ENVISIONING OLE’S MASTER-PLANNED COMMUNITY

Ole Hanson was the visionary who master-planned San Clemente in the 1920s with his business partners. He developed a master-planned new town in the empty rolling hills halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego.

His plan was to provide the new “Spanish Village by the Sea” everything that was needed to thrive as a town. He built many of the important community structures that we use today and some that are gone.

Ole’s team not only laid out the future city with curved streets and neighborhoods, it planned and built everything that a new town would need, including the community center, the community pool, the pier, Max Berg Park, the first school, horse trails and stables, a hotel, and a water system to provide drinking water and electricity.

Most of the community buildings were gifted to the city for $1 after they were completed.

Ole Hanson built the San Clemente Social Club. It was located where the existing Community Center is today at the corner of Avenida Del Mar and Calle Seville. The original two-story building was destroyed by a fire in 1970. The only original part of the rebuilt structure is the “Ole Hanson

Historical Happenings

BY CHRISTINE LAMPERT

Room.”

The Ole Hanson Beach Club in North Beach, including the swimming pool, is the original building even though it was remodeled a few years ago.

Every home was provided with electricity and water. The water reservoirs were built on the hill in the middle of town where the Presbyterian church is today. The very steep portion of Avenida Cabrillo that is between El Camino Real and Avenida de la Estrella, which led up to the water tanks, was a stairway for many years.

There were also horse stables for public use, now the site of Ralphs grocery store. Several streets were designed with trails running down the middle to allow riders to access the beach with their horses. Avenida Esplanade is one street where there is a greenbelt down the center of the street, which was once a horse trail.

Ole also built the pier for use by the public. It was originally a fishing pier, and boats once anchored off the end of the pier to load and unload fishermen. The pier was built during the Prohibition Era (1920-1933).

Because no alcohol could be legally sold in the U.S. during these years, the café at the end of the pier had a secret trap door for small boats to illegally deliver alcohol. The trap door was destroyed in the hurricane of 1939.

Later, in the 1940s, a boat club was formed, and boat storage was built at the base of the pier, but in the 1970s, these buildings on the pier were converted to the spaces used for the Fisherman’s Restaurant & Bar today.

Ole Hanson is responsible for a very innovative master-planned community. Historically, there are very few similar examples. His goal was to create a new town where families could live and play, and he succeeded.

The San Clemente Historical Society seeks your favorite stories, memories, and photographs of San Clemente to include in our 2073 Bound Time Capsule. Mail your submissions to San Clemente Historical Society, P.O. Box 283, San Clemente, CA 92672-0283 by Dec. 6, which is Ole Hanson Day!

Christine Lampert is a member of the San Clemente Historical Society, as well as the American Institute of Architects (AIA,) and has designed many projects in San Clemente and in California. She has been a professor of architecture at USC, OCC and SCAD Hong Kong. She and her family have lived in San Clemente for more than 46 years. SC

From The Archives

In the “olden days” of beachgoing in Southern California, tents—like the ones pictured in this presumably 1940s photo, based on the cars shown—were used for shelter. This photo can be purchased from the San Clemente Historical Society at sanclementehistoricalsociety.org.

Every week, the San Clemente Times will showcase a historical photo from around the city. If you have a photo you would like to submit for consideration, send the photo, your name for credit as well as the date and location of the photo to sraymundo@picketfencemedia.com

Photo: Courtesy of the San Clemente Historical Society

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An energetic dog, he enjoys long walks and playtime in the yard. Rex has done well with other dogs and older children and is looking for an active home where he can continue with his training.

If you are interested in adopting Rex, please visit petprojectfoundation.org/adoptions/ to download an adoption application form. Completed forms can be emailed to animalservices@scdpanimalshelter.org, and you will be contacted about making an interaction appointment.

Sudoku

BY MYLES MELLOR

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION:

Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9x9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3x3 squares. To solve the puzzle, each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.

Sudoku- medium- by Myles Mellor 95 3 41 9 6 8 7 6 3 95 61 6 5 4 3 28 7 42 68 5