Back in 1901, this road was christened Center Street in the brand new town of Manhattan Beach. Ten years later, a new thoroughfare called Manhattan Beach Boulevard was introduced. It was designed to go all the way from the ocean to Orange County, but the name only made it as far as Van Ness; the rest of its intended path was ultimately consolidated as Alondra Boulevard. Ironically, Manhattan Beach itself refused the Manhattan Beach Boulevard name for decades, stubbornly clinging onto Center Street until finally relenting in 1947.