This street’s not named for anyone named Vanowen. It’s a portmanteau of Van Nuys and Owensmouth, as it was designed to be a direct route between those two early San Fernando Valley towns. “Vanowen” was coined in 1916 – some say by Los Angeles Times publisher and Valley land baron Harrison Gray Otis – before the town of Owensmouth was renamed Canoga Park. Theoretically we should now call this thoroughfare “Vancan Street”, but that just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Find it on the map:
