Welcome to L.A. Street Names, the origin stories of street names across Los Angeles County, from the shortest cul-de-sacs to the longest boulevards. Mysteries solved, myths debunked, scandals exposed, history revealed. This is an ongoing project with more than 1,700 streets – and growing. See FAQ for more information.
Featured Major Street
Gayley Avenue
Named for Charles Mills Gayley (1858-1932), a professor of English at UC Berkeley from 1889 until his death. Streets bordering the UCLA campus were named by UC Berkeley engineer Herbert Bismarck Foster (1885-1968), who chose to honor his old teachers at Cal. Gayley was an American citizen born in Shanghai and raised in the British Isles. He obtained his doctorate at the University of Michigan, where he wrote the school’s official song “The Yellow and Blue”. That yellow became California gold when Gayley moved to Berkeley (he wrote their school song “Golden Bear”), and the colors live on at UCLA, although Gayley never taught here himself.