This was formerly called Railroad Street, owing to the tracks opened in 1886 by the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad and used today by the Metro A Line. In 1910, homeowners along the street successfully petitioned the Board of Trustees to give it a new name. They suggested these replacements: Lincoln Drive, Hawthorne, Marguerita, Santa Rosa, Palermo, and Oak View. Quoth one newspaper: “Any of these, they say, would be acceptable.” In other words, there’s probably no personal story behind Hawthorne Street’s name. Folks just thought it sounded nice. They were surely inspired, however, by the celebrated American author Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), whose name was borrowed by the city of Hawthorne as well.
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