Check out this highly detailed scan of a map of Los Angeles from 1928.
Depicted in the above section are the Pickering and Crystal piers in Ocean Park. Cloverfield Boulevard gets is named for the original title of Santa Monica airport, “Clover Aviation Field.” I took the map section above and superimposed it over Google Maps. It doesn’t line up perfectly (the map was created for marketing more than for official survey), but it lends some interesting insight – I’d forgotten that Ocean Park Boulevard was formerly named Central Avenue (Ocean Park was once distinct from the city of Santa Monica).
If you live in the Ocean Park neighborhood of Santa Monica, you might find it interesting to see how, before the mid-sixties, when “The Shores” apartment complex was constructed, Raymond, Ashland, Kinney and Pier Avenues continued to the waterfront. Streets that no longer exist, like Grand Avenue and Surf Street, can be seen just south of Ocean Park Boulevard.
The construction of the Santa Monica freeway seems to have had a devastating and irreversible effect on the neighborhoods through which it passed. I’ve been told that the path of the freeway was designated in large part by the racial makeup of the neighborhoods in the area; that . I don’t know how much truth there is to that. I’m not sure if I’d rather be forced to sell my home and move or get stuck with a ten lane highway next door.
QuantumTom 