If you're a city's founding father, you can name streets after just about anything you want. Phineas Banning was the father of Wilmington. He built the wharf and helped bring the railroad from the harbor to downtown L.A. He named the city after his hometown in Delaware. Susan Ogle, Director of the Drum Barracks Museum in Wilmington, says Banning also named many of the streets, including Lakme.

"This was a French opera that was a favorite of Phineas Banning. When the streets were being named around here, he named one of the most beautiful ones near his home Lakme Avenue."

Banning was hit by a streetcar when he was on a business trip in San Francisco. He died of his injuries at the age of 55. But his name – and his streets – live on.

(Airdate for this story: 8/4/07)