I once theorized that Clinton Street was named for Winfield Alberto Clinton (1850-1903), a real estate speculator from Philadelphia who came to L.A. in 1880, married Blanche Crowley, a local gal who had inherited some land, then abandoned her in 1889 after a series of bad investments. It was a juicy tale – Clinton was vilified as an “absinthe fiend” when Blanche divorced him – but I never could make the connection between him and this street. There’s a reason for that: I was wrong. Clinton Street was in fact christened by Charles Edmund Day (1846-1902) in 1887 on his Dayton Heights tract just west of Hoover. Day hailed from Clinton County, NY, so there’s your source for the Clinton name. His hometown (Port Jackson) was on the shore of Lake Champlain, across the water from Burlington, VT, and guess what: his tract also had a Champlain Street and a Burlington Avenue. Both roads have since lost their names, but Middlebury Street, a reference to another town in Vermont, still stands. Day and his wife Katherine came to Los Angeles in 1877. Although he excelled in real estate, Day’s first love was music: he conducted local choirs, ran a shop selling pianos and organs, and taught music with Katherine at the Los Angeles Academy. The couple had three kids.
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