Developer Barry Taper (see Barrywood Ave.) named this street in 1960 in memory of his mother Amelia (1909-1958). Born Amelia Lewis in London to Florence and Lewis Algernon Lewis, a furrier, she once worked as a freelance illustrator for British Vogue. She married real estate developer S. Mark Taper in 1929 and they had three children: Barry, Janice, and Carolyn. The Tapers departed England in 1939 – at the start of World War II – and settled in Santa Monica. Their wealth ballooned in SoCal, so naturally they wound up in Beverly Hills, where Amelia served as president of the Beverly Hills Hadassah Society. She died just two days after turning 49, with “acute alcohol intoxication” listed on her death certificate; perhaps she overindulged at her final birthday party.
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