This was once called 5th Street. In March 1910, even though the neighborhood variously known as Lankershim and Toluca was not yet part of the City of Los Angeles (it would ultimately become North Hollywood), residents found it confusing with other 5th streets in the area and asked that it be renamed for the McCormicks, a local farming family. (At least one McCormick was part of this plaintive group.) Perhaps it was a parting gift to patriarch Alexander McCormick, who passed away just five months later. McCormick was a Scotsman, born in 1843, who immigrated to the United States in his twenties. He settled on a farm outside of Wichita and married Josephine “Josie” Cartwright (1842-1917), a native of Illinois, in 1878. Thirteen years later, in 1891, the couple, their kids Ernest, Frank, and Charlotte, and one or two of Josie’s brothers came to Lankershim. Here they excelled at growing potatoes but also raised apples, pears, and melons. The McCormicks sold eleven acres of their land in February 1910; I can’t explain why Alexander’s estate was subsequently valued at a mere $1.
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