Civil engineer William Dominick Larrabee (1849-1939) was an associate of railroad baron M.H. Sherman. When the town of Sherman – the future West Hollywood – was established in 1896, its first streets were reportedly laid out by Larrabee, then superintendent of Sherman and Clark‘s Los Angeles-Pacific Railroad, and thus they were named Sherman (now Santa Monica Blvd.), Clark, and Larrabee. A second-generation railroad man, William D. Larrabee was born in Wisconsin and grew up outside of Chicago, where there’s a Larrabee Street named after his father. He married Mary Ann Bemis (1856-1933) in 1873 and had three children with her. Sadly, they outlived all their kids: one child passed away in Chicago; daughter Mary “Mollie” died shortly after the Larrabees arrived in Los Angeles in 1887; son John perished in Bakersfield in 1911. On the brighter side, William and Mary were active musicians in local orchestras. After Sherman & Clark sold their railroad to E.H. Harriman in 1906, Larrabee plied his trade at various electric companies. He retired at 86(!) and spent his final years living just one block west of his namesake street.
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