Tell Me About the History of the Street Names in Casa Conejo in Newbury Park

Casa Conejo is an unincorporated Ventura County community of about 1,000 homes located in Newbury Park. Casa Conejo is a rectangular shaped island within Thousand Oaks city limits, but is not part of the city. Although Casa Conejo is considered part of Newbury Park, it is not part of the majority of Newbury Park within the boundaries of the City of Thousand Oaks.

Premiering in 1960, Casa Conejo was the first planned community in Newbury Park. Several folks have asked about the origin of the street names in Casa Conejo. Here goes (with the help of a relative of the original developers):

Louis Lesser Enterprises developed Casa Conejo. Members of the Lesser and Malat families created the street names; hence Lesser and Malat Drives, Rudman Drive came from Louis Rudman, also related through marriage to the Lessers, and who managed home sales.

William Malat (William Drive) had twin sons, Melvin (Melvin Ct) and Gerald (Gerald Drive). William's wife was Ethel (Ethel Ct). Louis Lesser's wife was Jeanne (Jeanne Ct). Louis Lesser's brother, Alvin "Sonny" was married to Martha (Martha Dr). Louis Rudman's wife was Shirley (Shirley Dr), who was also Ethel’s sister. One of Sonny's daughters is Dena (Dena Dr).

Ben (Ben Ct) and Lily (Lily Ct) were Louis and Alvin Lesser's parents. Michael (Michael Drive) is a cousin (by marriage) of the Lessers and Malats. Cathy (Cathy Dr) and Francine (Frankie Dr) were two of Louis and Jeanne’s four children. Lisa Rudman (Lisa Ct) is related to the Rudmans (I suspect their daughter).

The jackpot winner was WENDY, who has by far the longest street, not to mention a freeway on/offramp and overpass, named after her! Wendy, who lives in AZ, is a granddaughter of William Malat and daughter of Melvyn. Before it became Wendy Drive in mid-1961, it was called Avenida de la Felicidad.

There are a couple dozen other streets in Casa Conejo that I don’t have the source for at this time, but perhaps I’ll do some more digging:

North/South Streets: Jenny Drive, Gerst Drive, Ruth Drive, Lois Ave, Dorena Drive, Kitty St, Bella Dr, Randy Dr, Debbie St, Cay Ct, Henry Dr, Devia Dr, Virginia Dr, Nellie Ct, Bob Ct, Elinor Ct.

East/West Streets: Gloria Dr, Carl Ct, Alice Dr, Lynn Ct, Lois Ct, Verna Ave.