Historic Street Names in Los Angeles, California

A compilation of the history of the street name changes in Los Angeles and those changed street segments are shown on a map. Currently 681 historic street names are listed, and 163 have been located and drawn so they can be seen altogether here or individually, for example, for Beaudry.

I started this to support Croatian Run Restaurants in Los Angeles 1880—1930 but then saw a general need and was able to leverage the extensive list published by Steve Morse: Los Angeles in the 1900s—Streets of a Hundred Years Ago. Morse's site is a treasure trove of historical and genealogical information. Almost all of the street changes are from Morse. I've added the ability to put that information on a map and have been mapping the entries.

Have to add earliest Spanish names shown on some maps, e.g, Calle de las Primavera for Spring. Were those official? They’re on an 1857 Bancock and Thayer et.al. map.

Inspired by Chris Salvano's San Francisco Historical Street Names Index and MaptimeLA people, workshops and tutorials.

The historic maps can be slow to appear. The coverage of the maps varies and sometimes no map will be available for the area of interest.

To add content or add a street to the map, start by signing up.

For now I'm focusing the list on the City of Los Angeles, but should allow for other cities in the county. Here's a link to street name history for Redondo Beach at the Redondo Beach Historical Society

Other resources

Another recent resource is L.A. Street Names, "the origin stories of street names across Los Angeles County." Mark Tapio Kines has already covered 1500 streets. His focus is on the history of the street name and this site focuses on the changes in the name of the street. He's a writer so the write-ups are interesting.

Pacific Coast Architecture Database includes a range of information on the buildings and architects of California, Oregon and Washington. For example, The Temple Block #1.