L.A.’s two San Vicente Boulevards are five miles apart at their closest points. Where they ever meant to connect? Unlikely. The one between Brentwood and Santa Monica – see San Vicente Boulevard (Westside) – definitely came first, in 1905. This one got its start in 1922, and while a real estate ad that April promised that this new San Vicente was “continuing the extension of this double boulevard to the sea”, I found no evidence of it being a serious plan. In any event, this San Vicente went through a couple of name changes. Up until 1929, the stretch between Fairfax and La Cienega was called Eulalia Boulevard, apparently after legendary SoCal centenarian Eulalia Peréz de Guillén. (This was the doing of Carthay Center developer J. Harvey McCarthy, who named his streets after historic Californians.) Meanwhile, since the road straddled the Pacific Electric tracks up leading up to the Sherman rail yards – today’s Pacific Design Center – San Vicente originally went no further than Santa Monica Boulevard. The road north of there was called Clark Street until 1968, when it finally adopted the San Vicente name. It’s still called Clark north of Sunset.
Find it on the map:
