There was a lot of renaming of streets in Orange County in the 1960s. But Orange refused to allow Taft Avenue to become Ball Road. But Phil Brigandi says some folks wondered why keep the name?

"Why do we need another street named for President Taft?"

Brigandi wrote "Orange County Street Names, A-Z." He says, "by that time we had a historical society in Orange who could step forward and say no, Charles Parkman Taft, one of the most prominent horticulturalists, as we said, in the late 19th, early 20th centuries. Developed a number of varieties we still grow. He did more semi-tropicals. So they grow Taft loquats to this day and I think he did an avocado variety and grew lots of other things. And his ranch was there where Taft runs into Tustin in Orange."

The 27th President did get an elementary school in Riverside and a high school in Woodland Hills named after him.

(Airdate: 7/12/2008)