Postal Service May Stamp Out El Toro Change

Residents of the greater El Toro area woke up Wednesday morning in a new city-to-be with a new name: Lake Forest.

But Orange County postal authorities say a battle over the name is imminent because there is already a Placer County community called Lake Forest near Tahoe City in Northern California.

“I’m sure they will be turned down,” said Hector Godinez, manager of the Postal Services’ Santa Ana division, which includes Orange County, parts of eastern Los Angeles County and western Riverside County. “The bosses in Washington, D.C., routinely do not permit two post offices to carry the same name.”

El Toro and Lake Forest residents voted overwhelming for cityhood Tuesday but were divided over the name for their city-to-be. In the end, Lake Forest edged out El Toro, 49% to 47%. Fewer than 4% supported the third choice, Rancho Canada, the area’s original name on a Mexican land grant.

News of the name change shocked some residents and brought others close to tears.

At El Toro High School, students peppered Principal Don Martin with questions throughout the day, wondering whether there will be a name change to Lake Forest High.

“I told them, ‘No way, it’s going to stay El Toro,’ ” said Martin, a resident of the Lake Forest II planned community who said he supported the name El Toro. “We’re proud of the tradition and achievements. . . . The kids are really concerned about this, and the alumni will go bananas if they hear we want to change the name.”

El Toro Postmaster David Rios said he received dozens of calls from residents who wanted to find out whether they should use Lake Forest in their return address. Rios replied that they could use Lake Forest or El Toro but must include the ZIP code.

Many of the businesses and civic groups that use El Toro in their names defiantly said they will refuse to change to Lake Forest. El Toro Honda Service, El Toro Poodle Boutique and El Toro Mini Market all said they will keep El Toro in their signs and stationery.

Asked whether he will convert El Toro Baptist Church to Lake Forest Baptist Church, the Rev. Ira F. Day replied, “Absolutely not.”

Of the 38 business who use El Toro, just one announced that it would change to Lake Forest.

Keith Lewis, a director of El Toro Models Guild, said the change in stationery and signs would cost his company thousands of dollars, but he figures that he has little choice.

“We were hoping that they stick with El Toro,” he said. “But we’re in the image business, and we have to keep up with the times.”

Many business people said they had not heard about the final vote on the prospective city’s name until midday Wednesday.

“Oh, my goodness. I don’t believe they did it,” said Sue Wyoon, owner of El Toro Florists on El Toro Road. “That’s bad news. That’s terrible.”

Wyoon said the change would mean a loss in business, as out-of-state florists usually look for “the city florist.”

She said she would like to change the name of her store but cannot because there already is a Lake Forest Florist.

Longtime El Toro residents said they are devastated by the name change. “It’s like losing a right arm,” said Ray Prothero, a former president of the Saddleback Area Historical Society. “It’s either you take it like a man or cry like a baby.”

Prothero’s family moved to the area before 1900 and became prominent citrus farmers. A reservoir in Mission Viejo bears his family name, and the Protheros also donated the land on which the El Toro Library was built.

Prothero said he remembers leading a campaign in the late 1960s against changing the name of the El Toro Post Office to Laguna North.

“They shouldn’t change the name of the library and the other institutions,” he said with a breaking voice. “It will be like erasing history.”

In the end, residents considered the name question to be a struggle between the past and the present--between the residents of the planned communities of Lake Forest and the people who live in older El Toro neighborhoods.

Longtime residents said they revere the history of El Toro and even the controversy surrounding its name. One version holds that the community was named when a padre’s prayer for divine intervention stopped a charging bull. Another version contends that it was named after bellowing bulls kept by Don Jose Serrano, who was granted the land in El Toro by the Mexican government.

Residents of the Lake Forest planned communities say their name sounds more chic. Their district was named after several groves of eucalyptus trees and two man-made lakes created by the master developer, Occidental Petroleum, in the late 1960s.

The name change is a flash point between residents of Lake Forest and El Toro. Sherry Webber, an administrative employee and 26-year El Toro resident, posted a sign on her desk near Martin’s office to voice her feelings. It read: “ ‘New Address!!!’ El Toro H.S. 25255 Toledo Way, Fake Lake, CA.”

Lake Forest residents voted in surprisingly large numbers to support cityhood and their name, said Bill Kraus, general manager of the Lake Forest II Master Homeowners Assn.

“For some of the Lake Forest people, the name El Toro was something less than up and coming,” said Steven Stack, a Lake Forest II resident who voted for that name.

He also alluded to El Toro Marine Corps Air Station: “A lot of residents here did not like to be immediately associated with the Marine base and prefer to identify with the nice facilities here.”

But Godinez, the postal official, said the battle has only just begun. He pointed out that a few years ago the Santa Margarita Co. failed in its bid to call its multimillion-dollar subdivision Santa Margarita because a San Luis Obispo County community already had the name. The company settled for Rancho Santa Margarita.

According to Godinez, each day about 25 letters without ZIP codes are sent back and forth between the Lake Forest near Lake Tahoe and the one here. “As the area grows, we are talking about hundreds of pieces of mail daily,” he said. “That will be a disaster.”

John Davis, chairman of the Community Coalition for Incorporation in El Toro, said he believes that Tuesday’s vote to change the name will be binding on the new City Council.

“We are all surprised that El Toro didn’t win, but the people of El Toro have spoken,” he said. “The City Council will have to live with it, and everyone will have to live with it.”

Davis, a Lake Forest II resident who voted for El Toro, said the council should take steps to ensure that El Toro’s history is not shunted aside with the name change.

“They should create an old El Toro area in the new city to mitigate the loss,” he said.

Davis said cityhood proponents had considered the possible conflict involving the name but had determined that the other Lake Forest is only a subdivision of Tahoe City. He said El Toro’s name change will become official Dec. 20, when incorporation becomes final.

Prothero, the historian, said he hopes that history repeats itself and that the name remains El Toro. In 1889, a New England developer bought most of the land in the El Toro area and called it Aliso City. But he was denied a post office permit because of the name’s similarity to Alviso, a small town near San Jose. The name then reverted to El Toro.

“I really don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Prothero, 67. “But as long as I’m around, it will always remain El Toro for me.”