This article is about a city in Orange County, California. For other meanings, see San Clemente (disambiguation).


San Clemente is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of 2005, the city population was 65,900. Located six miles (10 km) south of San Juan Capistrano, California at the southern tip of the county, it is roughly equidistant from San Diego, California and Los Angeles, California. The north entrance to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (known as the'Christianitos Gate') is located
in San Clemente.

History
Prior to the arrival of the Spain, the area was inhabited by what came to be known...

This article is about a city in Orange County, California. For other meanings, see San Clemente (disambiguation).


San Clemente is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of 2005, the city population was 65,900. Located six miles (10 km) south of San Juan Capistrano, California at the southern tip of the county, it is roughly equidistant from San Diego, California and Los Angeles, California. The north entrance to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (known as the'Christianitos Gate') is located
in San Clemente.

History
Prior to the arrival of the Spain, the area was inhabited by what came to be known as the Juane??o Indians. Long admired by explorers and passing settlers, it remained virtually uninhabited until 1776, when Mission San Juan Capistrano was established by Father Junipero Serra and led both Indian and Spanish settlers to set up villages nearby. After the founding of Mission San Juan Capistrano, the local natives were conscripted to work for the mission.

Property rights to the land exchanged hands several times, but few ventured to build on it until 1925, when former Mayor of Seattle, Ole Hanson purchased and designed a community. Hanson believed that the area's pleasant climate, beautiful beaches and fertile soil would serve as a haven to Californians who were tired of'the big city'. He named the city after San Clemente Island, which in turn was named by the explorer Vizcaino in 1602 after Pope Clement I, whose feast day occurs on November 23, the day of Vizcaino's arrival on the island.

Hanson envisioned it as a Spanish-style coastal resort town, a'Spanish Village by the Sea. 'In an unprecedented move, he had a clause added to the deeds requiring all building plans to be submitted to an architectural review board in an effort to ensure that future development would retain some Spanish-style influence (for example, for many years it was required that all new buildings in the downtown area have red tile roofs).