Streets and buildings are often named after politicians, so you might think Mission Viejo's Antonio Parkway is named after the mayor of Los Angeles. It's not. In fact, this particular Antonio isn't even Latino. So who's the Antonio in the Antonio Parkway? Phil Brigandi knows. He wrote the book "Orange County Place Names A-Z."

"There are a whole series of names in south Orange County that are, how would you say the word? Hispanicized?"

There's an unwritten rule in real estate: if you develop it, you get to name it. In 1964, a grandson of the O'Neill family, Tony Moiso, co-founded the Mission Viejo Company and began carving out the ten thousand acre community called Mission Viejo. Phil Brigandi says several streets are named after the O'Neill family... with a Spanish twist.

"Like Tony Moiso from the Mission Viejo Company becomes Antonio Parkway down there."

Tony Moiso does have a legitimate tie to California's early days: he's head of the preservation foundation for the Mission in San Juan Capistrano.

(Airdate: 4/12/2008)