In 1907, real estate man Byron Erkenbrecher formed a group of investors – they called themselves the San Fernando Development Company – to purchase 960 acres of barren land around the present-day intersection of Yolanda and Plummer. The press reported that the group planned to do nothing until the Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed, thus bringing water to the thirsty SFV and inflating the land’s value. Finally, in January 1915, the group opened it to buyers as “Citronia Acres”, offering huge lots (between 5 and 40 acres) for homes and citrus groves. Ads for Citronia Acres promptly ceased after May 16th – six days before the City of L.A. annexed the Valley. I have to assume that the annexation threw the development into limbo, but I can’t say why. At any rate, the property was eventually subdivided in 1917 without a catchy moniker (although Frank C. Hageman, one of only two members of that original group still attached to the property, did name six of its streets after Chicago thoroughfares: see Kinzie Street). An unnamed road on the subdivision was belatedly dubbed Citronia Street in 1921.
Find it on the map:
