This street was originally called Speedway Drive, in honor of the Beverly Hills Speedway, a wooden(!) automobile racetrack that existed here until 1924. (See Durant Drive for more on the Speedway and the streets named after its directors.) The name was changed to El Camino – Spanish for “the way” – in 1930. Some city official must have felt that motorists were misinterpreting “speedway” as permission to race down the street. Nitpickers’ note: This street is officially just El Camino, full stop. Or at least it was – BH’s more recent street signs have it as “S. El Camino Drive”, and in fact various maps were adding the “Drive” even back in the 1930s.
Find it on the map:
