Although this street wasn’t laid out until 1933, the Basye family subdivided their 40 acre property here in 1904 after a series of tragedies. Some background: Born in Taos, NM to an Anglo father and Mexican mother, Rafael Basye (1832-1887) came to SoCal in the 1860s and married María Antonia Alvitre (1853-1939), a San Gabriel girl, in 1869. They ran a grocery store on the old Mission grounds and had six children. In November 1898, their daughter Rafaela (1873-1899?) married Charles P. Temple (1872-1918), rakish son of Los Angeles banker/developer F.P.F. Temple and brother of Temple City cofounder Walter. Rafaela died shortly thereafter – date and cause of death unknown – and the Basyes suspected Temple, who was known to be violent when intoxicated. In March 1899, a shootout erupted between Temple and Rafaela’s brother James, which left Temple with a hole in his shoulder. The two made amends but there remained bad blood: in 1902, another Basye brother, Thomas, got into a drunken argument in Temple’s saloon that ended with Temple shooting Thomas in the neck, killing him. Temple was acquitted of his murder. Of the remaining Basye siblings, only Edward had kids – but he had eight of them, and many of their descendants still live in this area.
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