“Pass” here refers to the Cahuenga Pass. That may seem strange, since the Cahuenga Pass is over a mile away, but Pass Avenue, christened no later than 1914, originally connected to what was then called the Cahuenga Pass Road. That road is now the 101 freeway, straddled by a split-in-two Cahuenga Boulevard. If that weren’t confusing enough, Pass Avenue went through several identity crises of its own. In the early days, most people preferred to call its hilly southern stretch (between the Los Angeles River and the Cahuenga Pass) “Dark Canyon Road”. That bit became part of Hollywood Way in 1924, but you’ve known it as Barham Boulevard since 1932. In short, most if not all of Pass Avenue’s original 1914 layout no longer exists by that name.
Find it on the map:
