Victoria Park Drive

The ring-shaped Victoria Park tract was opened in 1907 by streetcar barons-turned-real estate moguls Moses H. Sherman (of Sherman Oaks fame) and Eli P. Clark, among other partners. In fact their railway company owned the land due west of here. Of the tract’s streets, only tiny Nadeau Drive has kept its original moniker; the erstwhile Sherman Drive got coopted into West Boulevard in 1926, Fairmont Drive became Victoria Park Drive in 1915, and Alta Avenue, its name stolen from another tract, was renamed Algoma Avenue and then finally Victoria Avenue in 1916. The tract’s own name was probably inspired by the late Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and all the grandeur associated with her.