DPHS September 23 Program Features Our Founders Day Honoree Jack LoConsolo of Jack’s Restaurant and Bar
Join us Wednesday, September 23, in City Hall Council Chambers at 6 p.m. when our featured guest will be Jack LoConsolo of Jack’s Restaurant and Bar in Dana Point. Jack will receive our Founders Day award, given to Dana Point citizens who have given of their time and helped to shape our community over many years. Since 1997, Jack has welcomed visitors to his popular Italian-themed restaurant on Del Prado Avenue. His involvement with providing community services, including meals for seniors and our military service members, has elevated his accomplishments in our city.
Our Society is also very interested in the building that houses Jack’s restaurant. As some may remember, the building was originally a hotel and restaurant built in the 1940s. The postcard below shows the Dana Point Hotel and the Galleon Restaurant, where Jack’s is now located.
Our special evening honoring Jack begins at 6 p.m. with a presentation in City Hall Council Chambers followed by a reception at our museum located on the first floor of City Hall. All are welcome!
President’s Message
What a special pleasure it is to share news of this year’s Founders Day Award recipient: Jack LoConsolo, owner of Jack’s Restaurant and Bar in Dana Point. Jack’s name is familiar to many in our community, not only because his restaurant has long been a welcoming gathering place on Del Prado, but because he has consistently shown the spirit of generosity, neighborliness and civic pride that helps keep Dana Point’s story alive.
The Founders Day Award recognizes individuals whose commitment strengthens the Dana Point Historical Society’s mission to preserve and celebrate the people, places, and stories that shaped our town. In honoring Jack, we recognize a community member
whose dedication reaches beyond business ownership. Through his restaurant, he has created a place where residents, visitors, friends and families come together—an important part of the living history of Dana Point.
Jack opened Jack’s Restaurant and Bar in 1997, building on his love of food, hospitality, and
community. Over the years, his restaurant has evolved while remaining rooted in personal service and a strong connection to Dana Point. During challenging times, Jack also demonstrated extraordinary care for others, including support for the City’s Senior Services Program through meal donations. His example reminds us that history is not only found in photographs and archives but are also made each day by people who serve their community with heart.
On behalf of the Dana Point Historical Society, I extend our warm congratulations to Jack LoConsolo. We are grateful for his friendship, his generosity and his lasting contributions to the character of Dana Point.
In exciting preservation news, our Society’s Preservation Committee is working with Orange County to secure new interest in saving the historic Blue Lantern Gazebo located on the bluff above the harbor. We are in new discussions with Orange County representatives to discover how this can be achieved and we will be asking for public input as we move through this processs.
Visitors from our sister city of Sorrento, Italy, were welcomed by the Society in August, as was a visit from our scholarship winner, William Reardon, who attended a reception following our Board of Directors monthly meeting.
Please join us as we honor Jack LoConsolo of Jack’s Restaurant and Bar at our meeting on Wednesday, September 23, at 6 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers and help us thank him for all he has done to make our community stronger.
Marsha La Russo
2026 Scholarship Recipient Meet and Greet
On Tuesday, August 11, our 2026 scholarship winner attended an afternoon reception following our DPHS board meeting. Pictured are Carrie Lyons, her son and scholarship recipient William Reardon, DPHS Scholarship Chair Heidi Hyde and DPHS President Marsha La Russo. William received our $2,000 scholarship and hopes to become an airline pilot. He will begin studies in aeronautics at the University of North Dakota this fall. The Society wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.
Will The Blue Lantern Gazebo Be Saved?
Over the last few years, many people have questioned the Dana Point Historical Society about the status of the Blue Lantern Gazebo, which has undergone a variety of setbacks, starting with a lawsuit from a gazebo visitor as well as erosion beneath the building so severe that it had to be closed to the public and fenced off from use. The Society has been working with Orange County, which owns the property, to try to secure the gazebo’s legacy as it celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2027. The Society’s Preservation Committee has contacted Thomas “Mat” Miller, the Chief Real Estate Officer for the County of Orange CEO’s Office in California. After consulting with the county, he has directed OC Parks staff “to work with a company that does historical preservation to get an estimate of what it would cost to take the gazebo down and preserve it, then reconstruct it elsewhere on the property. Once we get that, we should meet again onsite to discuss the estimate and the best way forward.” The County has also contacted us and indicated that the process of securing a company to perform such a project and getting an estimate will take several months. The Society is hopeful this may occur by late autumn.
