El Rey Road

El rey, Spanish for “the king”, must be a sly reference to realtor Percy Harper King (1893-1992), who developed a tract here in 1952. (The street was named ten years later.) He bought the land from his former employer George G. Averill, who had bought it from the Sepúlvedas. King began working for Averill in 1912 as a chauffeur; by 1931, he was superintendent of Averill & Weymouth‘s Vista del Oro tract and a fixture in San Pedro society. A devoted Mason – L.A. Harbor Masonic Lodge #332 opened on his tract in 1958 – King was also on the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce.