SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
August 26, 1928: "Capistrano Beach will have the first of the aerial beacon towers which the Richfield Oil company is erecting as a part of a Canad-to-Mexico chain of superservice motor villages, advices received here today from William Cotrel, Los Angeles, manager of the stations department of the company, said.
The foundation of concrete for the 125-foot airway marker in Capistrano Beach is being laid today, H. R. McVay, district manager for the oil company, announced. The tower will be the center of a proposed motor village, which will include a service station, hotel, cottages, retail shops and other establishments. The tower will erect the beacon and accompanying service station. The hotel will be built by another organization and the development of the village will be in the hands of interests working in co-operation with the oil company.
The land is being purchased through a holding company, Highway Communities, Inc. The holding company purchased and leased to the Richfield Oil company a lot extending 440 feet along the Coast highway in Capistrano Beach, Cotrel said. This site for the beacon and service station is 220 feet deep.
Behind the tower in Capistrano Beach will be an airfield, owned by Capistrano Beach interests. The field is about 2400 feet by 300 feet, according to Cotrel." (Santa Ana Register)
The foundation of concrete for the 125-foot airway marker in Capistrano Beach is being laid today, H. R. McVay, district manager for the oil company, announced. The tower will be the center of a proposed motor village, which will include a service station, hotel, cottages, retail shops and other establishments. The tower will erect the beacon and accompanying service station. The hotel will be built by another organization and the development of the village will be in the hands of interests working in co-operation with the oil company.
The land is being purchased through a holding company, Highway Communities, Inc. The holding company purchased and leased to the Richfield Oil company a lot extending 440 feet along the Coast highway in Capistrano Beach, Cotrel said. This site for the beacon and service station is 220 feet deep.
Behind the tower in Capistrano Beach will be an airfield, owned by Capistrano Beach interests. The field is about 2400 feet by 300 feet, according to Cotrel." (Santa Ana Register)
September 11, 1928: "Richfield Oil Company erecting aerial beacon tower here." (San Jose News)
September 14, 1928: "Reports from the Highway Communities, Inc., declare, according to James E. Appleby, vice president of the Capistrano Beach Sales company, that the first of a series of giant aerial beacons to guide aviators and facilitate landing will be completed about October 15, at Capistrano Beach, (Orange County, Calif.)." (The Oregon Statesman)
November 11, 1928: "The first of the towers to be completed was that at Capistrano Beach, adjacent to the picturesque town of San Juan Capistrano, home of the mission of the same name, on the highway between Los Angeles and San Diego." (Napa Journal)
December 16, 1928: "Following the official celebration at Palm City in the afternoon at which several squadrons of navy and commercial planes will fly in formation over the Beacon (Palm City). Admiral Ashby H. Robertson will throw the switch which simultaneously turns the light on the first group of finished beacons." (The Los Angeles Times)
October 15, 1929: "San Juan Capistrano, Calif.---The aeronautical light recently established by the Richfield Oil Co. at San Juan Capistrano is located in latitude 33 degree 27' 40", longitude 117 degree 41' 10"." (Air Commerce Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 8)