Broadway is one of the busiest streets in downtown Los Angeles, but it's had a series of different identities over the years. Originally it was called "Calle de La Eternidad." Alicia Brown says that's because there used to be a cemetery in the same spot now occupied by Cathedral High School.

Brown is founder of L.A.'s Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council. She says, "There was a path that went up into the hills, this area where I live. And so you took the coffin and you had your funerals and you went up the hills and they called it 'you were going to eternity.'"

But some Angelenos didn't want that daily reminder of their finite time on earth. Brown says, "As the city grew, not everybody wanted to tell people that they lived close to that street, so changes came."

The street became Buena Vista, or "beautiful view." And eventually, the cemetery was relocated. A new immigration surge from back East changed the name of the street once again. It's now called Broadway.

(Airdate for this story: 8/11/07)