In 1938, the former Waterloo Avenue was given a semi-homophonic new name: Waterview Street. While the change made sense – an oceanside street called “Waterview” is a no-brainer; some bureaucrat may have decided it conflicted with Echo Park’s Waterloo Street – it did break up its cute pairing with nearby Napoleon Street. (See that entry for the why behind these two monikers.) In terms of name changes, it wasn’t their first rodeo: initially dubbed Waterloo and Napoleon on a stillborn tract in 1887, they were reborn in 1902 as Fraser Avenue and Elliott Avenue, respectively, in honor of two Playa del Rey investors: New York-based mining magnate Charles Duncan Fraser (1857-1917) and John M. Elliott (1844-1929), president of the First National Bank of Los Angeles. They were then rechristened Waterloo and Napoleon in 1911. Fast-forward to 1940: two years after Waterloo officially became Waterview, French actress Adrienne d’Ambricourt (1878-1957), who resided on the street, took credit for its new identity. She claimed that her proud Gallic self couldn’t bear to live on Waterloo and thus City Council bent to her will. Sure thing, Madame.
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