Named not for the DeSoto automobile brand (1912-1961) but for Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto (c. 1497-1542), whose claim to fame was leading the first European expedition into the southeastern United States in 1539-1542; he reportedly died on the banks of the Mississippi River. De Soto Avenue was laid out in 1910 on the enormous Tract 1000, owned by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company (led by Harrison Gray Otis, Harry Chandler, Moses H. Sherman, H.J. Whitley, and Otto F. Brant), who had bought half the Valley from Isaac Van Nuys. Tract 1000 was the first step in transforming the SFV from wheat and cattle into homes and businesses; perhaps these men saw themselves as modern-day conquistadors, as other Tract 1000 streets were named for famous explorers, including Alvarado (now Woodley), Balboa, Cabrillo (now Haskell), Cortez (now Fulton), and Diaz (now Coldwater Canyon).
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