Named in 1902 while the Los Angeles-Pacific Railroad was converting tracks along this street for its electric streetcar line. (“Electric” refers to trolleys that pull their power from electric cables above.) These were formerly steam railroad tracks, operated by the Santa Fe Railway, that were transferred to the L.A.P.R.R. earlier that year. The L.A.P.R.R. was owned by Moses H. Sherman and Eli P. Clark, who also developed neighborhoods from West Hollywood to Playa del Rey; Sherman was big in the Valley, too, as Sherman Oaks can attest. Their railroad eventually became part of Henry E. Huntington‘s Pacific Electric Railway. P.S. If you’re curious about the 1983 Eddy Grant song “Electric Avenue”, it refers to a street in Brixton, London that was so named (in 1890) because it was lit by electric lights.
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