Documentary about the Festival of Whales which celebrates the
migration of the Gray whales from the cold waters of the Arctic to Baja Mexico
where they mate and give birth. The festival takes place in the city of Dana
Point, California every year around March. Doris Walker and Donna Kalez tell the
story of the festival every since its creation all the way to recent editions.
Dana Point is a city
located in southern Orange County, California. It has one of the
few harbors along the Orange County coast, and with ready access
via State Route 1, it is a popular local destination for surfing
and was home to a legendary surf break called Killer Dana.
The city was named after the
headland of Dana Point, which was in turn named for Richard
Henry Dana, Jr., author of "Two Years Before the Mast," which
included a description of the area. Dana described the locale,
including neighboring San Juan Capistrano, as "the only romantic
spot on the coast". Although Dana described the anchorage as
poor, it is now a developed harbor and contains a replica of his
ship, the Pilgrim. The Pilgrim is used as a classroom by the
Ocean Institute, which is located at the harbor. This area is
designated California Historical Landmark #189.
One of the very few known
specimens of the megamouth shark was caught off Dana Point in
1990.
In 1923, Los Angeles Times
publisher Harry Chandler and General M.H. Sherman, Director of
the Pacific Electric Railway Company, created a major real
estate group to develop what is known today as the Hollywood
Hills, Sidney H. Woodruff, already a prominent Los Angeles
homebuilder, was hired to lead the project. In 1926, Woodruff,
Chandler, and Sherman created the Dana Point Syndicate. They
invited other heavy hitters, company presidents, movie
producers, and real estate investors, to join them in purchasing
1,388 acres (5.6 km2) of land, some of which includes the
"Headlands" of today. Promising tree-lined, paved streets,
electricity, telephones, sidewalks, water mains, storm drains,
sewers, and other amenities, Woodruff built 35 homes and a
number of commercial buildings.
Most of these "Woodruff"
houses are concentrated in a Dana Point's historic core, also
called Lantern Village (currently about 12,000 residents). The
streets are named after the different colored lanterns, street
of the Violet Lantern, Blue Lantern, etc. (colored lanterns were
used by ships 200 years ago to advertise their fares when pulled
into the Dana Point natural harbor). His crowning structure was
to be the Dana Point Inn, a Mediterranean-like resort hotel.
After a celebratory groundbreaking in 1930, a three-story
foundation was poured and a 135-foot (41 m) elevator shaft was
dug. Unfortunately, the Depression caused construction to halt.
Although Woodruff continuously sought financial support through
the years, this project was abandoned in 1939. Subsequently, he
sold the remaining holdings of the Dana Point Syndicate.
Thirty-four of the original Woodruff residences are still
occupied.
Capistrano Beach
In 1928, a corporate entity of
the American industrial giant Edward Doheny, who had built his
fortune in oil production in Southern California and Mexico,
purchased a number of lots in Capistrano Beach. Doheny's son,
Ned, formed a development company, the Capistrano Beach Company,
which included his wife's twin brothers, Clark and Warren Smith
and Luther Eldridge, a contractor, to build a community of
Spanish style houses. According to Dana Point historians Baum
and Burnes, Eldridge favored two dominant characteristics in his
homes, a typically Spanish roof line and the use of large
ceiling beams in the houses' main rooms. The roofline, covered
with red ceramic tiles, incorporated a low-pitched gable,
spreading out to one short and one long roof. The ceiling beams
were stenciled artwork painted by artist Alex Meston. Eldridge
was able to complete the original Doheny family house on the
bluffs, four houses on the beach, and 18 other homes scattered
throughout the area before tragedy struck the ambitious project.
Edward Doheny was preparing for his criminal trial for bribery
in the Teapot Dome Scandal, and on February 16, 1929, Ned Doheny
and, Hugh Plunkett, his friend and secretary, who were to
testify in the trial, were killed in a murder that still remains
unsolved. In 1931, as a memorial to Ned, Petroleum Securities
Company, Doheny's family-owned business, made a gift of 41.4
acres (168,000 m2) to the State of California, which is now
Doheny State Park. The unimproved Capistrano Beach properties
passed back to Edward Doheny, and, upon his death in 1935, to
his wife and heirs. By 1944, all of the properties had been sold
to private parties.
The Doheny family also funded
the building of the what was then called St. Edward's Chapel in
Capistrano Beach. The Chapel soon grew, received canonical
status as a parish, and moved to its current bluff-top location
in Dana Point, overlooking Doheny State Beach.
Annual cultural events
Dana Point has held a Festival
of Whales since 1972. This celebration is held over two weekends
in March.
The Tall Ships Festival is
held in September. It is considered the largest annual gathering
of its kind on the West Coast of the United States.
Dana Point has hosted the Dana
Point Concours d'Elegance since 2008. The event is located on
the Monarch Beach Golf Links and supports various charities.
The Dana Point Grand Prix is
an annual criterium bike race overlooking Dana Point Harbor. The
course winds its way through downtown Dana Point into Heritage
Park and the adjoining residential community with spectacular
viewing for fans and spectators before finishing on a long
straightaway on PCH.
