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 there in 1874 to run a dry goods store. Each man then 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.) Since Bryan named nearby Elden Avenue for himself, was Clark the “Wes” in “Westmoreland”? Probably just coincidentally. “West” arguably alluded to the tony tract’s serene location west of L.A.’s noisy central core, but in truth Clark and Bryan stole the name – and the arched Victorian gateway motif (now long gone) – from Westmoreland Place, an exclusive neighborhood in St. Louis. In 1910, this street was extended north of Wilshire and absorbed the former Miami Avenue.
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