Hoping to build on the success of the tracks on the nearby Balboa peninsula, the new owners attempted to rebrand Corona Del Mar as Balboa Palisades. As for street names, we can only guess that the company adopted the flower-named streets at the same time. Unlike today, developers in unincorporated areas of the county did not need approvals to change the name of their tract or the street names. The first known appearance of the flower street names is a 1922 re-subdivision map of Corona del Mar, which created lots fronting the newly announced Coast Highway.
The streets as they existed in 1922, started with Acacia and ended with Poppy. All of the street names qualified as flowers. Acacia, while a tree, also produces decorative flowers, so this is probably why it was included. Fernleaf is the most mysterious of the names. According to Erin Aguiar, Sherman Library & Gardens’ Director of Horticulture, Fernleaf probably referred to Fernleaf Yarrow. As for Avocado, it was added later.
So, how did the alphabetically arranged street names then end up with three pairs of names starting with the same letter?
We can make an educated guess when it comes to Marigold and Marguerite. On the original Corona del Mar plat map, the only north-south street not given a numerical name was Pier Street (38th Street was skipped). Pier Street, as the name suggests, lead to an ocean pier. In 1915 when F. D. Cornell Company bought Corona del Mar the pier still existed so they probably renamed the all of the north-south streets, except Pier street. In 1917, however, a storm destroyed the pier, and it was never rebuilt. Not wanting a Pier St. with no pier, the company likely changed the name to Marguerite, a type of Daisy.
The addition of Avocado Street is easier to explain. In 1922, the state announced that the route of Coast Highway would bisect Corona del Mar. With prospect of a renewed interest in Corona del Mar the Irvine Company sold tracts on the west and east ends of the original subdivision to the Sims-Guedel Company. The company named the street running through the western tract Avocado. While avocado trees may not be yield decorative flowers, at least the name stayed in a general botanical theme.