Crescent Heights Boulevard

Crescent Heights was a pastoral 160 acre tract opened by Charles E. Norton and William H. Hay in 1905 on old Hay family property. Since nearby Fairfax Avenue was called Crescent Avenue back then, it made sense that this uphill tract would warrant the “Heights” appellation. Its central road originally ran only between Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards and actually borrowed Sunset’s name until 1913, when it officially became Crescent Heights Boulevard. It would extend further south in the 1920s to cover additional subdivisions such as Carthay Circle (where Crescent Heights briefly changes names – twice! – to McCarthy Vista and Carrillo). Northwards, you once had to zigzag at Sunset to jump from Crescent Heights to Laurel Canyon. The two boulevards were aligned in 1968.