___ Alamitos, Calif.

LOS

This Southern California city shares its name with a famous NBA team’s home.

This clue is a fill-in-the-blank for a well-known California city name. "Los Alamitos" is a city in Orange County, so the missing part is "LOS," which is the Spanish word for "the" and a common prefix in Southern California place names like Los Angeles. The clue assumes familiarity with the area, but the answer is straightforward once you recognize the pattern.