Named by Mary Penman Moll (1865-1952), one of the key figures in early Hollywood. She was born in Sacramento, the only child of Scottish immigrants Daniel and Mary Neill Penman. The trio moved to L.A. in 1883 and then to the rural Cahuenga Valley in 1887, just west of the Wilcoxes‘ new “Hollywood” subdivision. Here Daniel proved himself a shrewd buyer and seller of real estate – a trait inherited by his daughter, a schoolteacher by trade, who married Charles G. Moll in 1891 and had three daughters with him. Charles died at thirty in 1900 – food poisoning from bad sardines – so Mary raised the kids with her parents. She christened Hawthorn Avenue in 1903 on her Hollywood Bonnie Brier tract, both names likely inspired by her Scottish heritage: Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush was an 1894 bestseller by Scottish author Ian Maclaren and the hawthorn tree pops up across Scottish literature and lore. Hawthorn Ave. might have also been a response to Hollywood developer H.J. Whitley‘s own tree-themed streets (e.g., Sycamore). Moll’s tract covered the entire southern half of Hollywood Boulevard between Highland and La Brea, and she made piles of money selling it off as Hollywood grew up. She herself resided on Hollywood Blvd. until 1923, when she and her family decamped for Beverly Hills. The Mary P. Moll building still stands on the boulevard. P.S. Moll is also credited with naming Highland Avenue… although the reasons why are open to debate.
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