Discover 6 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in San Juan Capistrano (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Mission San Juan Capistrano, Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano, and Esslinger Building. Also, be sure to include Los Rios Historic District in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in San Juan Capistrano (California).
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Mission San Juan Capistrano
Museum in San Juan Capistrano, California. Mission San Juan Capistrano is a Spanish mission in San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California. Founded November 1, 1776 in colonial Las Californias by Spanish Catholic missionaries of the Franciscan Order, it was named for Saint John of Capistrano. The Spanish Colonial Baroque style church was located in the Alta California province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Mission was secularized by the Mexican government in 1833, and returned to the Roman Catholic Church by the United States government in 1865. The mission was damaged over the years by a number of natural disasters, but restoration and renovation efforts date from around 1910.[1]
Address: 26801 Ortega Hwy, 92675-2601 San Juan Capistrano (San Juan Capistrano)
Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano
Basilica in San Juan Capistrano, California. Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano is a Catholic parish in the Diocese of Orange in California. The parish church is located just northwest of Mission San Juan Capistrano in the city of San Juan Capistrano, California, United States. Completed in 1986, it was designated a minor basilica in 2000 and a national shrine in 2003.
The parish sponsors a number of ministries, notably "Serra's Pantry", a registered food agency distributing food and hygiene supplies to several hundred local families, and the Mission Basilica School, a parochial school for children in grades pre-K through 8.[2]
Address: 31520 Camino Capistrano, 92675-2650 San Juan Capistrano (San Juan Capistrano)
Esslinger Building
The Esslinger Building, at 31866 Camino Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano, California, was built in 1938. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
It is a one-story streamline moderne style office building. It was designed by Dr. Paul H. Esslinger to serve as a medical clinic. A second contributing building is a garage behind, with an upstairs apartment unit, which was connected to the main building by a roof added in 1982.[3]
Los Rios Historic District
The Los Rios Historic District is an historic district and neighborhood in the city of San Juan Capistrano, California. With buildings dating to 1794, it is the oldest continually occupied neighborhood in the state. The nearby Mission San Juan Capistrano was the first of the 21 California Missions to have Indians, soldiers and workers live outside the mission grounds. Three adobes are remaining in the Los Rios neighborhood itself, although there are a number of others close by which were part of what was once a larger neighborhood.
The neighborhood originally had 40 adobe structures, but most were replaced in the 19th century by wooden board and batten structures. Thirty-one of the buildings on Los Rios Street and the surrounding area are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as of 1983.[4]
The Ecology Center
Address: 32701 Alipaz St, 92675-4110 San Juan Capistrano (San Juan Capistrano)
Frank A. Forster House
The Frank A. Forster House in San Juan Capistrano, California is a 6,000-square-foot stucco, Spanish tile roofed mansion built in 1910 for $10,000 by Frank Ambrosio Foster, grandson of rancher John Forster. It is the only remaining home of its style and era in the area. It was designed as a 5-bedroom, 1-bathroom home in the Mission Revival style by Los Angeles architects Robert Farquhar Train and Robert Edmund Williams. Upon the deaths of Frank and his wife Ada, their daughter Alice Forster Leck inherited the house, and bequeathed it to her nephew Pancho Forster.
The property changed owners in 1975, and was purchased as a fixer-upper in 1983 by interior designer Martha Gresham, who traded two Porterville ranches for the house. It came with a legend of a ghost, nicknamed "George the Ghost" by Gresham. She spent $350,000 restoring the mansion, and used it as a home and office until 1990 when she sold it to photographer Phillip Stewart Charis.
The mansion is a San Juan Capistrano Historic and Cultural Landmark. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Orange County, California in 1986.[5]