It’s not conclusive, but I believe this street honors real estate broker William Wales Mines (1876-1939). Originally called Ash Street in Montebello in 1905, it was changed to Mines Avenue by 1920, when W.W. Mines was at the height of his powers. Indeed, LAX was born “Mines Field” in 1928 as Mines had negotiated the lease (and later sale) of 640 rural acres to the City of Los Angeles for aviation use. The way I see it, if the guy was big enough to have an airport named after him then he could certainly have his own street. Furthermore, the 1920 L.A. City Directory only listed three people named “Mines”, the other two being a widow and a biscuit salesman, so a different namesake is unlikely. W.W. Mines was born in Quebec and moved to Los Angeles for his health in 1896. Among his many accomplishments, he served as police commissioner, head of state and local realty boards, and Red Cross director, but met an ignoble death while fishing near Malibu Creek: he slipped off a dam and drowned. Mines and his wife Pearl (née Vollmer, 1886-1970) had one daughter, Patricia. Most of Mines Avenue in East L.A. was renamed Olympic Boulevard in 1935; Whittier took pity and extended its entrails as Mines Boulevard in the 1940s.
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