The Westmoreland tract was set up in 1902 by Wesley Clark (1852-1926) and Elden Bryan (1851-1925), with streetcar baron Henry Huntington a silent partner. Clark and Bryan were Dallas businessmen – Clark was born in Tennessee – who first partnered in 1874 to run a dry goods store. There each man expanded into real estate, which inevitably led both to Los Angeles during the boom of 1886-1887. (Clark’s first wife Ida died in 1885, which may have spurred his desire to leave Dallas and start anew; he married second wife Sarah here in 1888.) Bryan named nearby Elden Avenue for himself, but was Clark the “Wes” in “Westmoreland”? I don’t see why not. The tract (and street) name would have also alluded to its position in the City of L.A.’s recently opened western addition: “west more land”, get it? In 1910, Westmoreland was extended north of Wilshire and absorbed the former Miami Avenue.
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