Lake Avenue is one of the major streets in Pasadena.  Before the revival of Old Pasadena it was also the main shopping district. Today’s question is: How did it come to be called Lake Avenue when a Google map of the area doesn’t show a lake within twenty miles?  A map from the 1920’s answers the question.

The map was made by the Automobile Club when their slogan was “Good Roads.”  Zooming in on the south end of Lake Avenue we find the answer to the puzzle.

At the south end of Lake Avenue down in San Marino is “Mission Lake.”  It is in what is now Lacey Park near the old mill “El Molino.”  It was probably the mill pond for the mill.  For added fun in the Arroyo, on the left hand side of the small map, are “Busch Gardens” and the Cawston Ostrich Farm.  See a more detailed version of the map on Flickr