There’s nothing strange about this street’s current name – alta vista is Spanish for “high view”, which Alta Vista Avenue certainly offers in its upper reaches – but its original name was quite strange indeed: J.I.C. Avenue. This was in honor of Jerome Increase Case (1818-1891), a millionaire farm equipment manufacturer and horse breeder from Racine, WI. (He owned the famous racehorse “Jay Eye See”.) Case was one of Monrovia’s early landowner/investors; he built a winter home on Hillcrest Boulevard (then called Banana Avenue!) in 1887 but barely had time to enjoy it before dying of diabetes back in Wisconsin. Monrovia City Council changed the street’s name in 1910.
Find it on the map:
