This street was born Aliso Avenue in 1887. A decade later, after Los Angeles annexed Highland Park, it was renamed Aldama to avoid conflicts with the older Aliso Street downtown. It wasn’t the only street renamed in 1897; over three hundred L.A. byways were given new identities by a committee that favored Spanish words. Aliso Avenue already had Spanish roots: aliso means “alder”, as in the tree. I believe Aldama was chosen as its replacement not only because it starts with the same two letters but because it also kind of looks like “alder”. (At least one of the guys on that street renaming committee, Southwest Museum founder Charles Fletcher Lummis, knew his Spanish; indeed, he even named his rustic Highland Park house “El Alisal”, meaning “the alder grove”.) Beyond that, there’s no obvious source for the name. Mexico has several small towns called Aldama, most of them honoring Mexican revolutionary Juan Aldama (1774-1811). Aldama is also a genus of flowering plants, some native to the Southwest. Were Lummis and his colleagues inspired by a town, a man, or a plant? You’re free to guess.
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