Considering that it connects with Gable Drive and that both streets were named on the same 1947 tract, one might wonder if Boris Drive is a nod to Hollywood horror legend Boris Karloff (the stage name of William Henry Pratt, 1887-1969). But just as I couldn’t ascertain whether Gable Drive honors Clark Gable, there’s no evidence that Boris Drive refers to Karloff. (Gable at least lived in Encino; Karloff did not.) The tract’s owners were Elwain Steinkamp (1904-1996), one of L.A.’s biggest house builders in the mid 20th century, and engineering contractor John Arthur Thompson (1896-1969). Neither had any known ties to Karloff or Gable, so for all I know “Boris” might have been a dog. The third street introduced on the tract, humble Karen Drive, also remains a mystery as neither Steinkamp nor Thompson had a Karen in his family.
Find it on the map:
