San Clemente Pier Orange The San Clemente Pier

"I have a clean canvas and I am determined to paint a clean picture. . . think of it - a canvas 5 miles long and one and one-half miles wide." That is what Ole Hanson, former mayor of Seattle, said about developing the City of San Clemente with the help of some wealthy investors. In 1925, after leaving his tenure in Seattle, Hanson founded and developed the "Spanish Village By The Sea" as it is known, from scratch. Developed as one of America's first planned communities, the city was to be the playground for the well-to-do people of Los Angeles as their getaway to surfing, golf, fishing and horseback riding. The Seattle Indians baseball team even called San Clemente home during their winter training camps. Early building requirements, enforced by Hanson included red only tile roofs and white plaster walls ensuring a common theme of Spanish colonial style architecture.

One of the more popular icons in San Clemente is the San Clemente pier. Once a prohibition-era smuggling hub, the 1296 foot long pier has survived two major damage-causing storms since it was built in 1928. One storm in 1939 and another in 1983 that tore 400 feet off the end of the pier and washed out 80 feet in the mid-section of the span. In two short years and with $1.4 million, the end of the pier was rebuilt with steel pilings. A restaurant on the pier called Fisherman's Restaurant, owned by a Seattle based group, is a popular staple with locals and tourists. San Clemente's lifeguard Tower Zero is located on the pier as seen in this photo.

Surfing is a mainstay in this California surf city and is actually a world surfing destination. It is home to surfing magazines such as The Surfer's Journal, Longboard Magazine and Surfing Magazine to name just a few. Such renown hangouts as the Trestles (Lowers, Middles and Uppers), Riviera, Lost Winds, The Hole, The Pier, T-Street and North Beach are popular year-round due to the mediterranean-like climate. Average annual temperatures are around 70 degrees with about 342 days of sunshine.

The "Spanish Village By The Sea" has been home to such notables as Lon Chaney, Jr., Carl Karcher (founder of Carl's Jr.), Olympic volleyball gold medalist Karch Kiraly, Richard and Pat Nixon, Chicago Bears football player Brian de la Puente and such surfing greats as Shane Beschen, Mike Parsons, and Kolohe Andino.