There's a Shoup Avenue in Canoga Park. Bill Robertson, director of L.A.'s Bureau of Street Services, says it's named after Paul Shoup, "who was the vice president of the Southern Pacific Railroad and president of the Pacific Electric Railway Company."

Shoup was a California native, born in San Bernadino in 1874. He started out in the newspaper business, delivering papers and reporting local news while still in high school.

After graduation, Shoup began a 47 year career with the Southern Pacific Railroad, working his way up from ticket clerk to president of the company's electric railway system. He was head of an employers group organized to "fight racketeering in labor relations."

Along the way, Shoup kept writing, publishing numerous stories and articles. He wrote many of the earliest stories published in a promotional magazine put out by the railroad. That monthly is still around – it's "Sunset" magazine.

(Airdate: 2/21/2009)