The neighborhood of Edendale, site of L.A.’s earliest movie studios (see Selig Place for some background), derives its name from the Edendale tract, laid out just south of this street in 1902 by prolific developer Moses Langley Wicks. “Edendale” is simply a compound of “Eden”, as in paradise, and “dale”, as in valley. Wicks didn’t invent the name: it’s been used in English-speaking countries since at least 1828; a short story published that year – author unknown – cited the fictitious Edendale Valley in Herefordshire, UK. As for Edendale Place, it was born in 1906 on the Edendale Terrace tract, owned by a fellow named G. Frean Morcom, about whom little is known, although the lower part of Cerro Gordo Street was originally called Morcom Avenue. This tract was quite small and located on property formerly owned by Ozro W. Childs and John S. Maltman. Maltman had been Morcom’s attorney in Chicago in 1875, and the two were partners in an L.A. oil company in 1894, so you can guess how Morcom came by this bit of land.
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