The following article, by Barbara F. Johannes is reprinted from our summer, 2020, newsletter:
The “Blue Lantern Gazebo” at the Ken Sampson Overlook Park continues to be fenced off due to a rockslide on January 13, 2018. Cove Road was also closed when 18 tons of rock, including a two-ton boulder, dropped on the stone restrooms below. Cove Road was re-opened but the restrooms below and the gazebo above remain closed and fenced off, although the Ken Sampson Overlook still remains a popular harbor viewing spot.
The South Coast Scenic Improvement Project emphasized the preservation of this historic lookout as a public view point in 1969, as recorded by Doris Walker in Home Port for Romance. “The Blue Lantern Lookout Park” was dedicated in 1975 as an official Orange County Park. The historic red-tiled, octagonal gazebo first appears in our historical photos at about the same time as the Blue Lantern Gas Station Fountain Lunch building, c. 1926-1927. The original site may have been chosen by the San Juan Point Corporation or Anna G. Walters in 1925, but the gazebo was likely built sometime after Sidney H. Woodruff’s investors bought and expanded the Dana Point development in 1926. (Historic photos show Woodruff’s tall-ship logo located at the peak of the gazebo’s tiled roof, pictured.) The gazebo’s panoramic location also includes the California State Park Commission’s Historical Landmark No. 189, erected in 1955, which attests to the significance of Richard Henry Dana’s visit in 1835 and, earlier, Hipólito Bouchard’s raid on San Juan Capistrano, flying an Argentine flag, while anchored here in 1818. On September 21, 1978, the quarter-acre site was renamed the Ken Sampson Overlook to honor the Orange County Parks director who had overseen the design and construction of Dana Point Harbor.
A commemorative plaque with Ken Sampson’s portrait is placed in the park in tribute to his supervision of local beaches, harbors and parks Orange County Parks engaged Page & Turnbull, a preservation architecture and conservancy firm in Los Angeles, to evaluate the Blue Lantern Gazebo with a historic-structure feasibility study. The study describes the Spanish Colonial Revival structure as located at the edge of the bluff on a concrete foundation added in 1989. The ramp that slopes down to the gazebo entrance was added during the 1973 construction of the new plaza. This was a change to the approach, but the gazebo itself was not moved. The gazebo is a wood-frame construction with large corner wood columns supporting wood rafters, wood skip sheathing and a barrel clay tile roof above. The walls are wood frame construction with cement plaster finish on the exterior and wood on the interior. The gazebo was originally fully enclosed with casement window sashes and partially glazed bi-fold entry doors, as evident in our historic photos. After an Orange County Historical Commission meeting in the harbor, I had the opportunity to meet with architect Drew Gorski at the Blue Lantern Gazebo. He pointed to the original recessed areas where window hinges at the existing wood columns showed that the gazebo was once fully enclosed. In the report submitted by Page & Turnbull, the gazebo’s interior cast-in-place floor, featuring a terra cotta compass embedded at the center, was installed with the new foundation in the late 1980s. The terra cotta compass was salvaged from an earlier slab and reinstalled in the current concrete slab. The general condition of the gazebo ranges from poor to good, with the most serious issue identified as the separation of connections between the columns and beams, where beams no longer have full bearing. Interior wood cladding on walls have damage, the walls have evidence of termite damage, and wood sills have both termite and graffiti damage. Areas of concern included erosion of the bluff, which has the potential to undermine the gazebo foundation, as documented in a Limited Geotechnical Review in 2016. The Page & Turnbull report recommended that continuing erosion should be examined by a civil engineer.
The Blue Lantern Gazebo is one of only a handful of remaining historic gazebos built along the Pacific Coast in the 1920s and 1930s. Also still existing is the historic Doheny-era gazebo at the Palisades Gazebo Park in Capistrano Beach. It is open to the sky, with connecting beams instead of a roof. Built-in benches for gazing at the Pacific Ocean are surrounded by a beautiful rose garden. The Heisler Park gazebo (pictured above) is another. It is now a part of Laguna Beach and its greenbelt named a “Historic American Landscape,” one of only 700 national landmarks in the entire United States to receive such a recognition.
Page & Turnbull has recommended restoring the historic Blue Lantern Gazebo to its original appearance (rendering pictured above), including the original faux bois fence of wood-like patterned cement as seen in our historic photos --- a style that still remains at the gazebo in Heisler Park.
