The name “El Mio” was reportedly given first to the 1887 Victorian mansion in the middle of this street. It was built by attorney David Patterson Hatch (1846-1912), who moved out in 1891; four years later, realtor Charles W. Smith (1860-1938) and his family moved in. In 1922, Smith subdivided the land around the house and laid out El Mio Drive. In Spanish, el mío effectively translates as “the thing that is mine” – and since it employs the masculine form, perhaps in this case it means “my home” (el hogar mío). As to whether Hatch or Smith coined the name, I don’t know, but logic favors Smith. Anyway, along with the Smiths and their two unmarried daughters, who all lived in the mansion until their respective deaths (one son did move out), a Japanese American fellow named John “Zuke” Tanaka (1901-1985) was born there and dwelled there until at least 1964, when the house was used as a location for the cult film Spider Baby. Raised apart from his younger siblings, Tanaka had been unofficially adopted by the Smiths.
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