San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, CA
My plan has always been to get a cheap to reasonably priced motel room about once a week for the pleasures of a long hot shower, a big bed, TV, real electricity and air conditioning. I couldn’t find anything cheap and only a couple of reasonable ones in San Clemente. I ended up at The Inn at Calafia Beach which had all the working basics, but nothing else. It was convenient right on the El Camino Real close to the downtown area adjacent to several restaurants, gas stations, grocery and convenience stores. The main attraction in town seems to be the beach and pier area with several nice restaurants. This was basically just an overnight stop for me on my way to San Juan Capistrano.
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I never did find the beach, it was across the street
and down the hill several blocks away |
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| San Clemente Beach is OK |
Driving into San Juan Capistrano you can’t miss seeing the famous Mission San Juan Capistrano in the center of town. It’s a huge complex with many exhibits, an audio self guided tour system, beautiful flower gardens, very impressive. The history here is mind boggling with the Spanish deciding to colonize California before the English and the Russians get it by establishing a series a missions and forts (presidios). The Franciscan fathers who were sent to establish these missions had an incredible challenge; imagine going on a long dangerous mission to a totally strange world to build and manage an outpost amongst people who did not speak your language or understand your customs and attempt to convert them into your faith and work for you. Somehow, they managed to make it happen with 21 missions eventually established along the California coast, but it was short lived. Mexico eventually took over the territory, terminated the Mission system, promising to turn the land back to the ingenuous people, but instead gave it to prominent citizens who established huge ranches. Recently, the US came onto the scene and took it away from the English, the Russians, the Spanish and the Mexicans. What a tangled web, I wonder who will be next ?
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| Impressive interior details |
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| The Metrolink train was most efficient and clean |
Los Angeles Union Station initially was intimidating but after understanding the layout of the gates and the train boards it was pretty simple, way easier in comparison to Penn Station New York. The train station itself is an attraction, very beautiful and the surrounding area is also very historical. I took off on a walking tour with little planning, wandering, but it turned out great. I passed City Hall, the Court House, The Los Angeles Times building, the historic Broadway and a most interesting ethnic market district.
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| The beautiful floors in Union Station really caught my attention |
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| The Pico building near Union Station |
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| City Hall is huge ! |
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| This is how you camp on the streets of LA |
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| The Los Angeles Times building |
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| The historic Victor Clothing Company building on Broadway |
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Between trains, trolleys, buses and now these powered
scooters everywhere, you really don't need a car, liked the sidewalk artistry |
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| My absolute best city life shot of the day |
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| Bet you haven't been to a Subway like this one ? |
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These streets markets were like another country
and went on for blocks |
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| Need a knapsack ? |
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A public piano in Union Station, many people were playing
who were good, but this unassuming man was incredible |
San Juan Capistrano had signs posted on almost all main streets to deter overnight parking such as no parking from 3 -5 AM and parking lots have really threatening signs. These municipal ordinances seem to be only randomly enforced but you just don't know. I then came upon a strip mall in the downtown that wasn’t signed as stringently with a cargo van and a few other suspicious looking live-in vehicles parked. So I joined them and found this to be great spot, no one bothered me and there was a pharmacy, a Trader Joe’s market, a gas station / convenience store, a coin laundry and a bakery / coffee shop. I actually spent money in all these stores so it was good for them too.
I also used the San Jean Capistrano library which is a building designed by a prominent architect Michael Graves, the building is very impressive.
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| Pretty nice library |
The oldest section of town across the tracks from the present train station was built by original settlers who worked at the Mission, they claim that it is the oldest continually inhabited street in California. Several original adobe houses remain, one of which has been inhabited by ten generations of the prominent Rios family. Of course, the ingenuous Indian tribe, the Acjachemen, who had lived there for many hundreds of years prior to the Spanish. This area now has several quaint cafes and tourist shops.
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This woman hung a clothes line across the railroad tracks
to protest the railroad, was arrested and sentenced to San Quentin
Prison where she eventually died |
A few miles San Juan Capistrano to a scenic area on the coast called Dana Point. There is an immense harbor there which I started to walk around, but it seemed to go on forever. I then returned to a shopping area in the harbor to a coffee shop where a musician was playing a nice selection of classic rock. It was hot and I was thinking more like a beer, but instead had to settle for a hot coffee. I soon learned that this was a special 40th anniversary celebration for the coffee shop when several Dana Point politicos and guests showed up. I then learned more than I cared to know about the upcoming $ 300 million harbor redevelopment plan in the works and how the coffee shop will expand to be a part of this.
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| One small section of the harbor |
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| I'll take an old wooden sailing ship anyday |
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| View from a bluff overlooking the harbor area |
Next I go to the Headlands Conservation Area a few miles away with a scenic loop trail. It was great, like a breath of fresh air, an oasis of natural vegetation amidst all this development. I did a short hike that had several coast line views, all within sound of the pounding surf and even a few seals.
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| Refreshing ! |
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| Coastal view from the trail |
At night, back in San Juan Capistrano I check out the extremely popular and very country bar in town, the Swallows Inn. It was so packed you could hardly find a place to stand. If you like country, the band was pretty good, but I just don’t understand where all these duded up cowboy characters come from. They don't match the upscale demographics of San Juan Capistrano.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-09-ol-29787-story.html
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| The action gets a little too crazy there |
I also rode to Laguna Beach where I went down a trail from the bluff top to the water level where the waves were crashing onto the rocks, it was very pretty.
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| View from the bluff |
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| Sea level view |
Next stop will be Long Beach, California
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