Overview
About Lantern Village
Lantern Village covers 242 acres on the bluff above Dana Point Harbor and is the densest residential community in the city, 2,776 addresses over 1,555 lots on 57 named streets. Silver Lantern St carries 197 addresses, El Encanto Ave carries 181. The parcel record classes 901 lots multiple family against 636 single family, the only community in this guide where multiple family leads, on a median lot of 4,211 square feet with a typical home of 2,110 square feet.
The zoning layer gives 98.7 acres to Residential Multiple Family 14 du/ac and 41.4 to Residential Single Family 7 du/ac. The city maps 3 parks inside, Lantern Village Community Park, Shipwreck Park and Crystal Cove Park, and its tree inventory holds 1,038 planted street trees, most commonly Queen Palm and Mexican Fan Palm. Richard Henry Dana Elementary stands inside the boundary, and Capistrano Unified feeds Richard Henry Dana Elementary for elementary, Marco Forster Middle for middle and Dana Hills High for high.
History
How Lantern Village was built
Lantern Village is the original town. In 1926 Sidney H. Woodruff, fresh from building Hollywoodland, took charge of about 1,400 acres here for the Dana Point Syndicate, and he laid out a Mediterranean village by the sea in white stucco and red tile. Selling started in 1927 and the first houses went up in 1928. Thirty four of his thirty five houses are still lived in, and they sit in this grid, along with his beach tunnel and his arches.
The streets are the reason anyone remembers him. Golden, Green, Amber, Blue, Ruby, Violet, Silver, Copper and Crystal Lantern were named in the summer of 1925, first by an earlier developer named Anna G. Walters and then by Woodruff's syndicate, and the idea came from stories of hide traders on the bluff and merchant ships in the bay signaling each other with colored lanterns. Woodruff put in matching lantern posts at the corners, frosted glass below and a colored dome above, wired underground, which almost nobody was doing then. In 1929 Governor Young threw the switch on roughly 400 of them. About eight originals survive in private gardens in the village, fifteen were restored for La Plaza in 1989, and ten replicas were made in 2014 and 2015 for the streets along Pacific Coast Highway and Del Prado.
By the Numbers
Lantern Village by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Lantern Village lifestyle
The Town Center Plan records that lookouts were later built at Amber Lantern, Violet Lantern and Old Golden Lantern, with connections to scenic bluff trails and to Heritage Park, which cascades down the slope to the water.
The City's Parks Division maintains 30 parks with 82 acres of developed park land, about 3,000 trees, 10 playgrounds and 5 dog fun zones across the city.
City parks open daily from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., with alcohol and skateboarding prohibited and pets allowed on leash.
Schools
Schools serving Lantern Village
Capistrano Unified serves Lantern Village. 12 interior points spread across the boundary were run through the district's own address locator. Every point returned the same three campuses.
K-5 · 461 students
6-8 · 930 students
9-12 · 1,725 students
FAQs
Common questions about Lantern Village
How big is Lantern Village?
Lantern Village measures 242 acres on the boundary the City of Dana Point publishes, which is 5.8 percent of the 4,143 acres its eight communities cover between them. Inside it the city records 2,776 addresses and 1,555 parcels.
What are the homes in Lantern Village like?
The parcel record classes 636 lots single family and 901 multiple family. On the county record the median lot measures 4,211 square feet, the typical home 2,110 square feet of living space and the median bedroom count is 3.
When was Lantern Village built?
The county carries a build year for 1,374 lots inside the boundary, with a median of 1970. The busiest decades are the 1970s with 535 homes, the 1960s with 345 homes and the 1950s with 230 homes.
How is Lantern Village zoned?
The city's zoning layer gives 98.7 acres to Residential Multiple Family 14 du/ac, 41.4 acres to Residential Single Family 7 du/ac and 17.7 acres to Residential Single Family 22 du/ac. 5.9 acres fall under (DPSP) Dana Point Specific Plan on the specific plan layer.
Which schools serve Lantern Village?
Capistrano Unified. Its own address locator, run at 12 interior points inside the boundary, returned R.H.Dana PreK-5 at 12 of 12 points for elementary; Marco Forster MS at 12 of 12 points for middle; Dana Hills HS at 12 of 12 points for high.