Surely just a compound of “salt air”, as in the fresh sea breeze, even though Saltair Avenue is three miles inland. Born on the Westgate development, this street was named in 1905 when there was already a more site-appropriate Saltair Avenue in South Venice (today’s Marina Peninsula – and that Saltair is now Topsail Street.) Westgate’s Saltair might have been inspired by the Saltair resort on Utah’s Great Salt Lake, a popular destination at the time, or else someone simply copied the name from Venice and hoped to convince homebuyers that they could smell the ocean way out here. Well, maybe on a good day you can. Note Oceano Drive, near Saltair south of Sunset: it was added in 1925 on a tract called Saltair Park. Sawtelle‘s supplemental bit of Saltair was named that same year; it was previously called Wabash Street, Perryville Avenue, and 117th Avenue!
Find it on the map:
