Most likely named after Darlot Densmore (1856-1926) and/or his family. This street was christened in 1916 on the Encino Acres tract, owned and developed by William H. Hay. At that time, Hay and his second wife Katherine had a home at the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Havenhurst Drive in present-day West Hollywood. (Like the WeHo street, the Valley’s Hayvenhurst Avenue takes its name from Hay.) Their next-door neighbors? The Densmores, at Sunset and Crescent Heights. Society columns of the day also showed them as guests at the Hays’ social functions, so there’s a solid argument that Densmore Avenue was Hay’s friendly gift to them. Darlot Densmore was a Pennsylvania chap who dabbled in fruit canning and oil refining but arguably lived in the shadow of his father Emmet (1837-1911), an influential physician, inventor, and diet guru. After years of hopping around, the younger Densmore settled in Signal Hill in 1906 with his Irish-born wife Margaret (1864-1936) and Canadian-born daughter Ianthe (1892-1970). (Their property was probably owned by Emmet.) The trio relocated to Crescent Heights in 1914 but moved on around six years later. They ultimately wound up in Altadena.
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