Dana Point

The Acjachemen village of Toovannga stood near the mouth of San Juan Creek, close to where Dana Point Harbor is today. Villages held around 250 people each and were politically independent, tied to one another through marriage. The Portolá expedition arrived in 1769 and 1770. Starting in 1776, people from the nearby village of Ubange were brought to Mission San Juan Capistrano, where they were put to work. By 1778 discontent led tribal leader Cinquanto to plan a revolt, which the Spanish stopped before it began.

The cove was a popular port for ships in the hide trade with Mission San Juan Capistrano, and that trade peaked in the 1830s and 1840s. In 1818 the Argentine sailor Hippolyte de Bouchard anchored here during his raid on the mission. Richard Henry Dana visited in 1835 aboard the brig Pilgrim. His 1840 memoir, Two Years Before the Mast, gave the headland its name, and he called the area, with neighboring San Juan Capistrano, "the only romantic spot on the coast". The site is California Historical Landmark #189.

In 1926, Sidney H. Woodruff, Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler and General M. H. Sherman formed the Dana Point Syndicate. It bought 1,388 acres, including part of what is now the Headlands. Woodruff promised paved streets, electricity, phones, sewers and more, and built about three dozen homes and a number of commercial buildings. Thirty-four of the original thirty-five Woodruff houses are still lived in. Most stand in the historic core called Lantern Village, where the streets are named for the colored lanterns ships once used to advertise their wares in the harbor.

His crowning project was the Dana Point Inn, a Mediterranean-style hotel on the cliffs. The groundbreaking came in 1930, a three-story foundation was poured and a 135-foot shaft was dug for an elevator to the beach. The Great Depression stopped construction, and the project was abandoned in 1939.

Down the coast, Edward Doheny's company bought lots in Capistrano Beach in 1928, and his son Ned's development company set out to build Spanish-style houses with red tile roofs and decorated ceiling beams. Ned Doheny died on February 16, 1929. In 1931 the Doheny family's company gave 41.4 acres to the State of California, now Doheny State Beach.

The harbor was built in the 1960s and dedicated on July 31, 1971. It holds a marina, shops and restaurants, and it is where the Catalina Express leaves for Avalon on Catalina Island. In 2014 the whole harbor, including the Embarcadero Marina shops and restaurants, was slated for complete demolition and redevelopment, trading the old nautical look for a minimalist one with metal roofs.

Richard Henry Dana described the anchorage as poor, but it is now a full harbor. A replica of his ship Pilgrim was used as a classroom by the Ocean Institute until it sank in 2020. The Ocean Institute, founded in 1977, is a nonprofit that teaches ocean science and maritime history, with touch tanks and aquaria, and offers marine mammal cruises and sails on a tall ship.

The Dana Point headlands are a prominent feature on the Orange County coast. After years of controversy they are being developed as a gated community of 118 houses, though 68 acres are open to the public with a nature center and walking trails of "lost" plants of the Southern California coast. On a clear day the view reaches Catalina Island and La Jolla. The Strands at Headlands was built on former Chandler family land that once held a mobile home community. A ten-year approval process cut the plan down to just over 100 home sites. The developer agreed to turn the bluff into a nature preserve and pay for over $11 million in public improvements, including stairs, restrooms and a funicular to the beach.

Surfing history runs deep here. Hobie Alter opened the world's first retail surf shop in Dana Point in 1954, and Surfer Magazine and The Surfer's Journal were started and based in town. Bruce Brown made the surf film Endless Summer here. A famous break called Killer Dana, which rose out of deep water close to the rocks, was destroyed by the breakwater built with the harbor in 1966.

The Festival of Whales has run since 1972, over two weekends in March. The city also calls its festival the longest running in the world. Dana Point trademarked the title Dolphin and Whale Watching Capital of the World in 2019 and was named a Whale Heritage Site in 2021. Blue whale season runs from May to October, and the gray whale migration from November to April.

The Tall Ships Festival in September is considered the largest gathering of its kind on the West Coast. The Concours d'Elegance has been held at Monarch Beach Golf Links since 2008 and supports charities. The Dana Point Grand Prix is a bike race that winds through downtown and Heritage Park and finishes on the Pacific Coast Highway. The Chamber of Commerce's Turkey Trot offers 5K, 10K and kids' races, and draws more than 10,000 runners. The Dana Point Symphony plays with a 50-piece orchestra.

A rare megamouth shark was caught off Dana Point in 1990. Doheny State Beach, with its five-acre lawn and picnic areas, attracts about one million visitors a year.

The median age in 2020 was 49.8 years, and 24.5% of residents were 65 or older. There were 14,249 households, 20.8% of them with children under 18. About 28.3% were one-person households, and the average household size was 2.31. Of 16,254 housing units, 12.3% were vacant, and of occupied homes 58.6% were owned and 41.4% rented.

The Census Bureau estimated median household income at $127,246 in 2023. Notable residents have included the filmmaker and surfer Dana Brown and quarterbacks Josh Allen and Sam Darnold.

Interstate 5 passes through the southeastern part of the city, and the Pacific Coast Highway interchange is the most central exit. State Route 1 begins in Dana Point and runs northwest through the coastal cities. In summer, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, a free trolley loops through the harbor, the resorts and downtown. Walking and biking are easy around the harbor and the Lantern District.

The Capistrano Unified School District serves the city, including Dana Hills High School, which opened in 1972. Its cross country program won state titles in 1988, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Fire protection comes from the Orange County Fire Authority, police from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, and lifeguards cover the county and state beaches year-round. Two weekly papers, the Dana Point News and the Dana Point Times, cover the city.