Elsinore was William Shakespeare’s anglicization of Helsingør, Denmark, which he chose as the setting for Hamlet c. 1601. Whoever named this street was a fan of the bard or just borrowed the name from Lake Elsinore in Riverside County. That Elsinore, founded in 1883, was definitely inspired by Hamlet: the town’s cofounder Margaret Collier Graham (1850-1910), a short story writer, is credited with naming it. (See Wildomar Street for more on her.) Echo Park’s Elsinore Street was born Ivers Avenue in 1887; it was named after Oliver A. Ivers (1860-1902), a lawyer-turned-oilman who lived on the street and owned the tract it was on, Washington Heights, with John S. Maltman. (They also owned the Golden Gate and Golden West Heights tracts.) Presumably the street was renamed, in 1907, because Lake Elsinore was a popular hot springs resort at the time.
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