SAN CLEMENTE

Spanish era

In 1776, Father Junípero Serra founded Mission San Juan Capistrano, and afterward the local indigenous people were dubbed "Juaneños" in Spanish. Both Native Americans and Spanish settlers established villages near the mission, and local indigenous people were conscripted to work for the mission.

Mexican and Post-Conquest eras

The northern part of San Clemente was included as part of Rancho Boca de la Playa, granted in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Emigdio Véjar. Following the American conquest of California, California came under United States sovereignty in 1848. In 1860, Véjar sold the rancho to Juan Ávila, grantee of Rancho Niguel, who later conveyed it to his son-in-law, Pablo Pryor. Pablo Pryor was poisoned and died in 1878. Juan Avila's other son-in-law, Marcus A. Forster (a grandson of Don Juan Forster who married Guadalupe Avila), then acquired the ranch.

The rest of San Clemente was included in Rancho Los Desechos, granted to Felipe Carrillo in 1946. Carillo did not claim the land with the Public Land Commission. Don Juan Forster bought Carillo's claim and used land scrip to acquire the government's claim to the land. Foster's son Marcus also bought some of the Rancho Los Desechos land.

American era

In 1906, Cornelio Echenique, Marcus Forster's son-in-law, sold the land to the Goldschmidt brothers, who planned to plant vineyards on the land.

In 1925, former Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson, an out-of-town major land developer, purchased the land from the Goldschmidts and designed a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) community with the financial help of a syndicate headed by Henry Hamilton Cotton. Hanson anticipated that Californians weary of "the big city" would find refuge in the region's agreeable climate, stunning beaches, and rich land. He named the city after San Clemente Island, which in turn was named by the explorer Sebastián Vizcaino in 1602 after Saint Clement. Hanson envisioned it as a Mediterranean-style coastal resort town, his "San Clemente by the Sea". The city is one of the country's first master planned communities. He had a clause added to the deeds requiring all building plans to be submitted to an architectural review board in an effort to ensure future development would retain red tile roofs and white exteriors. This proved to be short-lived; an eclectic mix of building styles is found in the oldest parts of town.

Hanson succeeded in promoting the new area and selling property. He built public structures such as the Beach Club, the community center, the pier and San Clemente Plaza, now known as Max Berg Plaza Park. The area was officially incorporated as a city on February 27, 1928, with a council-manager government. Referring to the way he would develop the city, Hanson proclaimed, "I have a clean canvas and I am determined to paint a clean picture. Think of it – a canvas five miles long and one and one-half miles wide!... My San Clemente by the Sea." Soon after San Clemente was incorporated, the need for a fire station was realized. The headlines in San Clemente's first newspaper, El Heraldo de San Clemente June 1928 read: "Building to house local fire department will be constructed by popular subscription and turned over to the city when completed!" Individual subscriptions were received in the amounts from $6.00 to $1,500.00 from the citizenry.

One of the most iconic landmarks in San Clemente is the San Clemente Pier, first constructed in 1928 and rebuilt in 1939 and 1983.

When Ole Hanson came to San Clemente and decided to develop the city he moved into his epitome of the perfect house which was called Casa Romantica. Hanson owned Casa Romantica up until the Great Depression hit and the Bank of America foreclosed on the property. The Goldschmidts bought some parcels back, and built the Goldschmidt House on one of them.

In 1969, President Richard Nixon bought part of the H. H. Cotton estate, one of the original homes built by one of Hanson's partners. Nixon called it "La Casa Pacifica" and it was nicknamed the "Western White House," a term for a President's vacation home. It sits above one of the West Coast's premier surfing spots, Trestles, and just north of historic surfing beach San Onofre. Many world leaders visited the home during Nixon's tenure, including Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev, Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Prime Minister of Japan Eisaku Satō, Henry Kissinger, and businessman Bebe Rebozo. After his resignation, Nixon retired to San Clemente to write his memoirs. He sold the home in 1980 and moved to New York City. The property also has historical ties to the Democratic side of the aisle; prior to Nixon's tenure at the estate, H. H. Cotton was known to host Franklin D. Roosevelt, who would visit to play cards in a small outbuilding overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

In 1994, the Clarence Lobo Elementary School, named after Clarence H. Lobo, chief of the Acjachemen people from 1946 to 1985, was opened in San Clemente as part of the Capistrano Unified School District. The opening of the school was notable as the first school in California to be named after an Indigenous leader.

21st century

The historic "North Beach" area is home to the Miramar Theatre, the Casino Building, and Ole Hanson Beach Club, the latter two of which were renovated in 2010 and 2016.

In 2019, the city, along with Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano, was sued by Santa Ana who argued the cities were participating in a practice in conjunction with local police departments and OC's Sheriff Department to detain homeless people and dump them in older neighboring cities. Santa Ana dismissed the law suit in early 2020, after the three cities confirmed they never did any of the alleged acts and had no intention to do so.