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
York Boulevard
This road was called New York Street in 1900. (It was Eureka Avenue before that.) Its name was altered to York Boulevard in 1909. Property owners demanded the change, claiming that the street was 100 feet wide and thus qualified as a proper boulevard, while also arguing that too many envelopes addressed to “New York St.” were getting mailed to New York state. This might have just been a front for the real reason they wanted the change: the neighborhood had earned the nickname “Poverty Flats”, and its main thoroughfare being dirty old New York Street didn’t help. York Boulevard simply had a more elegant ring to it.