In early 1870, the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad added a station between DTLA and Compton and gave it the thankless moniker of “Gravel Pit”. Timetables called it Gravel Pit up through July 7th of that year, but on the July 20th timetable the station was now labeled “Florence”. We can thus practically pinpoint the date when Florence was established as an L.A. place name. Unfortunately, there’s no clue as to who coined it – or who (or what) was the honoree. Presumably it’s for a family member of some early farmer or railroad employee, but it could also be for the famous city in Tuscany, Italy, since our Florence was then a big grape-growing region. Someone also suggested María Florentina Germán de Lugo (1828-1863), whose husband Antonio María Lugo owned much of this area when it was known as Rancho San Antonio, but I think that’s a stretch. Regardless, a little town sprang up around the station and was officially known as Florence in 1871. A “Florence Road” mentioned in an 1876 newspaper was the likely origin of present-day Florence Avenue, named by 1887 when it already stretched between Main Street and Wilmington Avenue.
Find it on the map:
