As you travel north to south in the Sunset District, you will encounter a string of alphabetical names. Irving, Judah, Kirkham, Lawton, Moraga, Noriega, Ortega, Pacheco, Quintara, Rivera, Santiago, Taraval, Ulloa, Vincente, Wawona, Yorba. But wait, what happened to X. It turns out that X was supposed to be named for Xavier, but city planners didn't feel that people could pronounce it, so they skipped it and went to Y, as in Yorba.
Born in Catalonia Spain, Jose Antonio Yorba took part in the Spanish invasion of Portugal. He became a corporal under Gaspar de Portola during the Spanish expedition of 1769. He was in San Francisco in 1777; Monterey in 1782; and in San Diego in 1789. In 1797 he was retired as inválido sergeant; and in 1810 was grantee of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. Yorba's land comprised a significant portion of today's Orange County including where the cities of Olive, Orange, Villa Park, Santa Ana, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach stand today. Upon his death in 1825 he was buried at his request in an unmarked grave in the cemetery at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
This cache lies near Yorba St. San Francisco looks a lot different than it did in his day...........