According to an 1895 book on Pasadena history – written back when Pasadena didn’t have much history – this street was laid out in 1868 by Benjamin Davis Wilson and John Strother Griffin, the men who owned the Rancho San Pascual before it became Pasadena. Santa Anita Ave. marked the eastern boundary of their Craig (a.k.a. Grogan) tract, and was named after the nearby Rancho Santa Anita. Read more about the name and the rancho in the entry for Arcadia’s Santa Anita Avenue.
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