It’s steeper than Baxter, steeper than Fargo, steeper than anything in San Francisco (barring a couple of short inclines). With a grade of 33° covering 400 feet of its length, Eldred is the steepest urban roadway in California. Named in 1912 – it was previously called Pine Street – Eldred honors Delos W. Eldred (1828-1903), the individual who laid out the street in 1902. Delos Eldred was a Chicago real estate speculator who regularly wintered in Los Angeles after his wife Emily’s 1890 death; in fact he himself would perish at DTLA’s Rosslyn Hotel. It appears he was also a shifty sort, as he was sued for fraud at least twice – including charges that he swindled money away from a widow whom he’d asked to marry (at 70!). Like most other capitalists of his day, Eldred also drilled for oil – in his case, near Oceanside, CA.
Find it on the map:
