The Oldest Neighborhood in California

If you want a taste of California life at the turn of the century, the place to go is the Los Rios District in San Juan Capistrano.

The area sits along a quiet, leafy street and boasts 40 historic homes, three of which are original adobe structures.  Many of them have been turned into businesses of one kind or another.

The street runs parallel to the railroad tracks which were quite busy while we were there late in the afternoon.  I think we saw at least four different trains pass through as we strolled the street.

My friend Julie and I enjoyed our quiet stroll through the neighborhood exploring some places that had gardens open to the public.

We even stopped at one place that had been turned into a cafe for a cool drink on the pretty patio.

This one had been turned into a coffee shop and a few people were enjoying coffee and conversation on the front porch.  

This place made both of us laugh and prompted us both to take a photo of the "No Photography" sign on the delivery door.  It seemed like such a strange place for such a sign that we could only surmise that it was a bit of a joke.

Almost all of the houses were surrounded be picket fences and they also had some very pretty gardens to admire.  It's a great place to see what California living was like in the pioneer era.  It gives a quite different view of sunny California!