From Our Social Media…
One of the best features of having an online presence is getting replies to our posts from people interested in our organization. Here are some recent examples:
From Coleen Yorba Lee regarding our remembrance of the sinking of the Brig Pilgrim:
My father bought the Pilgrim’s hull in Denmark in 1975 and sailed her to Setubal, Portugal where the conversion to a replica of the Brig Pilgrim from “Two Years Before the Mast” was completed. The deck configuration and all masts and rigging were his design. He then sailed her across the Atlantic to Miami and she eventually came thru the Panama Canal to Southern California before entering Dana Point harbor in 1981. Our family was devastated when she sank but we were presented the ships bell by the Institute.
From Judy Curreri Siebecker regarding our post about the property configuration and local vote of Laguna Niguel and Dana Point:
Greetings to your organization from the First Mayor of Dana Point. I am now 84 years old. Leading the City’s Incorporation remains one of the highlights of my life. Forming the City in order to have local citizens be the decision making group was my dream and passion. Many citizens were involved with the Incorporation effort. I raised my two daughters and a stepson in Dana Point. What great memories.
Now in 2026 I live in Carnation Washington near Seattle with my eldest daughter Tamara (Tami) Curreri and her husband and 2 children who are now young adults. Living in a 3 generation household is special.
From Our Archives…
DPHS Archivist Sarena Underwood unearthed an article from the July, 1968, San Clemente Sun Times. It shows the proposed development of Salt Creek Beach. You can see that the proposed development was a very different concept from what we have now.
Our Visitors From Italy
DPHS President Emeritus Barbara Johannes, pictured on right, welcomed high school students from Sorrento, Italy who are participating in the Dana Point Sister Cities International student exchange program between Sorrento and Dana Point. The photo was taken on August 3, when the students had a Harbor Patrol tour in the morning, followed by a City Hall tour which included a visit to the Dana Point Historical Society. The Dana Point students were in Sorrento in June and the Italian students were here from July 31 to August 14 and visited everything from San Juan Capistrano to Disneyland.
Maritime Festival Outreach Booth, September 12 & 13
Join us at our outreach booth on Saturday and Sunday, September 12 and 13, at the Maritime Festival from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Board vice-president and Outreach Booth Chair Gary Macrides will have a large variety of merchandise for sale including our historic photos and local history books.
We will have Dana Point Hawaiian shirts of which we have limited stock, which features fabric depicting various sights in Dana Point (below).
Also available will be collectible ornaments, Dana Point afghans and T-shirts, including our Last Day of Killer Dana shirt (pictured, top).
Tile Wall Chair Randy Roberts will also have a full setup of blank ceramic tiles and paints for you to create your one-of-a-kind plaque to be later installed on the seawall at Baby Beach. Join us for a fun day of celebrating the Tall Ships and the history of Dana Point!
Membership
Welcome new members John Campbell, Laura & Gregg Champion, Deana Christakes, Larry Culbertson, Jim Fetner, Sharon Russell Fitzsimmons, Robin Hervey & Pablo Mahor, Gilbert King, Norma Lococo, Chris Lobo, Carrie Lyons & Rey Barthelemy, Mike Maihen, Teri Maihen, Cullen McKeown, Katherine McKinley, Logan Petitto, Tyler Rooke, Sean Tripp, Ian Wahlberg and Pamela Zedick! We welcome anyone insterested in joining the Society to enjoy our very reasonable rates. Membership perks include receiving our newsletters, advance announcements regarding upcoming programs, special-event invitations and 10% off of all merchandise purchases. Categories are:
Individual $25 annual
Family $30 annual
Business $50 annual
Patron $100 annual
Life $500 lifetime
Please remit your dues via mail at P.O. Box 544, Dana Point, 92629, CA; at our museum Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays, 1-3 p.m.; at one of our scheduled meetings, or at events when our outreach booth is present. All contributions are tax deductible as the Historical Society is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Questions? Contact Membership Chair Jeff Lander at:
Jeff.Lander@danapointhistorical.org, 630-240-9266
Social Media Volunteer Needed
The Society is looking for a volunteer to help manage our social media sites. Ideally, the position would involve 2-4 hours per week posting and editing content on our Facebook and Instagram pages and could include increasing our presence on other sites. If you have experience working with social media and would like to volunteer, please contact us at museum@danapointhistorical.org or call 949-248-8121.