Dana Point's History of Authenticity

Dana Point's history runs from 1830s hide traders to the birth of the modern surf industry. The town is named for Richard Henry Dana Jr., who wrote about these cliffs in 1840. Developer S.H. Woodruff laid out the Lantern District in the 1920s, Dana Point Harbor opened in 1971, and the city incorporated in 1989.

• Before 1776: the Acjachemen people live along this coast for more than 10,000 years. Read their story in The Acjachemen People.
• 1776: Mission San Juan Capistrano is founded about four miles inland. It turns 250 on November 1, 2026. Visit Mission San Juan Capistrano.
• 1818: privateer Hipolito Bouchard, sailing under the flag of Argentina, raids the mission from Capistrano Bay.
• 1830s: hide droghers toss cattle hides from the cliffs to trading ships anchored below.
• 1840: Richard Henry Dana Jr. publishes Two Years Before the Mast, and the headland later takes his name.
• 1920s: S.H. Woodruff develops a Mediterranean-style village with lantern-named streets.
• 1950s and 1960s: Doheny and Killer Dana draw surf pioneers, and Dana Point becomes a hub of the surf industry.
• 1971: Dana Point Harbor opens, and the Killer Dana wave disappears under the breakwater.
• 1989: Dana Point incorporates as a city.

Dana Point is named for Richard Henry Dana Jr., a Harvard student who sailed to California as a common seaman in 1834 and 1835. His bestselling memoir described loading hides off these cliffs and praised the spot as the most romantic on the coast. The full book is free to read on Project Gutenberg. A statue of Dana looks out over the harbor today.

The Acjachemen did. This coast was part of their homeland for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived, and their descendants, the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation, still live in the area today. This guide picks up the story with the Mission era and the founding of Dana Point. For the Acjachemen story itself, from Putuidem and Panhe to the tribe today, read Indigenous Peoples' Day/Acjachemen Nation

In the 1830s, this cove was a shipping point for cattle hides from the mission ranchos. Workers called hide droghers threw the dried hides off the bluff to the beach, where sailors carried them to ships bound for Boston. A bronze hide drogher statue on the bluff above the harbor marks the spot. Learn more from the Dana Point Historical Society.

The Lantern District is Dana Point's historic town center, laid out in the 1920s by developer S.H. Woodruff with streets named for colored lanterns. Woodruff planned a grand resort, the Dana Point Inn, but the 1929 crash and the Great Depression stopped it. Some of his original homes and arches still stand. The Historical Society's free self-guided walking tour covers the oldest section in under two miles.

Surfing came from Hawaii, but much of the surf industry grew up here. In the 1950s and 1960s, surfers rode Doheny State Beach and a powerful break called Killer Dana. Hobie Alter opened a surf shop in Dana Point and helped pioneer the foam surfboard, filmmaker Bruce Brown made The Endless Summer here, and Surfer magazine got its start in the area. Killer Dana vanished when the harbor was built in 1971.

Today, life-size statues at Waterman's Plaza honor local legends including Hobie Alter and Phil Edwards. See more public art on our arts, culture and history page. To ride Doheny yourself, see surfing in Dana Point.

• Start at the Dana Point Historical Society museum at City Hall, open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 1 to 3 p.m. (check hours).
• Walk the Lantern District streets on the walking tour.
• Head to the bluff for the hide drogher statue and harbor views, then the Headlands and Nature Interpretive Center.
• Finish at Waterman's Plaza and Doheny State Beach, then lunch at Coastal Kitchen, in the town's oldest commercial building.
• Add a half day at Mission San Juan Capistrano. See our day trips from Dana Point.

Stay in or near the Lantern District and walk to the historic sites.

• Blue Lantern Inn: on the bluff in the Lantern District, steps from the hide drogher statue and harbor overlook.
• Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa: a short walk to the harbor, Waterman's Plaza and Doheny.
• Hilton Garden Inn Dana Point Doheny Beach: near Doheny, about four miles from Mission San Juan Capistrano.
• Browse: all places to stay and hotel offers.