Bill Robertson loves L.A. streets. He should. He's director of the city's Bureau of Street Services. He even loves the names.

"And this one is unusual – Orion Avenue. Named in 1917 for an encampment of the International Order of Odd Fellows."

But don't start picturing grassy meadows filled with tents and campfires. "Encampment" refers to a particular level within the fraternal organization.

Odd Fellows likely got their name in England, where working class men gathered for "fellowship and mutual help" – such a violation of trends of the era that they were thought peculiar. L.A.'s first Odd Fellow lodge was organized in 1854, the same year L.A.'s first Masonic lodge received its charter – and the same year that bull fighting was outlawed within city limits.

(Airdate: 2/1/2009)