Originally called Harrison Avenue, this was one of many San Fernando Valley streets that were renamed in 1916, a year after the City of Los Angeles annexed the Valley. (L.A. already had a Harrison Avenue in Boyle Heights, so it couldn’t allow another; ironically, that Harrison doesn’t exist anymore, obliterated by the 10 freeway.) Bureaucrats and/or civil engineers probably chose “Hatteras” as the new name because it starts with the same two letters as “Harrison” – simple as that. (They did that a lot.) As for their inspiration, it could only be Cape Hatteras in North Carolina’s Outer Banks: its name stems from a native tribe and/or village once located on present-day Hatteras Island.
Find it on the map:
