In January 1917, per city ordinance, the former Fillmore and Fernando avenues were combined into Lassen Street. The name was surely borrowed from Lassen County and/or Lassen Peak, both of which honor Peter Lassen (1800-1859), a blacksmith, rancher, and explorer. Born Peder Larsen in Denmark – “Lassen” was an English phoneticization of how he would have pronounced his surname – our subject was a lifelong bachelor who came to Northern California in 1840. Locals knew him as “Don Pedro”. Lassen was deeded the 22,206 acre Rancho Bosquejo near present-day Susanville (in Lassen County, naturally) in 1844, while California was still Mexican territory. Following some disastrous investments, Lassen sold the ranch and moved forty miles southeast to Honey Lake Valley. He was shot to death while prospecting for silver near Nevada’s Black Rock Desert – his killer was never found. Lassen County was formed in 1864 from parts of Plumas and Shasta counties. Lassen Peak was named by 1857, while “Don Pedro” still lived. With its headline-grabbing eruption in 1915, and Lassen Volcanic National Park being established in 1916, its name would have been fresh in L.A. bureaucrats’ minds when they christened this roadway.
Find it on the map:
