Previously known as Gold Street, this was one of over 300 roadways renamed on February 26th, 1897 by city ordinance in an attempt to rid L.A. of duplicate and/or superfluous street names. The city’s renaming commission often sought to replace generic English monikers with colorful Spanish ones, but you’ll note that plata means “silver” in Spanish. That wasn’t a clever allusion to Silver Lake, as the reservoir itself wouldn’t be named until 1903. Dorado is the proper Spanish word for “gold”, so why didn’t the commission call this “Dorado Street”? Because there was already an El Dorado Street half a mile due south. (Ironically, it’s now part of 2nd Street.) If you can’t get gold, go for silver.
Find it on the map:
