First named between 4th and Wilshire by the Chapman brothers: Frank (1849-1909), Charles (1853-1944), and Samuel (1862-1935). They were born in Macomb, IL but made their names as publishers and hoteliers in Chicago, where there also happens to be a Kenmore Avenue. In fact Frank himself lived on the Windy City’s Kenmore in 1892, so there’s your probable cause. (“Kenmore” is Scottish in origin; it’s been theorized that the Chicago-based Sears borrowed the street’s name for its brand of appliances.) After their hotel business failed, the Chapmans came to SoCal in 1894 and made it big as citrus growers. Charles would later give his name to Orange County’s Chapman University. He and Samuel opened the Chapman Park Hotel here on their property in 1927 – it’s long gone, but their 1929 Chapman Market still stands. In 1912, the City decreed that the original Holmby Avenue (named for department store king Arthur Letts’s Los Feliz mansion), Windermere Avenue, and El Molino Street (the “E” between Dewey‘s “D” and Fedora‘s “F”) all become part of Kenmore Ave.
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