San Juan Capistrano, CA
There are few places that have more allure than San Juan Capistrano. The Mission, the little train station in the village. The ban on homes on the top of the ridges gives the community a more pristine look.
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San Juan Capistrano, city, Orange county, Southern California, U.S. Located near the Pacific coast, it lies halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. It is the seventh in the California chain of 21 Franciscan missions. It is the place to get a lot of bang for your buck in a residential purchase. There are golf communities and horse properties as well as affordable housing.
Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in 1776 by Father Junípero Serra and named for the Neapolitan crusader Saint John of Capistrano. The mission was constructed 1797–1806 and was badly damaged in 1812 by an earthquake that wrecked its cruciform church and killed 29 people. The church remains a crumbled ruin with arches, a quadrangle, and a garden; there has, however, been some restoration of the mission buildings, including the adobe Serra Chapel (still in use). The settlement grew up around the mission, which has gained fame through its swallows, which reputedly fly off on St. John’s Day (October 23) and return “miraculously” to their mission nests on St. Joseph’s Day (March 19). Their departure and return are celebrated by fiestas. The city is partly populated by descendants of early Spanish, Mexican, and Indian settlers; it experienced significant residential development during the last decades of the 20th century.