San Clemente

History

San Clemente, California, is a seaside community located between San Diego and Los Angeles. Its history includes both the Juañeno and Luiseño tribes who were native to the area. In 1776, located in what is now San Clemente, Mission San Juan Capistrano was established by Father Junipero Serra. This led both Indian and Spanish settlers to set up villages nearby. Spanish and Mexican colonization was followed by American settlement and statehood.

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In 1925, Ole Hanson, a former mayor of Seattle, envisioned a red-roofed Spanish village by the sea. He purchased 2,000 acres and designed the community he named San Clemente, which was incorporated in 1928. Hanson’s vision included schools, parks, a city hall, pier, public beaches, a church, and other public amenities, all designed with a Spanish theme. With its idyllic weather, pristine beaches, and fertile soil, San Clemente embodied Hanson’s vision of a Mediterranean-style resort town.

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Hanson himself wanted a slice of his seaside resort dream. He built a villa-style home for his family that he named “Casa Romantica,” a sprawling estate perched on a bluff overlooking the town’s iconic pier which is now San Clemente’s cultural and historical center. 

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San Clemente became a sought-after getaway not only for LA residents and weary DC politicians alike. In 1969, Richard Nixon purchased a portion of the HH Cotton Estate, one of the original Hanson homes. The property was nicknamed the “Western Whitehouse”—a term used for a president’s vacation home. World leaders would come visit Nixon at his San Clemente home, and after his resignation, he made the Western Whitehouse his permanent residence until he sold it in 1980. Prior to Nixon, the estate also hosted Franklin D. Roosevelt who liked playing cards while overlooking the ocean.

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Today, San Clemente is most widely known for its many epic surf breaks, with Trestles at San Onofre State Beach bringing visitors from all over the world. Surfing aside, the town itself is unlike any other on the California coast. It has 5 miles of sandy beaches, a 1,200 foot long fishing pier, and a historic downtown with a charming ambience and Spanish style architecture that evokes images of the Mediterranean.