Dana Point Harbor

Dana Point Harbor
The Dana Point Harbor that was never built.

The Dana Point Harbor was dedicated in 1971, with space for 2,500 yachts. The once great Dana Point Pier became a stub in the new pleasure boat harbor, and all the local teenagers complained bitterly about the loss of the "best surfing beach on the West Coast." (Of course, there is some controversy about this claim; nevertheless, it could be heard throughout the halls of Dana Hills High School in the middle 1970s.)

The original plan for the harbor was south of its current location, as the diagram above shows. The following article is from the 1949 edition of the South Coast Area Directory put out by the Chamber of Commerce, when the Harbor was just a civil engineer's dream.

PROPOSED SAN CLEMENTE-DANA POINT HARBOR


In February, 1947, the (San Clemente) Chamber of Commerce launched a program seeking to establish a yacht harbor under the Federal Small Harbors Act. It proposed to use the natural cove formed by Dana Point and the San Clemente shoreline. There is a natural chain of reefs extending from Dana Point to the rocks visible at low tide at a point about one mile off shore, on a line southwest from the municipally owned beach club and fresh water swimming pool.

The (Orange) County Board of Supervisors appropriated the money in the general budget for the fiscal year 1948-49 to make a preliminary study of the feasibility of the proposed harbor. It is expected that this survey will be started in late February, 1949. After completion of the preliminary study, it will be necessary to prepare a complete engineering study. It is expected the proposed harbor will provide moorings for some two thousand or more pleasure craft and space for sport and commercial fishing, a coast guard area, trailer park, a concession area, complete facilities for small boat wharfage, oil and gasoline storage, small boat repair and commercial and business areas. All of this will be located within the city limits of San Clemente, and in addition there probably will be additional facilities in the Capistrano Beach and Dana Point sections of the harbor.

If, as, and when completed, the San Clemente-Dana Point Harbor would be the only one directly served by railway (Santa Fe mainline to San Diego) between the Los Angeles-Long Beach area and San Diego. The San Clemente City Council, the City Planning Commission, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Realtors Association of San Clemente are all uniting their efforts in an endeavor to speed up the plans for building the harbor.

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