COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / COFFEE AT CASA ROMANTICA

 

Casa Romantica sits on a bluff above the San Clemente Pier, where its white stucco walls, red-tile roofs and gardens command one of Orange County’s grandest ocean views. 

What began as one man’s expression of the California dream now serves the public as a museum, gallery, botanical garden and performing-arts center. 

Ole Hanson, the former mayor of Seattle and principal founder of San Clemente, built the house in 1927. Hanson envisioned his new community as a “Spanish Village by the Sea,” and his family residence became the architectural model for the town growing around it. 

Architect Carl Lindbom designed a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom Spanish Colonial Revival house arranged around a central courtyard. Among its memorable features are a circular moon-gate entrance, an octagonal study, Italian floor tiles, pegged hardwood floors and handmade Mexican roof tiles. Sliding glass doors and a private bathroom for every bedroom were considerable luxuries in the 1920s. 

Hanson’s real-estate fortunes collapsed during the Great Depression, and Bank of America foreclosed on the property in 1934. The house passed through several owners before the City of San Clemente acquired it. 

After a major restoration, Casa Romantica opened to the public as a nonprofit cultural center in 2003. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and welcomes approximately 40,000 visitors annually. Visitors may explore the preserved rooms, changing art exhibitions, historical collections and 2½ acres of coastal gardens. 

The institution also presents concerts, lectures, workshops, children’s activities and community celebrations throughout the year. 

For coffee lovers, the special attraction is the Coffee Concert series presented with San Clemente’s High Tide Coffee. The arrangement is simple: Casa Romantica provides the historic Main Salon and the musicians; High Tide provides complimentary gourmet coffee. 

At 10 a.m. on the third Friday of the month, visitors settle in for an hour-long acoustic performance by a local or regional musician. 

This is a morning concert with coffee, not a visit to a working coffeehouse. 

Casa Romantica does not operate a permanent café with espresso service, meals and tables available throughout the day. 

Its gift shop sells snacks and refreshments, but visitors should not arrive expecting to order a cappuccino and hold court until closing time. 

Those who want the complete coffeehouse experience can visit High Tide Coffee’s San Clemente shop at 1624 North El Camino Real, a short drive north of the Casa. 

One agreeable plan would be breakfast or a second cup at High Tide, followed by the concert, a walk through the historic house and a few unhurried minutes looking across the Pacific. 

A 2023 landslide damaged portions of the bluff, terrace and gardens and forced the property to close temporarily. All indoor rooms have since reopened, and the Ocean Terrace and several surrounding gardens partially reopened in September 2026. 

The Amphitheater, Woodland Garden and Native Bowl remain closed while recovery work continues. 

Casa Romantica is worth visiting without music or coffee. Add a fresh cup and an acoustic concert to its tiled rooms, shaded courtyard and ocean panorama, however, and a pleasant house tour becomes one of San Clemente’s better Friday mornings. 

 

MORE INFO 

Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens 415 Avenida Granada San Clemente, CA 92672 (949) 498-2139 www.casaromantica.org 

Public hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.; closed Mondays and federal holidays. 

Admission: $8 adults; free for children 12 and younger, active-duty military personnel with identification and Casa Romantica members. Admission is free for everyone on the first Sunday of each month. 

Coffee Concerts: Generally presented at 10 a.m. on the third Friday of each month. Complimentary High Tide coffee and the performance are included with regular admission. Check the online calendar before traveling because dates and programs can change. 

Parking: Free on-site parking is available but limited during construction. Additional parking can be found in the Pier Bowl and near the San Clemente Community Center and Library. 

By train: Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner stops at San Clemente Pier daily. Metrolink serves the pier on weekends. Casa Romantica is uphill from the station. 

High Tide Coffee: 1624 North El Camino Real, San Clemente. Open daily, 7 a.m.–3 p.m.  

