This street originated on the West Van Nuys tract, opened in 1923 by local hardware merchant Arthur Ely Streeter (1886-1934) and ex-railway man Rollin Coleman Smith (1874-1959). The inspiration for its name is unknown, although it’s certainly possible that Streeter and Coleman were thinking of Jean Valjean, the hero of the Victor Hugo novel Les Misérables, or of L.A. civil engineer Eugene Valjean (1876-1932). There’s no indication that either man knew the latter Valjean, but since other Southland streets honor civil engineers (e.g., Lull Street, Lecouvreur Avenue), it wouldn’t be out of the question. (Eugene Valjean led an interesting life, even teaming up with Wyatt Earp in the Potash Wars of the 1910s; his nephew Nelson was a biographer of John Steinbeck.) For all I know, “Valjean” was wordplay on Streeter’s part: “Val” for “Valley” and “Jean” for his infant daughter Marjorie Jean, born mere weeks before the tract opened.
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