• Support
  • Advertise
  • Locations
  • Contact
Friday, September 22, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTERS
San Clemente Times
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Money Matters
    • San Clemente Trolley Route Map
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Money Matters
    • San Clemente Trolley Route Map
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
No Result
View All Result
San Clemente Times
No Result
View All Result

Historical Happenings: The Ole Hanson Beach Club is Back in Service

Staff by Staff
November 10, 2016 9:30AM
in Opinion Columns, SOAPBOX
Culbertson Chronicles: Time to Embrace Mid-century Modern

Larry Culbertson

0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Larry Culbertson
Larry Culbertson

By Larry Culbertson

The Ole Hanson Beach Club has just undergone a four-year, $5.6 million rehabilitation, and it is beautiful.

How is San Clemente so fortunate to have such an elegant building?

It all goes back to Ole Hanson, the real estate developer who founded San Clemente in 1925. He had conceived an idea for a “Spanish Village,” where the architectural style of all buildings would be Spanish.

Ole had a team of architects designing buildings for his new town. He directed one of his best architects, Virgil Westbrook, to design the Beach Club in 1927. The Strang Brothers, who built many of the early San Clemente buildings, began construction of the Beach Club in December of 1927. Construction was completed in April of 1928. It was completed just five months later—it’s too bad we did not have Ole managing this recent rehabilitation. The Beach Club was formally dedicated on May 27, 1928.

Promotional sales brochures boasted the “Olympic-size” swimming pool to be one of the finest and most equipped in America. Unfortunately, the pool was later found to be a bit short of Olympic length.

The Beach Club was used for tryouts for the 1932 Olympic Games. Champion swimmers and divers who tried out included Johnny Weismuller, Dutch Smith, Duke Kahanamoku and Buster Crabbe. Renowned coach Frank Holborow was brought in to train swimmers and said, “The Beach Club walls are covered with trophies,” according to newspaper accounts.

San Clemente swim team prowess was documented in the Santa Ana Daily Register on Oct. 29, 1928 in the article, “San Clemente Natators Win Coast Crown.” Our team beat the Los Angeles Athletic Club and the Hollywood Athletic Club in the Pacific Coast indoor swimming championships held at the Beach Club.

The most exciting race of the day was the final relay race for women. The San Clemente women, led by Cecily Cunha, won despite intense competition. “The pace was so strenuous that two of the girls collapsed and had to be carried into the clubhouse,” the article read.

By 1980, after 50 years of continuous use, the Beach Club was in need of rehabilitation. Plans were drawn to reconfigure the downstairs from mostly locker rooms to meeting areas, offices, a kitchen and retain some locker room space.

On April 9, 1981, the “San Clemente Beach Club” was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It was the first of five buildings in San Clemente to make the list. This listing enabled the city to obtain grant money for the planned rehabilitation.

In 2012, the Beach Club was again in need of rehabilitation. The poor quality of work done in the 1980 rehabilitation necessitated a much more expensive project this time around. Some previous exterior modifications have been restored to their original specifications. Notably, one of the two round windows on the front of the building had been plastered over and is now back. The locker rooms, office spaces, first aid room, kitchen and meeting room fit together in a logical way. The elevator is a great addition. The pools are pristine and inviting.

The Historical Society was opposed to having doors placed in a decorative-arch feature on the pool side of the building, where doors had not been before. But the city decided adding doors would not hurt the historic integrity.

Ole Hanson’s vision for San Clemente may be expressed better by the Beach Club than by any other single building in town. We thank you, Ole!

Larry Culbertson is a former president and current member of the San Clemente Historical Society and has been a resident of San Clemente for more than 10 years.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Tags: ArchitectureBuildingsHistoryole hanson beach clubOrange CountyPeopleSan Clemente
ShareTweetPin
Staff

Staff

Related Posts

Heartening Harmonies: Lucy Creatives Emphasizes Creativity, Artistry in Music Lessons

Heartening Harmonies: Lucy Creatives Emphasizes Creativity, Artistry in Music Lessons

September 21, 2023
Happy California Surfing Day!

Happy California Surfing Day!

September 21, 2023
Happy California Surfing Day!

Grom of the Week: Cooper Reed

September 21, 2023
Wellness & Prevention: September Is National Suicide Prevention Month

Wellness & Prevention: September Is National Suicide Prevention Month

September 21, 2023
Next Post
At the Movies: ‘Doctor Strange’ is Fittingly Titled

At the Movies: ‘Doctor Strange’ is Fittingly Titled

Discussion about this post

No Result
View All Result

SC Times Daily
Get important news and updates delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here.

Subscriptions
Don’t get the SC Times delivered to your home? Subscribe today.

Advertising
Get new customers and drive traffic to your business. Advertise with us.

Support Local Journalism
For less than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee a month, become an “Insider” member and continue to get “Local News You Can Use” from the only independently owned, dedicated local news organization in South Orange County.

Contribute today.

Picket Fence Media is a proud member of the SoCal Media Network.

  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Dana Point Times
  • The Capistrano Dispatch
  • Terms of Use
  • About Us

© 2023 Picket Fence Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Money Matters
    • San Clemente Trolley Route Map
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who

© 2023 Picket Fence Media