SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Memories in Black and White at Museum

As a youngster, Dick Mendelson walked down dirt streets traveled by horse-drawn buggies.

A few freeways, thousands of houses and 70 years later, Mendelson’s hometown has changed too much, he says.

“You should have seen it here years ago,” the 84-year-old Mendelson said. “It’s just a modern city now, charm’s all gone. I guess it’s progress, huh? It’s not progress to me at all.”

A half-dozen historical buildings, including a hotel and a theater, began to fall in the 1960s, Mendelson said.

But Mendelson’s memories and black and white photographs from his family album remain. He made 53 photos available to the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society, which reproduced them for its collection.

The photographs depict San Juan Capistrano life as far back as the 1870s.

The Mendelson Mission Inn, where Mendelson was born and raised, once served as a stop for stagecoaches rolling between Los Angeles and San Diego, said Mary Tryon, spokeswoman for the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society.

Mendelson’s family ran the 10-room hotel on El Camino Real until it was torn down in 1931. “I can remember in the summer sitting on my porch, you could hear someone playing the guitar on Los Rios Street,” Mendelson said.

Mendelson’s photographs will be displayed on that same street. The collection is shown at the O’Neill Museum, 31831 Los Rios St.

Information: (714) 493-8444.