BLOG: The Best of California - Destination SJC

In a few days, spring, leaves April behind.  As nature blooms, birds begin to build their nests while people feel their lives reboot with energy.  It is a perfect time of year to tool around Southern California. A charming Western town known as San Juan Capistrano – just over an hour southwest of Los Angeles and equal distance northwest of San Diego – is just the destination to seek.

San Juan Capistrano has been a part of California history for more than 220 years, originating with the Juaneño Indians tribes. Nearly one thousand Indians congregated here in its formative years, making SJC the most desirable of sites to start a mission.

And that’s just what the Franciscan monks did.

By the time the “Jewel of the Mission" was completed in 1776, farming, herding, candle and soap making, iron smelting, weaving and tanning operations and thousands of yearly baptisms were already in full swing. Today, is a sprawling enclave of ambling walkways, koi-filled fountains, bougainvillea-covered adobe buildings and rough stone walls.

Mission San Juan Capistrano is also a spot where nature and museum co-habitate. Here birds make joyful music in the sun. It is a special place that brings a huge benefit to the local community. That is because it is superbly managed by a close-knit staff of consummate professionals.

Inside these idyllic confines, butterflies and honeybees pay homage to the work of hundreds of local volunteers – whose loving hands make the plant and vegetable gardens blush with color and variety throughout the year. These dedicated folks help keep the Mission and community a place of beauty and it shows. People come from around the world and linger in the garden for hours,  appreciating its serenity.

As a volunteer, I tended the artichokes, chard and cabbage patches during college.I have many happy memories of school children on school outings, dropping by to marvel at the size of our squash. Summer concerts and art receptions were enjoyed on the grounds here. I think I will always connect the Mission with family and friends and being invited to great Christmas parties.

As legend has it, migrating cliff swallows return to this very spot each year. Talk about harmony.

In celebration,  the town of San Juan Capistrano hosts their Swallow’s Day Parade – come rain or come shine. This year, the 54th presentation of the was held on Saturday, March 24. The town guesstimated more than 3,000 parade participants and approximately 500 horses would turn out to honor the city's Spanish, old West and Juaneño Indian influences.  The theme this year was 'How the West was Fun'!

The parade featured 193 entries. My mother –  who was being recognized for her volunteer work at Mission San Juan Capistrano –  was about to experience a quaint and well-preserved beacon of heritage being played out. First hand.

Her place of honor was a seat on a horse-drawn float in-between me and nine others – including a retired commander in the U.S. Navy – age 93. Our banner read, "Mission San Juan Capistrano," but among the insiders we were known as float number 47, who followed behind 45, because float number 46 wasn't around.

Two hours before showtime, we gathered in a parking lot. Everything from marching bands to Indian maidens on appaloosas to buckskin cowboys, mules and shetland ponies.

The spectacle of many-splendored horses reached its zenith with the arrival of the Arabian horses and Mexican dressage riders. In a class of their own, they pranced and prepped like dancers during their warmups. I have never seen so many well-coiffed equines. They made the Mormons, the cowboys and the Early Settlers look unkept and oafish in comparison. (Men are advised to not shave after January 14, so they will be in character by showtime).

The most unusual entry came last – 60-odd dancers of La Danza de los Chinelos, accompanied by a brass band and flag wavers jumping and jiving as a column of mounted police on chestnut ponies ushered the parade to its close.

The Swallows' Day Parade is the nation's largest non-motorized parade. An outgrowth of a school carnival held in the 1930s, the event originally consisted of an equestrian parade, a trail ride and a Western dance. As part of the larger Fiesta de las Golondrinas, or Festival of the Swallows, the parade marks the grand finale of a fun-filled month that includes an with cash prizes awarded to Best Dressed Old West Man, Best Dressed Old West Woman, Best Belt Buckle, Best Mustache, Best Dance Hall Girl and the judging of the Hairiest Man Contest.

Citizens can or pay a fine if they are not dressed in their traditional black and white Western wear. This includes any man who is clean shaven.

Lucky for sight-seers, this is an accessible, walking town. Amtrak and Metrolink stop in the center of town – just a hop, skip and a jump from the , the oldest continually occupied residential neighborhood in California. 

This charming locale has a park, an outdoor museum with jail cell, artisan shops and fine restaurants.  and restaurants are my favorite dining spots. Other sites of interest are the . It is 11,000 feet of pure vintage...everything.

I consider one of the most beautiful churches in the world –  It became a national shrine in 2003. The grand retablo carved in cedar and covered in golf leaf is simply exquisite.

Now the best for last. Tourists get your camera and your two-step ready, please. The mecca of cowboy saloons –  – is the real thing. Talk about old-fashioned, honky-tonk. You don’t want to miss that.