Movie monsters aside, this street actually borrows the original name of Santa Monica Airport: Clover Field. Well, indirectly borrows. Opening in 1923 as a home for the U.S. Army Air Service (today’s Air Force) and Douglas Aircraft, Clover Field was named in memory of Lieutenant Greayer “Grub” Clover (1897-1918), a Pasadena boy who served in World War I as an ambulance driver but really dreamed of becoming a pilot. He died in pursuit of this dream, crashing during a practice flight in France. Why honor Clover, of all WWI aviators? His father Samuel Travers Clover being a well-known newsman may have been a factor – he published the Los Angeles Saturday Night, sort of the alt weekly of its day – but Grub, whose nickname was posthumously altered to “Grubby”, might have also been chosen to symbolize the importance of proper flight training. As for Cloverfield Blvd., it never led to Clover Field but it did lead to the Cloverfield Golf Course, which opened up west of the airfield in 1927. Clover Field was rechristened Santa Monica Airport that same year as a point of civic pride.
Find it on the map:
