FOCUS : Los Rios District Is County’s Historical Soul

When Steve and Olga Rios brought their newborn son home from the hospital recently, the tiny infant entered the warmth of the same San Juan Capistrano home where his ancestors have lived and died for more than 200 years.

The couple and their four children occupy the historic Rios Adobe in a part of central San Juan Capistrano called the Los Rios District. The house was built in 1794 by Feliciano Rios, a soldier in the Spanish garrison that helped Father Junipero Serra found Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776.

Mission records show that Feliciano Rios married a Juaneno Indian woman in 1793. Since then, their descendants have enjoyed a rich heritage centered around the adobe, which is the oldest home in California continually occupied by the same family.

The adobe is also the focal point of some of San Juan Capistrano’s most interesting lore. A trapdoor in the ceiling leads to an attic hiding place where Gregorio Rios is said to have hidden the famous bandit, Joaquin Murietta.

A local spirit known as the White Lady has reportedly been sighted numerous times by San Juan Capistrano residents near a pepper tree in the Rioses’ front yard. Descriptions have changed little since sightings began around the turn of the century. She is always described as youthful, with long black hair, wearing a white dress that ends in a swirling mist at her feet. Sometimes she is seen walking a black dog on a rawhide leash.

Rios has never seen the White Lady, “but my sister, Juanita, has,” he says. Nor has he disputed tales that his house is occupied by spirits. But he dislikes the term “haunted.”

“Since so many generations spent their lives here, it doesn’t seem outrageous to me that the spirits of my ancestors could still be around. I’m not afraid of them. They’re Rioses,” he says.

The quirky, shadowy Los Rios District is associated with other tales of lost and moaning ghosts, some of whom are said to lurk in Trabuco Creek, which runs just behind the district. But it is a peaceful place where quail can be heard rustling and peeping in the brush.

The atmosphere gets livelier across the tracks and closer to the mission. Music spills out from the Swallows Inn Bar on Camino Capistrano nearly every night. The dance floor is full of cowboys and cowgirls in boots and Stetsons. But it is not unusual to find a row of Harley-Davidson motorcycles parked out front, their owners mingling inside with yuppies, hippies and tourists. Several of the honky-tonk’s regulars appeared as extras when Clint Eastwood filmed bar scenes here for “Heartbreak Ridge” in 1986.

The Swallows Inn is surrounded by restaurants and gift shops in older, brick storefronts. Newer developments, like the recently built Franciscan Plaza, have drawn criticism from those who say more effort must be made to preserve the city’s historic ambience.

However, the San Juan Capistrano Public Library, designed by architect Michael Graves, has drawn international attention and praise since its completion in 1983. The building, located just outside the mission grounds, combines elements of Spanish Colonial, Roman and pre-Columbian design into a strikingly modern structure.

But the dominant feature of central San Juan Capistrano is still the mission, often called the birthplace of Orange County. At dusk, its whitewashed dome and bell tower glint in a brown and rose landscape reminiscent of a Western painting.

The landmarks are part of a larger replica of the mission’s original church, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812. Ruins of the old stone church as well as the graves of several Indians killed in the collapse can be seen on the mission grounds. Bells salvaged from the ruins were later hung in a bell wall and still toll to announce the death of a parishioner.

The atmosphere of the mission grounds is not that of a silent ruin. The newer church, dedicated in 1987, serves an active parish of more than 2,000. About 356 students attend the Mission School (kindergarten through eighth grades), which was formed in 1928.

Serra Chapel, however, is pervaded by solemnity. Constructed in 1778, it is the oldest church in California and the only remaining structure where Father Serra officiated.

During a period of decline, the chapel was once used as living quarters and a storeroom. In fact, the entire mission complex fell into serious disrepair during the 1800s when the Mexican government seized control of the California missions from the Franciscans.

Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, put the San Juan Capistrano mission up for auction, and it was purchased by his brother-in-law, John Forster, and James McKinley for $710, according to mission archivist Charles Bodnar.

The Forster family occupied several mission buildings but allowed a priest to live in Serra Chapel. But control of the missions was returned to the Catholic Church in a decree signed by President Abraham Lincoln shortly before his death in 1865.

The mission was saved from total ruin by Father St. John O’Sullivan, who began extensive restoration in 1910. Archeological studies and stabilization efforts continue today at the mission, once the center of Orange County activity and now its historical soul.

Population Total: (1989 est.) 4,444 1980-89 change: -6.9% Median Age: 30.4

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 71% Latino: 24% Black: 1% Other: 4%

By sex and age: MALES Median age: 29.8 years FEMALES Median age: 31.0 years

Income Per capita: $16,622 Median household: $39,275 Average household: $42,064

Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 24% $25,000-49,999: 45% $50,000-74,999: 20% $75,000-$99,999: 7% $100,000 and more: 4%