FRIDAY FISTFIGHTS / FIVE OF THE MOST COMBATIVE PRESIDENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY

By the Editors & Illustrators of PillartoPost.org--“Combative” is a matter of historical interpretation, not an officially measured presidential quality. Still, five presidents repeatedly stand out for treating politics as open warfare—with Congress, the press, powerful institutions or personal enemies. Presented chronologically, they are Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon and Donald Trump. 

ANDREW JACKSON, 1829–1837 Jackson entered the White House portraying himself as the defender of ordinary white Americans against bankers, political insiders and established privilege. His assault on the Second Bank of the United States became known as the “Bank War.” In 1834, the Senate censured him for assuming powers it considered unconstitutional. Jackson’s opponents formed the Whig Party partly in resistance to his expansion of presidential authority. A famous political cartoon depicted him trampling the Constitution beneath his feet under the title “King Andrew the First.” Jackson’s temper was not merely political theater. Before becoming president, he fought duels, carried bullets in his body and participated in numerous personal confrontations. 

ANDREW JOHNSON, 1865–1869--No president before the modern era conducted his feuds so publicly or self-destructively. Johnson considered congressional opposition a personal betrayal and attacked prominent lawmakers by name. During his disastrous 1866 speaking tour, known as the “Swing Around the Circle,” Johnson argued with hecklers and delivered angry speeches denouncing his opponents. His continual warfare with the Republican-controlled Congress over Reconstruction and protections for formerly enslaved Americans culminated in his impeachment. The House of Representatives impeached Johnson in 1868. The Senate acquitted him by one vote, allowing him to complete his term. He was the first American president to be impeached. 

HARRY S. TRUMAN, 1945–1953--Truman was combative without being consumed by conspiracy. His plainspoken 1948 campaign against what he called the Republican “do-nothing Congress” inspired supporters to shout, “Give ’em hell, Harry.” Truman fought publicly with Congress, labor leaders and the press. He fired General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War after the general publicly challenged the administration’s policy. Truman could also make disagreements intensely personal. After Washington Post critic Paul Hume criticized his daughter Margaret’s singing, Truman sent him a furious letter and warned that an encounter with the president could result in a black eye and a broken nose. 

RICHARD NIXON, 1969–1974--Nixon’s combativeness was generally less visible in public than Johnson’s or Truman’s. Behind closed doors, however, Nixon divided the political world into loyalists and enemies. His administration maintained an “enemies list,” considered using federal agencies against opponents and created the White House “plumbers” to stop damaging information from reaching the press. Secret White House recordings revealed a president deeply suspicious of journalists, demonstrators and political adversaries. The Watergate scandal ultimately forced Nixon to resign rather than face almost certain impeachment and removal. He remains the only American president to have resigned from office. 

DONALD TRUMP, 2017–2021 AND 2025–PRESENT--Trump made confrontation a central feature of presidential communication. He repeatedly attacked political opponents, judges, government officials and news organizations while using rallies and social media to maintain direct contact with supporters. Donald Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives but acquitted both times by the Senate. The first impeachment, in 2019, involved charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The second, in 2021, charged him with incitement of insurrection following the January 6 attack on the Capitol. In 2024, a New York jury convicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He became the first former American president to be convicted of a felony and subsequently the first person with a felony conviction to serve as president. He received an unconditional discharge, meaning no imprisonment, fine or probation, and has appealed the conviction. 

THE CLOSEST COMPARISON--Donald Trump has no exact presidential twin. Andrew Jackson supplies the populist rebellion against established institutions. Richard Nixon supplies the preoccupation with enemies and hostile news organizations. Harry Truman supplies the pugnacious language and willingness to strike back personally. But in relentless public combativeness, Trump’s closest predecessor may be Andrew Johnson. Both presidents treated opposition as something beyond ordinary political disagreement and carried their fights directly to the public. Johnson’s presidency demonstrated that continual combat can energize loyal supporters while hardening opposition and weakening a president’s ability to govern.