LOOKING AHEAD Cover Story
to being “Te Equestrian Capital of the West Coast.” “We see the town drawing more from the influences of its rich past, and certainly the equestrian side of the community is a big part of the equation.” Staging areas that are being planned and
created throughout the community, along with the installation of troughs and hitching posts are making equestrian access easier for visitors and locals alike. Consisting of a whopping 40 percent of open space, San Juan Capistrano boasts approximately 8,700 acres solely dedicated to open and park space as well as agricultural land.
In 2009, the city acquired nearly 132
acres of the Rancho Mission Viejo, which has—among other things—become home to the Annual Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo, one of the circuit’s most popular events and a good example of how the city is giving citizens open space it can easily use. “By continuing to encourage, support and aid in the development of our growing equine community and businesses, we are looking forward to an increase in jobs and revenues,” says Jim. “Tat is a trail we all want to blaze.”
Sarducci’s Restaurant, 26 years in Capistrano
You have to adapt to the times. When the economy started slowing, we offered specials and low-cost items and two-for-one specials. It doesn’t necessarily add to the bot- tom line, but it keeps people com- ing through the door. And reward loyalty. We’ve started a loyalty card program that gives people money back for eating here.
Tom Bogdanski. Photo: Danielle Johnson —Tom Bogdanski, Owner
Developing Downtown: A New Master Plan
In many ways, the Franciscans who
founded Mission San Juan Capistrano were the city’s first urban planners. In 1776, when the Mission was established, it was fronted by a large public plaza, as was the Spanish tradition. Tat plaza was bounded by what is now Ortega Highway on the north, Camino Capistrano on the west, El Camino Real on the east, and Yorba Street on the south. Troughout the Spanish period, which lasted
until 1820, new buildings were organized around the edges of the plaza. But Mexican independence in 1821 and the
Secularization Act of 1833 changed every- thing. Te lands surrounding the Mission went not in small grants to the native people as previously intended, but in large ranchos to political friends and supporters of the gov- ernor. In 1845, the Mission itself was sold to John Forster, an Englishman who had married the governor’s sister. With the Mission now a private residence,
the original intentions for the plaza were abandoned.
By the late 1840s, the town was a stop- ping point on the trip to the gold mines of northern California, and what was intended by the Franciscans as a public plaza—the land along El Camino Real, Camino Capistrano, and Ortega Highway—became an attractive site for new housing, hotels, livery stables and commercial buildings. Ortega was even known as “Broadway” in 1875. So the die was cast for Capistrano’s down-
town long ago, before cities worried about daily car trips, parking, economic viability and sales-tax increment. Even in the 50 years since becoming a
formal city, Capistrano has tried several times to reshape its downtown, including a 1985 proposal with grand plans to build a 125- room hotel in what is now Historic Town Center Park. In 1991, that plan was scaled back and city officials hoped unearthing the adobe foundations in the park and opening a museum beside it would attract tourists. Tat plan called for pushing Forster Street though to connect Del Obispo Street with Camino Capistrano in the downtown. It also called for creating a Mission forecourt, a pub- lic plaza between Camino Capistrano and El
The commercial center at Ortega Highway and Rancho Viejo Road is anchored by a car wash, two restaurants, a Starbucks, other retail shops and offices. Photo: Danielle Johnson
CONT. ON PAGE 22 San Juan Capistrano Business Directory & Visitor Guide 21
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