Noting that it abuts Monterey Park’s iconic “Cascades” fountain, you might presume that this street’s name is simply Spanish for “of the fountain” – but that’s not the whole story. Christened in 1928 on Peter Nicholas Snyder’s Midwick View Estates tract, De la Fuente Street in fact borrows the maiden name of Snyder’s third wife Amalia (1888-1977), born María Amalia Enriqueta de la Fuente in Mexico. Find out more about her at my writeup for Amalia Avenue. As for P.N. Snyder (1882-1940), he was a Greek immigrant who also came to America with a different name: Panagiotis Nikolaos Sinodinos. (See Snyder Lane for a glimpse into his shady past.) Midwick View Estates was his dream development before the Great Depression squelched it, and as part of this planned utopia Snyder built both the Cascades fountain and the “El Encanto” building at the opposite end of Cascades Park. The tract also included Fotini Place, named for Snyder’s aging mother, and Sinodinos Street, which was soon coopted into Ynez Avenue.
Find it on the map:
