Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1952)

While touring the Los Angeles area, you will blink over a rare assortment of strange place names. Some have been borrowed from Indian tribes, but Californians were originally Spanish s'o there is a pleasant flourish of fringed shawls and castanets in our nomenclature too. Add to these influences the spice of Yankee impatience with pronunciation and spelling and you have as confused a group of labels as ever failed an eager scholar in a spelling test. However, to aid you as much as possible in finding your way around with a smile, this list of place names is submitted. Altadena (A! ta deen' ah) : Combination of the Spanish for high (alta) with the tail end of the Chippewa Indian word for hill (dena). Alvarado (Al va rah' do): In honor of Juan Bautista Alvarado, Governor of California 1836-1842. Arroyo Seco (Ah roy' yo Say' ko) : Dry stream, but don't take this too literally if you visit California in January, February or March. Azusa (Ah zoo' sah): Said to mean "From A to Z, everything in the USA." The name was actually derived from the Gabrielino Indian word meaning . . . er . . . "skunk hill." Cahuenga (Kah weng' gah): Derived from a Gabrielino Indian word meaning landslide, an old habit of many of California's canyons. (This interpretation is not accepted by all authorities, as Gabrielino is now like Latin: something to give trouble to innocent freshmen.) Cajon Pass (Ka hoan’): Box pass. El Camino Real (El Ka mean' oh Ray' a h I ) : The King's Highway, so named because it marks the trail used by Father Junipero Serra when founding the Missions in the name of The King of Kings. Encino (En see' no): Oak. The evergreen oak is one of the few trees native to California. Figueroa St. (Fig ya row' ah): Originally named Calle de las Chapules or Grasshopper Street, in 1849 by Lieut. E. O. C. Ord (Fort Ord was named in his honor). In 1897 the Los Angeles City Council established the name as Figueroa Street in honor of Don Jose Figueroa, Mexican Governor of California 1833-35. La Brea St. (La Bray' ya): Brea in Spanish means tar or pitch. The tar pits from which tons of dinosaur bones were removed (and set up in Los Angeles County Museum in Exposition Park for your amazement) are located near this street. La Cienega (La See en' i ga): Here is a fine example of lazy California spelling. The Spanish for swamp is Cienaga, but who cares. The swamps have long since become a fine residential section. La Jolla (La Hoy' ya): Nobody knows where this word came from unless it is another example of manana spelling for jolito which means serene. Las Vegas (Lahss Vay’ gess): "The lowlands" — and well named, considering what their gaming tables can do to a once high pocketbook. Loma Verde (Low' ma Vair' dy): Loma for hill; verde for green; green hill. Los Alamitos (Lowss Ah lah mee' tohs): The little poplars, in memory of the trees which no longer frequent this Naval Air Station. Los Feliz (Lowss Feel' iss) : The happy ones. Undoubtedly this refers to those who live near this beautiful, curving highway. Malibu (Mall' i boo): An Indian word meaning unknown, although there was once an Indian village named Maliwu which was situated at the mouth of Malibu Creek. Paisano (Pie san' oh): Countryman, native. Anyone who has lived in Los Angeles six years and doesn't know what "smog" is, is a paisano. Pasadena (Pass ah dee' nah): Name coined by Dr. T. B. Elliott from two Chippewa Indian words, pass-ka-mi-gra, meaning valley, and pig-wa-dena, meaning hill: or a valley between hills. Pfaya del Rey (Ply' ah del ray'): King's Beach, and no wonder. The views from this section of the Los Angeles area are breathtaking. Puente (Poo' en ty) : Spanish for bridge. Palos Verdes (Pah' lowss Vair' dess): Green trees. Sepulveda (Seh puli' veh deh): Honoring Francisco Sepulveda who was mayor of Los Angeles in 1825. Sierra Madre (See air' ah Mahd' ray): Mother mountains. Sierra Nevada (See air' ah Neh vah' da): Snow-capped mountains. Vallejo ( Val I ay' ho) : Little valley. Vaquero (Va kay' ro) : Cowboy. El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula, pronounced L.A. ilossary points of interest only to a newcomer. Residents seldom call one another over the weekend because it is assumed that no one will be at home. Leisure in California means four wheels and a full tank of gasoline. This explains the traffic, which can be horrible, and it explains why everyone can give you a different suggestion for the perfect motor trip, the perfect weekend, or the perfect manner in which an eager visitor should spend his time in this vacation treasure house. For instance; Presuming that you arrive in Los Angeles on a Sunday night, herewith is a get-acquainted series of tours starting the first thing on a sunny Monday morning. No matter how practiced a motorist you are, it is a little easier for a stranger to get his bearings if someone else does the driving for at least one day. For that reason, Photoplay recommends that on Monday the Tanner Gray Line serve as your transportation. Tour No. 5 leaves the Tanner Terminal at 1207 West Third Street at 8:45 a.m. (You can be picked up at any of the downtown hotels fifteen minutes earlier, or at any of the major Hollywood hotels thirty minutes earlier.) This tour takes you past Angelus Temple, Griffith Park, into San Fernando Valley and past the Walt Disney studio; you drive through the Warner Brothers studio, past Toluca Lake homes of such stars as Bob Hope, Ann Blyth, Dana Andrews, and alongside the Lakeside Golf Course. You see Columbia Studio’s ranch, where its Westerns are made, and Universal City, the home of Universal Pictures. Returning to Hollywood, via the -Cahuenga Freeway, Duplicates of the patio bells used by the old rancheros intrigue Pier 64