Friday, February 15, 2008

How Heil Avenue got its name

Vernon C. Heil in the 1940s.
Heil Avenue – which runs through Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley -- was named for local rancher, World War I veteran and civic leader Vernon Chester Heil.

Heil lived on what is now Beach Boulevard from the 1920s until his death in 1951. He was elected president of the Orange County Farm Bureau in 1942. Heil also served on the boards of the Orange County National Farm Loan Association, the Orange County Production Credit Association, and the Smeltzer Lima Bean Growers association and was a longtime board member for the Orange County Water District. He was active in Rotary, the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce, and the First Presbyterian Church, and he served as a county highway foreman. He was also a big supporter of 4-H. During WWII he was active in the civil defense program and was on the local rationing board.

Heil Avenue acquired its name sometime between 1924 and 1932. (Yes, that’s well before WWII taught us all another connotation for the word “heil.”) The avenue’s name had previously been Gerhart Street. People probably started calling the street Heil simply because Vernon was one of the more prominent citizens whose property fronted the road. This wouldn’t have been uncommon. Many of our streets’ names honor those who laid the groundwork for the development of our communities: from Yorba to Newland to Kraemer to Spurgeon.
Approaching Heil Ave. in 1966, possibly on Brookhurst St. or Beach Blvd. (Brookhurst Dairy in foreground)
Vernon was born in Talbert (now Fountain Valley) in 1895 to Louis and Elizabeth Heil, who were themselves both children of German immigrants. Louis had fought for the Union during the Civil War.

Vernon grew up working alongside his parents on a farm near Westminster. In those days, it was hard to tell whether to count some of the unincorporated farmlands in the area as Westminster, Talbert, or Smeltzer.

Vernon Heil married Ruth Elizabeth Allen in Santa Ana in 1923 and they purchased property on Beach just south of Edinger Avenue in 1924. There, they raised beans and two sons: Robert (1924-2010) and William (1927-1975). Vernon Heil lived at this location, near today’s Heil Avenue, until his death in 1951. His son Robert later wrote a book about their family, entitled, One Heil of a Family.

WEIRD QUASI-RELATED SIDEBAR: Another local Heil was Vernon’s uncle, Frank J. Heil. Frank was a brick mason from Gospel Swamp who ran unsuccessfully for the office of County Assessor in 1894. In fact, he finished last in the race, behind candidates Jacob Ross Jr. and David F. Greenleaf, and far behind the winner, incumbent Frank Vegely. However, the three losers in that long-forgotten election each have a modern Orange County street bearing their name: Ross and Greenleaf Streets in Santa Ana, and Heil Ave in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heil Ave seems to be a left turn only, and no street to the right. If that's Brookhurst, then the dairy could only be on the Miles Square property. ?????

Chris Jepsen said...

See why I'm sort of confused about this one? Prior to Mile Square being a park, it was a military air strip -- So either way, it doesn't make sense for the dairy to be there. I should dig out the aerial photos from 1964 and see if I can match things up.

ItsNotAPlace said...

unless the immediate edges of Brookhurst were not the edge of the military base. maybe they allowed a strip of commercial buildings?

or else this is not Brookhurst Street... What is the origin of the name Brookhurst? If it was a surname then the dairy might just be named after a family, not the street.

Chris Jepsen said...

No, Brookhurst was not named for a local family. If memory serves, the name came from a railroad stop which is significantly farther north than Heil. (Consult Brigandi's "Orange County Place Names From A to Z" for details.)

I'm thinking it's one of two things:

1) itsnotaplace is right that there was a commercial strip along Brookhurst at Mile Square, or

2) Brookhurst Farm Dairy was a chain, in which case this could be some other street entirely.

Like I said, hopefully we can sort this out with some aerial photos.

ItsNotAPlace said...
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ItsNotAPlace said...

I found a website that has aerial photos of Mile Square park/air field... but nothing wide enough to see brookhurst.

Orange County Airfields

I emailed him to see if he has any wider shots that might show brookhurst and heil.

Chris Jepsen said...

I've got access to old aerial photos at the Archives, so I'll check sometime this week.

As a further hint, George emailed this to me: "If the dairy was a chain, I was thinking about Heil / Bolsa Chica. (Assuming Heil was actually up where the 76 station is and not the next turn out lane after the sign.)"

Hmmmm...

ItsNotAPlace said...

considering that this is maybe NOT Brookhurst... the HEIL AVE sign in the middle of the street actually reminds me of Beach Blvd. There are a few signs like this along beach in a few places. Could this also be Beach and Heil?

just another guess until a map matches something.

in the original photo is there any indication of a street name sign at that little street past the dairy?

Chris Jepsen said...

To answer itsnotaplace's question about the origins of the street name Brookhurst, let us consult Phil Brigandi's book, _Orange County Place Names A to Z_,...

Phil writes that "Brookhurst" was originally the name of a "freight station on the Southern Pacific's Santa Ana Branch at what became Brookhurst Avenue in Anaheim. Built in 1886, the station was removed in 1935."

I'm not sure that clarifies our mystery photo at all, but it's interesting.

Anonymous said...

Chris, What a surprise this was our drive in dairy located on the corner of harbor and heil. We were in business for only a few years 1960-1963 at only one location. I have been looking for pictures of the drive-in. I saved this one. do you have any more?

ItsNotAPlace said...

Wow! that is great that it was your business, J. Scoto. I suppose then that you could tell us why it was called "Brookhurst Dairy"... was it in any way related to Brookhurst Street, or was the name from somewhere else?

Anonymous said...

The name brookhurst farms came from our dairy that supplied the milk. The dairy was located on the corner of Brookhurst and Hazard in Santa Ana, We moved the dairy in 1963 to merced,CA

J. Harding said...
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J. Harding said...

Robert Heil wrote a book about the family history of the Heil's
It's called One Heil of a family.
It is all about the history of the family and Orange county. My husband is a descendant of the Heil family. Very interesting book

Michelle said...

My grandma lived on Heil in Huntington Beach in the 70’s and 80’s in a mobile home park. Her back yard and back window was Meadowlark Airport. ������