively wed one Mildred Clough in Prescott, AZ – then sued to annul the marriage when she refused to live with him. It seems the annulment wasn’t finalized by the time Hazard passed away: his will left Mildred one thin dollar. He otherwise bequeathed half his sizable estate to various relations and half to James Mayzie, a loyal employee.
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