The calm water in Dana Point Harbor was made possible by a pair of breakwaters. Before they went in, the Southern California headlands framed a cove exposed to ocean swells. The nineteenth-century hide trade, a famous surf break and a twentieth-century engineering project all left their mark on this shore.
Richard Henry Dana and the hide trade
Richard Henry Dana Jr. came to the area in 1835 while sailing aboard the brig Pilgrim. California’s hide trade took ships along the coast to collect cattle hides for shipment. Dana later wrote about the voyage in Two Years Before the Mast. The point and cove eventually took his name. His account offers a picture of how vessels worked along a shore with few facilities for loading cargo.
The surf break called Killer Dana
Before the marina, swells could enter the shallow cove and build into a powerful break that surfers knew as Killer Dana. The same exposure that made the cove a challenge for boaters made it memorable to surfers. Early images of the headlands show why the place could feel different from one day to the next, depending on what was coming in from the Pacific.
How the breakwaters changed the cove
Construction began in 1966. Crews built breakwaters, pumped out the enclosed area and excavated channels for the new marina. Dana Point Harbor was dedicated on July 31, 1971. The project gave recreational boaters protected water and transformed the shoreline, including the conditions that had produced Killer Dana. The harbor’s calm surface is part of that engineering history.
The place in the poster
The Dana Point Harbor poster shows sailboats at rest under a golden sky, a view made possible by the protected water.
See the Dana Point Harbor sunset poster or browse the Pacific Moderne Travel Posters collection.
Continue with The Queen Mary in Long Beach: From Ocean Liner to California Landmark.