Visions of California

Antonio "Chino" Varela, the only known of Las Manillas to have an extent photograph. He was caught on today's Flores Peak at the same time Juan Flores, Jesus Espinoza, and Leonardo Lopez brazenly escaped into the night by descending the rocky cliff of the peak using their riatas.   Juan Flores and “Las Manillas ”   OCHS History Hike 4/20/2024  Juan Flores was born in Mission Santa Clara near the pueblo of San Jose on January 3, 1834. He was the fourth child of José María Flores, an artilleryman in the Spanish military born at Mission San Gabriel in 1796, and María Josefa Sepúlveda, who was born in San Francisco in 1804. He spent his childhood growing up in a typical Californio family in and around the pueblo of San Jose and received a decent education. Juan’s father died around 1850, just as the American era and Gold Rush started to significantly affect the Californios’ way of life. Juan was apparently working as a cook with some of his other family members during the cen

  High in the Santa Ana Mountains are relatively flat areas with meadows with the Spanish name “potreros.” Pictured here is the Potrero los Pinos. It's quite something to consider this is a natural part of Orange County, a place far better known for its beaches and urban sprawl. From Acjachema to Pājaktse Trails Over the Santa Ana Mountains from San Juan Capistrano to Lake Elsinore, c. 1769-1845 The Santa Ana Mountains form an ever present background in the lives of the people of Orange County. This is somewhat ironic given the stark contrast between the cities and housing tracts below and the mountains’ untouched appearance above, broken only by power lines, truck roads, and radio antennas. Their natural quality serves to remind us that the rest of the county was once a more natural place. The mountains preserve the character of history before the urban sprawl. Perhaps the mountains’ ruggedness, or something in the name “Old Saddleback,” evokes the distant past. The mountains fe

  This portrait of St. John of Capistrano was painted by José de Páez in Mexico City, sometime between late-1775 and 1776. It was ordered by St. Junípero Serra to adorn the church at Mission San Juan Capistrano, which was permanently founded in 1776. It is also likely the earliest non-indigenous artwork to permanently reside in today’s Orange County. (Courtesy of Mission San Juan Capistrano) Author's Note: This article only exists because of Dr. Marie Duggan (Professor of Global Economic History at Keene State University) with the assistance of Jennifer Ring (Mission San Juan Capistrano Archivist) and Chris Jepsen (President of the Orange County Historical Society). A big thanks to you three!! Mission San Juan Capistrano - Dating the Artifacts #1 Images of St. John of Capistrano at Mission San Juan Capistrano Mission San Juan Capistrano is full of artifacts. From the carefully inked vellum spine of one of the missionaries’ books to the carpenters’ beautifully carved leaf-and-flor