Tuesday, January 04, 2011

San Juan Capistrano kicks off its 50th birthday

Today's photo shows the Blas Aguilar Adobe, half a block south of Mission San Juan Capistrano. Also known as Casa de Esperanza, this building was built around 1794.
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On Jan. 14th and 15th, the City of San Juan Capistrano will launch a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of its incorporation.
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The city's Celebration Committee will host a two-part talk and exhibit on the Alfonso Yorba photographic collection. The free programs begin is at 7 p.m. (both nights) at the San Juan Capistrano Community Center, 25925 Camino del Avion.
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The photographic collection, which belongs to David Belardes, chairman of the Blas Aguilar Adobe Foundation, will be shown to the public for the first time. In the first half of the 20th Century, Alphonso Yorba (a.k.a. Major General Bruce-Alfonso de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, a.k.a. Bruce Conde, a.k.a....), collected many materials relating to the history of Orange County and took numerous photographs of San Juan Capistrano, the Mission and the people who lived there. This seldom-seen collection is a time capsule of Capistrano.
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For more information about this event and others planned for this year, visit the City's website at sanjuancapistrano.org and click on the "50th Anniversary Celebration" link.

2 comments:

Paul Duca said...

Did the swallows make an early appearance as part of the celebration?

Chris Jepsen said...

No, but there lots of people at the Swallows Inn that night (both early AND late). The program had a very respectable turnout and the lecture was excellent. I'm hoping we can talk Belardes into a repeat performance at the Orange County Historical Society. (Which would hit central and north O.C. folks who sadly did NOT show up in much force last week.)

He knows too much good stuff, spent too much time creating the presentation, and has too many good images to hide it all under a bushel basket (or the roof of the Capistrano Community Center).