Vaseline Alley name source

[arnie]

I recently saw a reference to current cruising Vaseline Alley in West Hollywood.  I thought is was a local nickname for a standard dark behind the stores alley and got its name from the use of a lot of the stuff in the old pre condom days.  Apparently it is a named street on google maps.  Does anyone know how it got the name.  

[+ azdr0710]

Ha!  There it is on Google Maps just like you said!!  A local told me that the alley immediately behind the bar at La Jolla and SMB used to be a notorious pickup cruising area and the map has it right!  The bar was called something like Barbary Coast and now appears closed in Street View. 

[rvwnsd]

6 hours ago, arnie said:

...Apparently it is a named street on google maps.  Does anyone know how it got the name.  

It appears that "Vaseline Alley" isn't an official street name. There was a proposal in the mid-2010's to hold a festival in that location, but no details on what happened to the proposal. My guess is the individual who wanted to hold the festival registered the name on Google Maps. A similar thing happened with "The Downtown Phoenix Museum of Gentrification" here in downtown Phoenix. As the Evans-Churchill neighborhood was being redeveloped into condos, office towers, and apartments, the resident of an old house called it "The Downtown Phoenix Museum of Gentrification" as a joke and registered it on Google Maps. However, they have now designated it as "officially closed." Truth is, it was never open.

Here's an interesting article from Patch on WeHo street names.

[jerryskater]

There was an area in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York years ago also called "Vaseline Alley".  I never lived in Jackson Heights so I don't know where it was exactly.  Does anyone know the street?

[arnie]

Thanks for the  input.  So what I thought is probably true and interesting to know about Google Maps.