Inside California’s oldest continually inhabited residential neighborhood, which dates back to 1794

663 points by sfgate 14 hours ago on reddit | 28 comments

OmphalosStone | 11 hours ago

Been there. It’s beautiful. Really charming to walk through. And you can walk through it in like 10 minutes. 10/10 recommend, but parking and traffic can be frustrating

jell0shots | 9 hours ago

Good idea to ride a bike there. The creek trail is a block away

dreadpiratew | 8 hours ago

The recent development has made it a nightmare. I like what they’ve done, but I don’t think I will EVER go back until they fix the parking issues. It’s terrible.

coopermoe | 4 hours ago

And all parking costs an arm and a leg!! It’s yuppie central now, very disappointing

OmphalosStone | 3 hours ago

Yeah, parking is not ideal in any way. But if you avoid Verdugo and go around to Paseo Adelanto that runs along the creek, there is a lot more parking over there. (they are gravel lots though).

Still can be annoying to get to it because it is a chokepoint and the railroad crosses it. But better than waiting for all the pedestrians on Camino Capistrano and Verdugo.

[OP] sfgate | 14 hours ago

Los Rios in San Juan Capistrano was first settled in 1794 by workers building Mission San Juan Capistrano and has remained continuously inhabited ever since. SFGATE spoke with longtime residents and business owners about how the neighborhood has preserved its history while adapting to modern tourism.

guantamanera | an hour ago

Mision basilica in San Diego was built in 1769 and it has been inhabited ever since. Even before the mission was built there was a band of diegeños there for thousands of years. Who comes up with these eronoeus eurocentric facts?

_-_NewbieWino_-_ | 10 minutes ago

It’s so frustrating. Natives were there long before the Spanish came and built the missions.

Paulbunyip | 3 hours ago

Oh yeah! At first I was like “phffft” I live in calli, so what, then I saw it was San Juan, I lived nearby in the 7th grade it was a really nice place. I liked the swallows at the mission and eating lunch at the train station. Optimal So Cal.

Bridge_The_Person | 11 hours ago

I mean, El Pueblo in Los Angeles was continuously occupied as Yaanga for a few thousand years so I think they might have them beat by a few millennia.

OmphalosStone | 10 hours ago

Yeah. Definitely some concerning erasure of indigenous people here. Living in an area of CA that wasn’t built up until the 80’s & 90’s, people seem to have this background assumption that this was virgin unclaimed land before all the houses were here.

And it’s just simply not true. There were ranchers here before, and before that, humans had been inhabiting this area for thousands of years. Just cause Europeans came through here and destroyed/co-opted what the native peoples built and had, doesn’t mean it was never there.

stfsu | 9 hours ago

Not total erasure but definitely omission as some of the family homes on the street were built by and for natives of the area who built the Mission.

NoWayTellMeMore | 9 hours ago

Why yall so offended all the time?

morewata | 5 hours ago

Perhaps it is you who is offended my friend

skanair | 9 hours ago

We love taking the Metrolink there. Easy and fun 1/2 day trip.

Traditional-Meat-549 | 9 hours ago

I JUST read about this and booked a trip there yesterday

subfutility | 7 hours ago

Growing up in California and then visiting England was a shock to my conscience. My hotel was built in 1500-something.

Disastrous7392 | 7 hours ago

The Opitsaht Village on Meares Island in British Columbia has been continually occupied for 5,000+ years.

morewata | 9 hours ago

Hm I wonder why the oldest continually inhabited neighborhood only dates back to 1794

Background-Vast-8764 | 5 hours ago

It’s so nice to walk around there. One time I took my mom to the tea house for the full tea and sandwiches thing. It was great.

I like to sit outside in the shade at Hidden House Coffee. It’s an old wooden house with lots of character.

There’s good food in the area. Some of the houses have nice gardens. The mission is beautiful.

_-_NewbieWino_-_ | 8 minutes ago

Sad that literally on the opposite end of the street is all new build.