Oliver who? Oliver nobody: this was originally called Olive Street. City Council ordered it changed in 1916 to prevent postal conflicts with DTLA’s Olive Street, so someone added an “r” and that was that. During L.A.’s great annexation period (1895-1932), most of the little townships swallowed by the City had to rename their streets that duplicated those in Los Angeles proper. When San Pedro was acquired in 1909, part of the deal was that its streets got to keep their names, but then some developers – Edouard Amar was one – added new streets in north San Pedro that shared the names of existing L.A. streets and the City blew the whistle. Olive/Oliver wasn’t the only change: Crest Avenue became Crestwood Street, Summit Avenue became Elberon Avenue, Georgia Street became Parker Street, and Roosevelt Court became Marshall Court.
Find it on the map:
