Polish-born civil engineer Ralph Modjeski (né Rudolf Modrzejewski, 1861-1940) supposedly bought three acres here in 1910, although he never lived here. (He did live elsewhere in L.A. at the end of his life.) Note the spelling discrepancy: Modjeski’s mother was the celebrated stage actress Helena Modjeska (see Modjeska Street) and whoever named this cul-de-sac may have thought the son’s surname was the same. For what it’s worth, Modjeska Place was named by 1938 – but a 1925 Venice Vanguard article mentioned a “Modjeska Heights” tract in Mar Vista, so there’s that. Anyway, Ralph Modjeski first came to SoCal with his mother and stepfather in 1876 but soon returned to Europe, where he graduated at the top of his class from Paris’s School of Bridges and Roads. Back in America, bridges became his life. He was chief engineer on the Quebec Bridge, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and many others, and was consulting engineer on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Although Mama was the family’s literal drama queen, Modjeski had his own share of turmoils: his assistant Belle Silvera killed herself in his house in 1930, and in 1931 he divorced his wife of 46 years – then married another woman the very next day.
Find it on the map:
