San Clemente Historical Society

10/15/2023

What a perfect day it was for the 2023 Historic Home Tour yesterday, October 14. We had 15 participating locations including eight businesses and seven historic homes. The sold out event gave over 250 guests an opportunity to tour some of San Clemente's finest Spanish Revival buildings and learn about the rich history of our "Spanish Village by the Sea." Thank you to all of our participating homes and businesses, and thank you to our guests for sharing in this great celebration.

10/15/2023

03/29/2023

Calling all graduating High School Seniors. We are offering TWO $1000 Scholarships this year to graduating High School Seniors who plan to attend college in the Fall of 2023.

Applications are due April 14, 2023. Please help us spread the word. More information along with our application form is on our website:

Historical Society Scholarship Awards Since 2019, The San Clemente Historical Society has awarded scholarships each year to two graduating San Clemente High School seniors. In 2020 we awarded two $500 scholarships and in 2021 and 2022, we awarded two $750 scholarships. In 2023, we will award two $1,...

03/27/2023

Thank you to San Clemente Times for the article about our Golden Anniversary Party last week.

A bit of rainy weather couldn’t keep the legacy of town founder Ole Hanson away from the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens—his former dream home—on Sunday evening, March 19, as the San Clemente Historical Society gathered with several dozen community members to celebrate the local gro...

03/21/2023

We had a wonderful gala this weekend to celebrate our Golden Anniversary, 50 years protecting San Clemente's rich history. The event was sold out and despite the rain, we packed the beautiful grounds of Casa Romantica. Thank you to Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens for the beautiful venue and to all of our guests and Members for your continued support. Here are some photos from the event, including exclusive footage of Ole Hanson himself addressing the crowd.

10/27/2022

Last week we attended a meeting with Jim Gatacre at Max Berg Plaza Park to help plan the reestablishment of the Memorial Rose Garden. We are looking forward to seeing this beautiful park brought back to life!

Photo from left to right: Lisa Spinelli, Jim Gatacre, Larry, Laura Bard of The Garden Club, Commander Michael Rogers of American Legion Post 423, Bill Wyatt of American Legion, and Jim Hamilton.

10/26/2022

Local newsman and our friend Fred Swegles died peacefully in his sleep late Sunday afternoon, October 23, after suffering health complications due to a brain tumor. He was 74 years old.

Fred lived a life of service to the town of San Clemente. His portfolio of work spanned more than 50 years as a newsman and writer. In 2018, Swegles launched his CoastLines column with San Clemente Times, writing light-hearted local pieces each week.

The San Clemente Historical Society presented Fred with the first Ole Hanson Preservation Award last year and is installing a custom plaque to honor his life. Fred Swegles was a champion of historic preservation, and will be greatly missed.

Read more about Fred's life in this article: https://www.sanclementetimes.com/legendary-local-newsman-fred-swegles-dies-at-74/

08/19/2022

The Historical Society was in attendance at the City Council meeting this past Tuesday. Fred Swegles and Don Brown, both friends of the Historical Society, were inducted to the Wall of Recognition. Congrats to Fred and Don, and thank you for your many years of dedication to our community!

08/14/2022

Come visit Ole Hanson’s Tract Office, our booth at the Fiesta today on Avenida Del Mar. We have hundreds of historic photos to peruse, books to take home, plus a bean bag competition today. See you there!

06/20/2022

We had a great Quarterly Meeting last week with our special guest speaker David Matuszak, author of San Onofre: Memories of a Legendary Surf Beach. He gave a great presentation about the history of San Onofre including some stories we had never heard before. Thank you, David! We recommend that everyone get a copy of his book; it is essential San Clemente reading.

03/29/2022

Final deadline for Historical Society Scholarships is April 2

This year we are awarding TWO $1000 scholarships to enterprising San Clemente High School seniors. Our deadline for submissions is April 2, 2022. Please visit our website for scholarship guidelines and application forms https://www.sanclementehistoricalsociety.org/scholarships. We have received some really fantastic applications thus far. Thank you to all of our incredible students who have applied!