Not many Whittier streets have been immortalized in song. Yet here we have “Kentucky Avenue”, written and recorded by Tom Waits in 1978. The singer was born on December 7th, 1949, shortly after his parents Frank and Alma had relocated from La Verne to Whittier. After a few years on Pickering Ave., the Waitses moved to Kentucky Ave., probably in 1954. (The street itself was named in 1952.) They were definitely residing on this street when their youngest daughter Cinthia was born in August 1955. Tom was five years old then, and he was ten when he and his sisters moved to San Diego with Alma after she divorced Frank. Consequently, his song “Kentucky Avenue” is filled with memories of his Whittier childhood, with lyrics name-checking real people who lived in the neighborhood in the 1950s. Despite all this, I have no idea why this street is called Kentucky. Along with Mikinda Court and Graceldo Lane – likely portmanteaux of someone’s names (Mike and Linda? Grace and Waldo?) – it was introduced on a tract with only Bank of America listed as its mortgagee. If any landowners, developers, or sales agents named these streets for personal reasons, I couldn’t identify them.
Find it on the map:
