Street Names of Rossmoor

People often ask me to confirm stories they have heard about Rossmoor.  (No, it was not originally intended to be a nudist camp — that was somebody’s joke on Wikipedia.)  A frequent question is about the origin of street names within the “Walled City.”  I know some so I finally figured, why not put this down and maybe one of our astute readers can fill in the gaps.

The name Rossmoor itself comes from the Rossmoor Corporation which was founded by Ross Cortese in 1953.   It’s a combination of his first name Ross and the Northern English/Scottish term for a marshy land.  The area where Rossmoor is located had been a low-lying marshy area, prone to frequent flooding until the concrete channels of the San Gabriel River and Coyote Creek were complete to the high tide line around 7th street

On the earliest streets laid out —  the ones nearest the model homes, and between Main Way and Orangewood and Los Al Blvd and Martha Ann — all for the most part continue the English-Scottish motif, with some notable exceptions which were named after the family members of Cortese or some key executives.

First Phase

The San Marino connection — a number of the streets around the model homes took the names of streets in northeastern San Marino which was very close to Cortese’s home in Arcadia.  In some interviews Cortese stated he envisioned Rossmoor as along the same lines as San Marino.The streets are:

• Wetherby,
• Davenport,
• Wallingford,
• Shakespeare,
• Bradbury,
• Bellwood,
• Montecito
• Huntley.

The English/Scottish connection — A “moor” was a wetland area in northern England and Scotland, so it makes sense that Cortese carried through this connection to his new development:

• Bostonian (Phase 1)
• St. Albans (Phase 1)
• Ballantine (Phase 1)
• Argyle (Phase 1)
• Coleridge (Phase 1)
• Kensington (Phase 1)
• Wembley (Phase 1)
• Kenilworth (Phase 3)
• Wimbleton (Phase 3)
• Loch Lomond (Phase 3)
• Pemberton (Phase 3)
• Drysdale (Phase 3)
• Kittrick (Phase 3)

Foster – I’m sure this must have some significance with someone in the Cortese organization.

Cortese – This one isn’t too hard.

Orangewood is a continuation of the street that follows those east-west coordinates across Orange County.  (Although before the Navy built its air base, this dirt road was  known as Bryant Road, named for Susanna Bixby Bryant, sister of Fred H. Bixby and one-time co-owner of the largest chunk of what later became Rossmoor.

Harrisburg – a continuation of the east-west street from east of Los Alamitos Boulevard.

Martha Ann – named for the then 2-year old daughter of Rossmoor builder Murry C. Ward.  (His Frematic Homes were the General Contractors hired by Ross Cortese to build virtually all of the Corteses projects, beginning with the Lakewood Ranchos.).  (source: Rosemary Ward Beatty, daughter of Murry E. Ward).

Second Phase

The section from Mainway south and north of Rossmoor Park were among the last phases ma,ed and I have a feeling Cortese’s staff tired of maintaining the English-Scottish theme.  Numerous streets seem to be named after family names — some first:  Gertrude, Christy, Donnie Ann, and (as mentioned) Ruth Elaine;  and some last: Tucker, Engel, Blume, Angler, Kerth, Kittrick.

Main Way – Main was the maiden name of the wife of builder Murry E. Ward.  (source: Rosemary Ward Beatty, daughter of Murry E. Ward).

Walker Lee – Walker & Lee were Cortese’s long-time real estate agents who originally represented Rossmoor.  They also represented numerous East Long Beach and Lakewood tracts in the late 1940s and early 1950s, not to mention Cortese’s Lakewood Ranchos tract in 1953 and the Anaheim Frematic tracts in 1954 and 1955.

Copa de Oro – (English translation: Cup of Gold) —  Cortese or one of his staff may have been a fan of Latin American soccer or John Steinbeck.

Tigertail – was probably named for Tigertail Rd., a high-income Brentwood street above Sunset where lived  Zyg Taube, one of the owners of the Rossmoor Center (and an investor in the Lakewood Rancho and Los Coyotes Land Co., which worked with Cortese on financing Rossmoor).

Third Phase

Hedwig – Ross Cortese’s mother-in-law was named Hedwig, after the patron saint of Poland.   Cortese’s daughter was also named Hedwig, although she, like her grandmother was called Hedy.  The younger Hedy changed her name to Heidi after actress Hedy Lamar was busted for shoplifting and she got tired of the teasing.

Ruth Elaine – named after Cortese’s longtime home decorator Ruth Elaine Hall.   Hall had an affair with Cortese and in 1961 they had a child, Hillary Jade, which apparently was not much of a secret within this community because numerous old-timers have mentioned this to me.  Years later, there was a court case over the terms of Ross Cortese’s will which received a lot of publicity

Donnie Ann – I’ve no idea about this one but because of Cortese’s relationship with Ruth Elaine Hall, we all know the rumors.

Chesney — I’m wondering if this is just a variant spelling of Bill Cheney who ran the Walker & Lee real estate sales office in Rossmoor.  He also sponsored one of the first Rossmoor Little League teams in 1958 and 1959.

Drysdale — Although it fits into the English-Scottish motif, I have heard other stories for “Drysdale.”  Heidi Cortese noted that her father was a good friend of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley (and at one time Ross Corteses was actually on the Dodgers’ Board of Directors).  Any baseball fan knows that one of the Dodgers’ top pitchers around 1959 and 1960 (when Rossmoor’s northern section was built) was Don Drysdale.  The other great Dodger pitcher at this time was Sandy Koufax but he actually didn’t have his breakout season until after Rossmoor was planned and built.

Quail Run