Cochran Avenue

George Ira Cochran (1863-1949) was president of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. and one of the biggest capitalists in 1900s Los Angeles. Born in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, Cochran received his law degree at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall. He came to L.A. in 1888 and was admitted to the bar that year. Along with Pacific Mutual, which he joined in 1906, Cochran served as president of both the UC board of regents and the USC board of trustees. He was also a friend and associate of Malibu overlord Frederick Rindge. This street, formerly “The Cahuenga Valley and Ballona Road”, was named for Cochran in 1923 on a 134 acre parcel that he had co-owned since 1900. Cochran himself lived on S. Oxford Avenue (next door to Rindge’s own mansion) with his wife Alice, née McClung. Alice died in 1905; two years later, Cochran married her little sister Isabelle.