Since Leimert Park mastermind Walter Hubert Leimert often named streets for his friends and colleagues, it’s a good bet that 1927’s Creed Avenue recognizes one or more members of an Oakland family whom Leimert, a ex-Oaklander himself, knew socially. Wigginton Ellis Creed (1877-1927), president of PG&E, is the most likely honoree, as he died just two months before Leimert laid out Creed Ave. and was the most prominent of the Creeds. But his brothers Clarence Lavallan Creed (1878-1924) and William Henry Creed (1880-1934) also popped up in the same society columns as young Leimert, as did their little sister Georgia Devereaux Creed (1889-1973; her nickname was “Pussy” until 1922, when she married one Addison Posey). In fact newspapers indicate that she was quite close to Leimert’s dancer wife Lucille.
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