(updated June 20, 2016)
Another lost president rediscovered: the stub of N. Pacific Avenue that dead-ends into El Rio Mobile Home Park was once called McKinley Street.
(updated Mar. 23, 2015)
Errata - in the original post, I wrote: "The central street radiating out from the center of the circles to
- Oxford is actually a cross-street of the former Garfield Avenue.
- Garfield Avenue was renamed Woodrow Avenue, honoring another president - Woodrow Wilson.
(updated Feb. 16, 2015)
Presidents Day (or Lincoln's Birthday, as governments insist on calling it), is a good day to update this post. There was lots of interesting presidential-trivia online, along with the usual assortment of evergreen "rating the presidents" articles. My favorite was called "10 People Who Very Nearly Became President". None of the 10 got a street named for them in Santa Cruz, but one was connected with President Rutherford B. Hayes, who became a punchline in the original post below.
Remembering (some of) the Presidents (Jun. 2, 2013 )
The only national political figures from that time period to be honored with street names in
Thanks to Steven Spielberg, we’ve all been reminded recently of Abraham Lincoln’s accomplishments as president, along with those of the next elected president - Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant. We’re covered in
In between those two forgettable terms, however, was the too-brief presidency of James A. Garfield (right).
Closer to downtown, the former Bausch Street (so-named probably because it led from Water Street toward the Bausch Brewery at the corner of Ocean and Soquel) was
re-named Garfield
Street .
That street disappeared altogether when the County Government Center and San Lorenzo Park were developed in the 1960s. The CGC work also caused
another ex-president to lose his memorial street when the block-long Harrison Street became part of the CGC parking lot.
Changing the names of streets to honor first one luminary, then another, was a common local idiosyncrasy in the last quarter of the century. A Westside street originally namedLincoln
Avenue
became today’s Cleveland
Avenue
(presumably to honor president Grover Cleveland (1885-89).
Just to be fair, though, the man who lost to Cleveland (a Democrat), James G. Blaine, also got a street. The image at top is a local campaign ad, featuring both candidates. There probably aren’t many streets named for losing presidential candidates outside of their home states, soBlaine is pretty special. Another bit of irony: Blaine Street was originally called Hayes, in honor of
nearly-forgotten president Hayes.
Note: don’t look forBlaine in Spielberg’s film - he was a first-term Lincoln supporter in the House of Representatives, but was
apparently not notable enough at that time to appear in the cast.
NamingSanta Cruz streets after national political figures mostly went
out of fashion after 1900. There’s dead-end Roosevelt Terrace off Broadway, and Kennedy Drive in Capitola, but
I suppose it's too late for a Truman Street. Reagan still might have a chance, but probably not in such a blue county . Obama Circle, anyone? Sorry, 5th-graders, you’re on your own.
Changing the names of streets to honor first one luminary, then another, was a common local idiosyncrasy in the last quarter of the century. A Westside street originally named
Just to be fair, though, the man who lost to Cleveland (a Democrat), James G. Blaine, also got a street. The image at top is a local campaign ad, featuring both candidates. There probably aren’t many streets named for losing presidential candidates outside of their home states, so
Note: don’t look for
Naming