This street was laid out, in or around 1894, as a county road outside of city limits – Hoover Street marked L.A.’s western boundary for many years – and some developer thought to give it the charmless moniker of “New 9th Street”. (James M. Wood Blvd., one block north, was still called 9th Street back then, and Olympic Blvd. was still called 10th Street. I’m surprised this wasn’t named “9 1/2 Street”!) The City couldn’t do anything about it until it annexed this area in April 1896; ten months later, a special street name commission changed New 9th to San Marino. I assume they borrowed the name from the San Gabriel Valley municipality (see San Marino Ave.) and not from the tiny European nation, although both ultimately share the same source: Saint Marinus.
Find it on the map:
