Dana Point, California

City Offices:
33282 Golden Lantern
Dana Point, California 92629
Main Number (949) 248-3500

www.danapoint.org/

Located in southern Orange County, California, Dana Point is approximately one-half way between Los Angeles and San Diego, and is bordered by the cities of Laguna Niguel and Laguna Beach to the north, San Juan Capistrano to the east, and San Clemente to the south.

The City of Dana Point is named after Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1815-1882), a Harvard-trained lawyer, seaman, and author of the classic sea journal, Two Years Before the Mast (1840). In his journal, Dana documents his voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California on the merchant ship, Pilgrim. Therein, Dana describes the area once known as Capistrano Bay, as "the most romantic spot on the California coast." Today, Capistrano Bay is known as Dana Point.

The original community of Dana Point had its origins in a housing development scheme in the 1920s, part of which can still be seen in the unfinished cement foundation for a hotel and bar that rests above the Dana Point Harbor. The original plan for Dana Point was for a Spanish-style town with wide streets named after "Lanterns," and when the streets were laid out, there were actual lanterns for street lights, modeled on the old sailor's kerosene lanterns. This is still part of the community, in street names like Street of the Golden Lantern, Street of the Blue Lantern, and even a recent newcomer, Street of the Crystal Lantern.

The City of Dana Point was incorporated in 1989 and parts of parts of unincorporated Laguna Niguel, Monarch Beach and Capistrano Beach.

Dana Point in 1934: bp1.blogger.com/_nHk4eRE8Qbc/SJPTtvhm2fI/AAAAAAAABEY/FN...
Note the lanterns on either side of the photograph.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHApzQmBPaA