It’s famed as the location of the “Brady Bunch” house – but who is Dilling Street named for? Inconclusive: it was born on a 1923 tract that had only Bank of America listed as mortgagee, thus obscuring the true landowner(s). If there were any Dillings among them, it can’t be deduced. Looking at Angelenos who might have lent their names to this street, we have just two candidates from that era – and they were second cousins. Adam M. Dilling (1867-1942) was an Indiana-raised carpenter who had lived in Los Angeles since at least 1915. Given his vocation, it’s not impossible that the tract’s developers knew him. The more likely namesake, however, is George W. Dilling (1869-1951), a real estate bigwig who came to L.A. in 1922 after many years in Seattle; in fact he had served as mayor of that city in 1911-1912. He and his business partner Roy C. Lichty sold two tracts in South L.A.’s Hyde Park neighborhood before relocating to San Diego in 1925 and establishing the Talmadge Park subdivision (honoring silent screen star Norma Talmadge and her sisters). But if George Dilling was connected to this Studio City tract, it’s odd that he didn’t promote it like he did his Hyde Park properties. It may well be that “Dilling” was just some random developer’s wife’s maiden name. That was the case, coincidentally, with Los Feliz’s Talmadge Street.
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