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SAN
CLEMENTE
San Clemente
is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of
2005, the city population was 65,338. San Clemente is the
southernmost city in the county, six miles south of San Juan
Capistrano. Its location makes it the only city in Orange
County closer to San Diego than to Los Angeles.
History
Prior to
the arrival of the Spanish, the area was inhabited by
what came to be known as the Juaneño Indians. After the
founding of the Mission San Juan Capistrano, the local
natives were conscripted to work for the mission.
The great
city of San Clemente was founded in 1925 by real estate
developer Ole Hanson who named it San Clemente after a
town in Spain, as it were San Clemente Island was named
after the city later since it is directly west of the
coast. Hanson envisioned it as a Spanish-style coastal
resort, 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). It was incorporated in 1928 with a
council-manager government.
Nixon's
"Western White House"
In 1968
President Richard Nixon bought the H. H. Cotton estate,
one of the original homes built by one of Hanson's
partners. Nixon called it "La Casa Pacifica," but it was
nicknamed the "Western White House", a term now commonly
used for a President's vacation home. It sits above one
of the West Coast's premier surfing spots, Trestles, and
just north of historic surfing beach San Onofre. During
Nixon's tenure it was visited by world leaders and
cronies alike, including Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev,
Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Japanese Prime
Minister Eisaku Sato, Henry Kissinger, and Bebe Rebozo.
Following his resignation, Nixon retired to San Clemente
to write his memoirs. He later sold the home and moved
to Park Ridge, New Jersey. The property also has
historical tie to the democratic side of the aisle;
prior to Nixon's tenure at the estate, H.H. Cotton was
known to host Franklin D. Roosevelt, who would visit to
play cards in a small outbuilding overlooking the
Pacific Ocean.
Geography
San
Clemente is located at 33°26′16″N, 117°37′13″W
(33.437828, -117.620397)GR1.
According
to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total
area of 47.6 km² (18.4 mi²). 45.6 km² (17.6 mi²) of it
is land and 1.9 km² (0.7 mi²) of it (4.03%) is water.
Interstate 5 runs through San Clemente. The Foothill
Transportation Corridor is planned to connect Mission
Viejo to the Orange/San Diego county line and will run
along the east side of San Clemente on its way to I-5.
Additionally, the city is served by numerous daily
trains operated by Amtrak and Metrolink between Los
Angeles and San Diego.
Surfing
Legacy
San
Clemente catches swells all year long. Going from South
to North, they include Trestles (technically just south
of the city line), North Gate, State Park, Riviera, Lost
Winds, Lasuen, The Hole, Beach House, T-Street, The
Pier, 204, North Beach, and Poche.
San
Clemente is also the surfing media capital of the world
as well as a premier surfing destination. It is home to
Surfing Magazine, The Surfer's Journal, and Longboard
Magazine, with Surfer Magazine just up the freeway in
San Juan Capistrano.
The city
has a large concentration of surfboard shapers and
manufacturers. Additionally, many world renowned surfers
were raised in San Clemente or took up long-term
residence in town, including Shane Beschen, Matt
Archbold, Christian Fletcher, Mike Parsons (originally
from Laguna Beach), Colin McPhillips, Colleen Mehlberg,
Dino Andino, Chris Ward, and many, many others.
San
Clemente High School has won 6 out of 7 most recent NSSA
national surfing titles.
Trivia
San
Clemente was the setting of the 2005 movie Brick. The
town was chosen because it was particularly close to the
director Rian Johnson who lived there and went to San
Clemente High School, which was the school depicted in
the film. Many of the locations in the film are still
identical to the real ones, with the exception of the
Pin's house which was flattened a week after exterior
shooting; the interior was constructed in a local
warehouse. The phone booths that were used all through
the film are mostly props that were placed on location.
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