Eagle Rock really does takes its name from the huge granite boulder north of the 134 freeway – the one with the indentation that looks like an eagle in flight. It was cited in an 1883 issue of the Los Angeles Herald: “…locally known as the Eagle Rock Valley, because that celebrated rock is conspicuous at its east end…” Before that, Spanish speakers called the landmark Piedra Gorda – “Fat Rock” – according to Austrian Archduke Ludwig Salvator in his 1878 L.A. travel journal Eine Blume aus dem Goldenen Lande (“A Flower from the Golden Land”). It might be fun to live in a place called Fat Rock, but Eagle Rock is a bit more dignified. Anyway, Eagle Rock Boulevard was known as Central Avenue until 1923, when the City of Eagle Rock was annexed by the City of Los Angeles and the street’s name conflicted with L.A.’s own Central Avenue.
Find it on the map:
