LOCAL HISTORY
By Carlos N. Olvera.
Photos courtesy of Carlos N. Olvera and the Dana Point Historical Society
1835 • Richard Henry Dana, Jr. sailed into Capistrano Bay aboard the brig Pilgrim from Bos- ton to trade for cow hides. His event is recorded in his book Two Years before the Mast where he described the area as “the most romantic place on the coast.” A statue of Dana, by sculptor John Raymond Terken, is located in the Dana Point Harbor at the end of Island Way.
1887 • The fi rst actual settlement was called San Juan by-the-Sea, now located in the Capistrano Beach community of Dana Point and referred to as Doheny Vil- lage. It was a boom town due to the railroad when it fi rst was built. This Victorian style station remained until about 1890.
1920s • S.H. Woodruff, Dana Point’s fi rst developer, built a pier to show the beginnings of a harbor in an effort to highlight the amenities his new seaside community— started in 1926—would afford potential homebuyers.
1924 • The fi rst access from the bluff above what was then known as Stillwater Bay to the beach below was completed to highlight the amenities of the fi rst proposed development. Remnants of the rock-lined trail remain and may be viewed from Violet Lantern via the Bluff Top Trail. Also on the trail are the arch ruins of the partially constructed Dana Point Inn from 1930.
1927 • The year brought a new development and a need for the fi rst gas station and lunch counter at the Blue Lantern Fountain Lunch which still stands today at the corner of Del Prado Avenue and Blue Lantern. The development continued through 1930 but the severe recession halted further construction.
28
1928 • The Capistrano Beach Club was part of the begin- ning of the slogan “Birth of a City” for the Capistrano Beach community. Later additions added a fresh water pool. Unfortunately, it was lost to a fi re in the 1960s.
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