By Michael Edlen
Special to the Palisades News
(In 1990 Randy and Betty Lou Young published a limited edition book titled Street Names of Pacific Palisades & Other Tales. This short series of summaries of these names is based on that book.)
A226-acre plot of land was bought for $1,625,000 by the Pacific Palisades Association in 1926 from heirs of the Collis Huntington estate. The idea was tocreatean“exclusive development for a discriminating clientele.” Broad streets were laid out in graceful curves to form concentric semi-circles around El Cerco Place.
This area was one of the earlier developments that incorporated underground utilities. They also installed expensive ornamental light fixtures throughout the Huntington. The engineer who developed the plan submitted names for the streets that were mostly based on his mining experiences in Mexico. His translations or interpretations are as follows:
Alma Real: “Royal Soul,” the name of a Mexican singer and dancer who was a friend of the engineer.
Altata: A seaport in Sinaloa, Mexico.
Alva: the Anglicized spelling of Alba, a Spanish town near Madrid.
Borgos: The old capital of Castile, Spain. Burgo means “small town” in Spanish.
Camarosa: “Bed of Roses”
Chapala: The largest lake in Mexico. Chautauqua: An Indian word, some believe it means “land of the mists.” It was given this name in 1928, as a tribute to the original New York Chautauqua Institute that was a Sunday School teacher training grounds. Most of the Palisades was founded as an independent Chautauqua community.
Corona del Mar: “Crown of the Sea” in Spanish.
El Cerco: “Fenced-in Area” or “Corral” in Spanish.
Frontera: “Border” or “Frontier” in Spanish.
La Cruz: “The Cross” in Spanish.
La Cumbre: “The Summit” or “The Peak” in Spanish.
Ocampo: Mexican town,“Campo”means “mining camp,” and “Acampo” means “pasture.”
Pampas Ricas: “Rich Plains” in Spanish.
Ramos: “Bouquet” in Spanish, named after a mining foreman.
Toyopa: A lost mine in Sonora, Mexico.
Vance: Although not technically in the Huntington, it was named after James Vance, a pastor, scholar and author. Vance Place was to be a development with homes designed by John Byers in the late 1920s, which never happened due to the Depression years.
Michael Edlen has been ranked in the top one percent of all agents in the country with over $1.5 billion in sales and more than 1,250 transactions. He has tracked Pacific Palisades sales and historic events for 30 years. Call (310) 230-7373 or michael@michaeledlen.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.