What’s inside 1966 Dana Point time capsule?

This week the contents of a 50-year-old time capsule buried at Dana Point’s Doheny State Beach will be publicly unveiled for the first time since it was put together in 1966.

The time capsule was part of a groundbreaking ceremony for the Dana Point Harbor that featured local elected officials, community groups and businesses. As part of the event, more than 60 individuals and groups from Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente and Laguna Beach donated items for the time capsule.

Two years later, after the harbor’s breakwater had been completed, the time capsule was sealed into one of the 8-ton rocks that helped form the stone wall.

“They all seem to have tried to put something of themselves into it,” said Chris Jepsen of the Orange County Archives. “There are rosters of who the founders of their organization were, the history of their club, or a backgrounder on their town.

“They’re really looking at all the problems that were facing them and the world. They were saying, ‘Hey, future, you have all these challenges and we hope you made it through with flying colors, because here’s the thing we were facing 50 years ago.’ It’s interesting to get that perspective.”

The time capsule was unearthed by Orange County Parks in May, in preparation for this week’s 50th anniversary. Since then, Jepsen has been cataloguing all the items.

“We wanted to make sure everything was intact,” he said. “We didn’t want to find that sea water had gotten in and now it’s just a bunch of paper pulp at the bottom of the tube.”

Fortunately, he said, the materials are in “surprisingly good shape,” though they “smell very ocean-y.”

When the time capsule was created in 1966, Dana Point — which had yet to be incorporated as a city; that would happen in 1989 — looked very different than it does today.

“Dana Point was still growing by leaps and bounds by that point,” said Jepsen about the city named after Richard Henry Dana Jr., a lawyer, seaman and author of the 1840 book “Two Years Before the Mast.”

“They had tried developing it in the 1920s, just in time for the stock market to crash, and then everything went stagnant through the Depression. It wasn’t until after World War II that they got back into developing it, so by 1966 when the time capsule goes into the ground, it’s still a pretty young community in many ways.”

Many of the items in the time capsule reflect this.

“There are a few photos that look just like Dana Point looks today and a few where you say, ‘Wow, where is this? Who are these people?’” Jepsen said.

He said the time capsule also includes items related to the planning of the harbor — which is now home to slips and mooring for more than 2,500 boats as well as dozens of specialty shops and restaurants, according to the city website.

“Sometimes plans change, so there’s some stuff in there that shows ideas and plans for the harbor that went by the wayside, and it’s fun to think, ‘Wow, what if?’” Jepsen said.

Barbara Johannes, president of the Dana Point Historical Society, said another interesting item is a photograph of the surfers who rode the last waves before the harbor was constructed, in effect establishing a barrier that would protect the shore from the full force of the ocean.

“There was a wave called Killer Dana that was supposed to be a terrific wave at the time,” she said, “and they were mourning the end of that surfing spot.”

But Jepsen and Johannes didn’t want to reveal the entire contents of the time capsule, saying it would spoil Monday night’s public unveiling.

Jepsen is putting together an exhibit to showcase capsule artifacts at the ceremony. He said it will eventually be located at the Dana Point Historical Society.

In addition to revealing the time capsule contents, Monday’s event will bring together many of the people involved in creating it in 1966, Johannes said.

“At the [original] ceremony, they gave out complimentary tickets to people to come back for dinner 50 years later, and there are actually some of those people who still have those tickets and are going to be using them,” she said. “It’s kind of a reunion of the people who knew what it was like 50 years ago.”

In addition, she said that many groups that had participated in the time capsule — including Daughters of the American Revolution, local Rotary Clubs and a chapter of American Gold Star Mothers — will be sending present-day members.

“It’s a sense of their history too,” Johannes said of the organizations, “and I think many of them are curious to know what’s inside.”

But the 1966 time capsule won’t be the last in Dana Point.

Johannes said Orange County plans to create another time capsule that will be buried in the next couple of years to coincide with planned commercial renovations at the Dana Point Harbor, which will include 30,000 square feet of new retail, restaurant, office and parking space plus an additional waterfront area for boat storage.

Those who participate in Monday’s ceremony may themselves become a piece of history.

“Monday’s program will go into the next time capsule,” she said, “and some of the people and companies that are sponsoring the gathering will be allowed to put something in.”

*

IF YOU GO

What: Dana Point’s 50-year time capsule celebration

When: 4 p.m. Monday

Where: Baby Beach, 34451 Ensenada Place, Dana Point Harbor

Cost: Free for the time capsule unveiling ceremony; $10 for the barbecue dinner afterward if purchased in advance, and $15 if purchased the day of the event

Information: Dana Point Chamber of Commerce, (949) 496-1555

caitlin.kandil@latimes.com