Building on the Past : San Juan Capistrano Learns From History and Is Repeating It

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO —  Seventy-year-old Larry Buchheim remembers when the city was little more than a farming town of 500, a village of unpaved streets lined with hitching posts.

Now, when Buchheim looks down those same streets, he sees striking changes. There’s a trendy cafe peddling lattes and biscotti at the site of the old City Hall. A few doors down, an upscale art gallery featuring Impressionist paintings of early California is preparing to open. Down the street, there’s a new Mediterranean bistro in the historic building where legendary Judge Richard Egan sentenced horse thieves to jail in the 1880s.

“The downtown has gone away from what it used to be 40 years ago,” said Buchheim, a local rancher, lifelong resident and former mayor. He paused, then with a laugh, added: “Finally, there’s more to this town than a little coffeehouse and a mission.”

Since the beginning of this year, residents have seen a $4-million Spanish-style shopping plaza rise along Ortega Highway, just across from the 220-year-old Mission San Juan Capistrano. They have witnessed several historic buildings being renovated into upscale restaurants with cuisine created by renowned chefs.

Last weekend, they also saw the Orange County Museum of Natural History, the area’s sole historic repository, move into the Franciscan Plaza on Camino Capistrano, next-door to one of the county’s oldest adobes.

In a city known more for its cowboys than cappuccino drinkers, the recent developments have gone over surprisingly well with residents vigilant about their traditions.

“We like the fact that they’re keeping the ambience of the town, even though they’re bringing in some new things,” said Mary Tryon, who sits on the board of the local historical society. “It’s brought some pizazz to this town.”

But others aren’t sold on the updated look.

Down at the Walnut Grove restaurant, waitress Edna Olivares shakes her head when she glances down Ortega Highway toward the new Mission Promenade, a collection of upscale shops.

“They’re ruining our town,” said Olivares, 58, a lifelong resident. “Nobody who lives here can afford the prices over there. It’s just for the tourists.”

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For years, San Juan Capistrano has grappled with the dilemma of how to breathe new life into an aging downtown while still preserving its rich historic traditions for residents and the 500,000 tourists who visit the mission each year.

In the late 1970s, city officials embarked upon an ambitious plan to reinvent the Historic Town Center, a 5-acre site straddling El Camino Real across from the mission, where Native Americans, ranchers and pioneers once lived. The plan included the creation of a pueblo village district, complete with a walking mall in front of the mission, a bed-and-breakfast hotel and retail shops.

Many residents fiercely opposed a proposal for a 70,000-square-foot retail complex and a 125-room hotel at the site. Archeologists later discovered thousands of artifacts from the local Juaneno tribe and early Spanish settlers--and the project was curtailed.

Two decades and numerous public battles later, that plan is still on hold: Instead of shops, three parking lots occupy the site.

Nevertheless, city officials see the most recent developments as the beginning of a local rebirth.

“I think there’s a resurgence of interest in the city,” City Manager George Scarborough said. “Clearly, we’re seeing a renaissance downtown, something that our residents will enjoy.”

Even the secluded 200-year-old Los Rios District, which sits downtown near the railroad tracks, lately has experienced a more business-friendly shift, with homey cafes and arty gift shops popping up in old homes tucked along the private, tree-lined street.

But that, says local attorney Carlos Negrete, could be the beginning of the end for this city.

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“San Juan is slowly but surely becoming more like Irvine every day,” said Negrete, an outspoken critic of local government. “I think there’s been a loss of interest in preservation substituted by a drive for development.”

Some business leaders and city officials would disagree, and point to the historic renovations going on around town.

In November, Manna Station Inc., a group of South County investors, bought the 100-year-old Capistrano Depot for $860,000 from the city Redevelopment Agency, then proceeded to renovate the rustic brick building into one of the busiest restaurants in town.

In April, at the 113-year-old Egan House, restaurateur Gary Pittario completed renovations and opened another restaurant, an intimate getaway with old-fashioned ambience, that has been booked solid on weekends.

And at the Mission Promenade, several landmarks, including the first City Hall, newspaper office and fire station, were converted into the 20,000-square-foot plaza, with another upscale restaurant, the Cedar Creek Inn, due to open there in June. The developers, San Juan Creek Partners, bought the property from the Redevelopment Agency in 1994 for $1.1 million. Since then, they have poured nearly $3 million into renovations, said Steve Nordeck, one of the developers and co-owner of the local watering hole, the Swallows Inn.

“We really tried to preserve what history is left,” said Nordeck, who disagrees with the contention that the plaza caters only to tourists. “We tried to create something that locals will be proud of.”

And city officials have more plans for the downtown area.

Today, the City Council is scheduled to consider an $84,000 project to install rustic lighting fixtures in the three parking lots across from the mission and next to the Promenade.

Within the next few weeks, workers will begin seeding a long-awaited park in the Historic Town Center, which is expected to be ready for evening concerts and picnics by late July. Next month, city officials plan to unveil a $19,000 study of the town center, which will detail possible uses for the historic site.

Residents and officials alike acknowledge that it will be a long time before the vision of a completely reinvigorated town center is fully realized.

“The downtown has shown incredible progress, but the challenge will never be over,” said former City Councilman Gary Hausdorfer, who served when the town center plan was born. “To reinvent the downtown, to capture the local residents’ dollars, that will always be the challenge.”

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Cowboys and Cappuccinos

The blending of historical landmarks with trendy restaurants and posh shops has left San Juan Capistrano residents divided. Some recent additions to the town center:

1. Capistrano Deport restaurant

2. Mission Promenade

3. Orange County Museum of Natural History

4. Egan House restaurant

5. Historic Town Center park

6. Lighted parking lots.

Researched by JULIE SULLIVAN / Los Angeles Times