Driving up Doheny towards Sunset, you’ll notice Cinthia Street in Beverly Hills on your left and Cynthia Street in West Hollywood on your right. What gives? Well, WeHo’s Cynthia was reportedly the fourth street in town (then called Sherman) and thus would have been named in 1896 or 1897. A 1902 tract map clearly shows Cynthia Street between Clark (now San Vicente) and Larrabee. However, a 1906 map of Beverly Hills mentioned a “Cinthia Road” at Cinthia Street’s current location. In short, the discrepancy goes back to the beginning: two surveyors either forgot to compare notes or decided to use different spellings to demarcate the two streets. But here’s an intriguing bit of minutiae: An 1869 plat map of Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas – the future Beverly Hills – has a Cinthia Road running east-west at the top. This was when a group of German land speculators, including Edward A. Preuss, hoped in vain to establish a town called “Santa Maria”. I can’t tell if that 1869 Cinthia Road, which was likely never laid out on terra firma, was in the same location as present-day Cinthia Street, but it’s quite possible. So the street could actually honor some long-forgotten relative of one of those 19th century Germans.
Find it on the map:
