CLIPBOARD

According to the Orange County Almanac, Spanish explorers tried to set up a mission near the base of Saddleback, but their efforts were cut short by a combination of Indian raids and a lack of water. When Mission San Juan Capistrano was established in 1778, the abandoned site was called Mision Vieja or “old mission.” The exact location of the old mission has never been found.

For an area that once had too little water and too many Indians to support a mission, the hills east of Interstate 5 have developed into a burgeoning, vital community. Among the first homes built by the Mission Viejo Co. in 1966 are those in the west-central section of the city of Mission Viejo. They embrace the qualities that the builders envisioned for this community advertised as “the California Promise.”

“There was a real sense of working together to build this community,” former Mission Viejo Mayor Norman P. Murray said. “People pitched in, and the company took great pride in its work.”

One of the goals the company sought was to make each neighborhood community self-contained. The developer created parks, four recreation centers and swim centers for the neighborhoods and managed the facilities.

At the Montanoso Recreation Center, built in the heart of the west-central neighborhood, residents take advantage of tennis courts, a multipurpose room, weight facilities and a swimming pool. During the day, aerobics classes, senior tennis and lap swimming fill the recreation center’s agenda, while afternoons are taken over by swim teams and recreation classes.

“Right now, our after-school drop-in-and-play programs are very active,” said Jim Hudson, senior recreation superintendent for the company. “And, our swim classes get the kids in the water and on their way up the program.”

The program includes working up to the main recreation center’s Olympic-size pool at the Marguerite Swim Center and swimming for the nationally acclaimed home team, the Nadadores. The Marguerite complex has produced 13 Olympic gold medal winners and 148 individual national champions from its prestigious swimming and diving programs. And 23 world records have been broken by Nadadore members.

“The Nadadores started right here,” Hudson said, in the Montanoso pool. “This was the first of the four recreation centers. Later, when the Marguerite complex was built as the main center, the team moved to that site.”

The swimmers also move on to represent the Mission Viejo High School swim team, the Diablos, a longtime force in county high school swim competition. The school opened in 1966, providing students with top educational and extracurricular programs within walking distance of home.

Whether at school or home, the emphasis of this neighborhood is family. “In our concept of family recreation,” Hudson said, “families come in the center, and they go swimming together or play tennis. Or the mother may want to do aerobics, dad might lift weights and the kids take their karate classes. The point is, they’re doing it together. You won’t find many sports facilities like this anywhere.”

Recreation has long had a strong hold on the community. During the 1984 Olympics, aside from Nadadore Tiffany Cohen winning gold medals in the 400- and 800-meter freestyle, the long-distance bicycle event whirred past the neighborhood. And, a 2 1/2-mile “mountain-to-sea” bike trail stretching from the base of Saddleback Mountain to Doheny State Beach is on the city’s planning board.

Incorporated in 1988, Mission Viejo has kept the flavor of civic pride and good living alive and well in the neighborhood enclaves. “In the past 12 years that I’ve been at the Montanoso Center,” Hudson said, “I’ve watched a lot of kids grow up. Some of them even work for me while they go to college. We’re family at the recreation centers too.”

The familial roots of this community grow deep. “The most amazing thing I’ve seen is the number of second-generation adults moving back here with their own families,” Hudson said. “It seems that after being gone for some time, these parents are returning to the quality lifestyle they’d like for their own children.”

A lifestyle of recreation and good living has been good to the families living on the tree-covered hills of this neighborhood. Here, it’s no longer the developer simply coining a well-turned advertising phrase. Rather, it’s families themselves living out the reality of the California promise.

Population Total: (1990 est.) 4,702 1980-90 change: +26.7% Median Age: 34.1

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 90% Latino: 5% Other: 5%

By sex and age: MALES Median age: 32.3 years FEMALES Median age: 36.7 years

Income Per capita: $23,569 Median household: $65,335 Average household: $75,698

Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 7% $25,000-49,999: 22% $50,000-74,999: 35% $75,000-$99,999: 16% $100,000 and more: 20%