For more than a half-century, no business has been a fixture in downtown San Clemente quite like Russell Stationers.
Founded on Avenida Del Mar in 1950, the store eventually found a home at Del Mar and Ola Vista and anchored that corner for 44 years until January, when it moved a few doors up the street to 166 Del Mar.
With that move, the store came full circle, reopening where it had operated before moving onto the corner. And the store may move again. "It's just too small," owner David Russell said of the new location. "We'd like to spread out."
In 1950, Mike Russell opened the business midway along the 100 block of Del Mar. San Clemente had a scant 2,000 inhabitants. Around 1956, the store moved to 166 Del Mar. In 1964, the Russell family moved onto the corner – 176 Del Mar – when DeNault Hardware moved from there to the El Camino Real site now occupied by AutoZone.
Russell Stationers remained on the corner of Del Mar and Ola Vista until the property was sold in 2008. "There were partners in the building, and the other two partners wanted out," David Russell said. "I went along with it."
So now Russell Stationers is back at 166 Del Mar, replacing Mary Jane's Fabrics, which left six months earlier.
"It's working out well," said Brian Russell, who runs the business with David, his dad. "The major difference is we kind of shrunk down our office supplies a little more. Other than that, the actual merchandise is a lot more presentable to the eye … improved display … still doing it, as we speak … still putting holes in the walls, hanging stuff up."
In the past 10 years, Russell Stationers has changed with the times, becoming more of a gift store and less of an office-supply store in competition with chain stores and the Internet. Brian Russell also introduced his own e-commerce site,www.shoprussells.com.
Some may have noticed that the new Russell store at 166 Del Mar still has a handwritten business sign. "We haven't applied for a sign permit," David Russell said.
He and Brian are looking for a bigger storefront. "It has to be on Del Mar," David said.
Brian is the fourth-generation Russell to run the business. His great-grandfather Mike started it, his grandfather Chuck ran it for much of its duration and his father, David, has been at it for 35 years.
Though being on the corner was nice, David Russell said folks are able to find the new location just fine. "I can't see a change at all," he said. "People walk Del Mar."
History of San Clemente:
San Clemente is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of 2005, the city population was 65,900. Located six miles south of San Juan Capistrano at the southern tip of the county, it is roughly equidistant from San Diego and Los Angeles. The north entrance to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (known as the "Christianitos Gate") is located in San Clemente. History Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the area was inhabited by what came to be known as the Juaneño Indians. Long admired by explorers and passing settlers, it remained virtually uninhabited until 1776, when Mission San Juan Capistrano was established by Father Junipero Serra and led both Indian and Spanish settlers to set up villages nearby. After the founding of Mission San Juan Capistrano, the local natives were conscripted to work for the mission. Property rights to the land exchanged hands several times, but few ventured to build on it until 1925, when former Mayor of Seattle, Ole Hanson purchased and designed a 2,000 acre community. Hanson believed that the area's pleasant climate, beautiful beaches and fertile soil would serve as a haven to Californians who were tired of "the big city". He named the city after San Clemente Island which was named by the explorer Vizcaino in 1602 after Saint Clement, the patron saint of November 23, the day of Vizcaino's arrival on the island. Hanson envisioned it as a Spanish-style coastal resort town, a "Spanish Village by the Sea."
In an unprecedented move, he had a clause added to the deeds requiring all building plans to be submitted to an architectural review board in an effort to ensure that future development would retain some Spanish-style influence (for example, for many years it was required that all new buildings in the downtown area have red tile roofs). Hanson succeeded in promoting the new area and selling property to interested buyers. The city was to consist of buildings built in the classic Spanish style with red tile roofs. He built public structures such as the Beach Club, the Community Center, the pier and Max Berg Plaza Park, which were later donated to the city.
The area was officially incorporated as a City on February 27, 1928 with a council-manager government. Referring to the way he would develop the city, Hanson proclaimed, "I have a clean canvas and I am determined to paint a clean picture. Think of it - a canvas five miles long and one and one-half miles wide!" Largest Historic Landmark in San Clemente: Soon after San Clemente ( The Spanish Village by the Sea) was incorporated, the need for a "Fire House" was realized. The headlines in San Clemente’s first newspaper, "El Heraldo de San Clemente" June, 1928 read: "Building to house local fire department will be constructed by popular subscription and turned over to the city when completed!" Individual subscriptions were received in the amounts from $6.00 to $1500.00 from the local citizenry. In 1969, an event occurred which accelerated the growth and reputation of San Clemente.
In that year President Richard Nixon purchased a Spanish mansion in the southern part of town that Hamilton Cotton had built in 1927. This "Western White House" became the site of numerous historical meetings. The Old City Plaza also at one time had a small Nixon museum inside when the city occupied the premises. Nixon's "Western White House" In 1968 President Richard Nixon bought the H. H. Cotton estate, one of the original homes built by one of Hanson's partners. Nixon called it "La Casa Pacifica," but it was nicknamed the "Western White House", a term now commonly used for a President's vacation home. It sits above one of the West Coast's premier surfing spots, Trestles, and just north of historic surfing beach San Onofre. During Nixon's tenure it was visited by many world leaders, including Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Prime Minister of Japan Eisaku Sato, and Henry Kissinger, as well as businessman Bebe Rebozo. Following his resignation, Nixon retired to San Clemente to write his memoirs. He later sold the home and moved to Park Ridge, New Jersey. The property also has historical ties to the Democratic side of the aisle; prior to Nixon's tenure at the estate, H.H. Cotton was known to host Franklin D. Roosevelt, who would visit to play cards in a small outbuilding overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Geography San Clemente is located at 33°26'16?N, 117°37'13?W (33.437828, -117.620397)[1]. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 47.6 km² (18.4 mi²). 45.6 km² (17.6 mi²) of it is land and 1.9 km² (0.7 mi²) of it (4.03%) is water.Interstate 5 runs through San Clemente.
The Foothill Transportation Corridor has proposed to connect Mission Viejo to the Orange/San Diego county line and proposes to run along the east side of San Clemente and through San Onofre State Beach on its way to I-5. The California Coastal Commission[2] recently soundly rejected this proposal by an 8-2 vote. Reasons cited for rejection included, the road's alignment through a state park, endangered species habitat, native American archeological site and the runoff from the road damaging the state park and surf break. At the south end of town is located Camp Pendleton and Trestles surf beach, which many residents and the California Costal Commission state will be destroyed by construction of the above mentioned Foothill Transportation Corridor toll road.
The proposed toll road will run through San Onofre State Park. Additionally, the city is served by numerous daily trains operated by Amtrak and Metrolink between Los Angeles and San Diego. Surfing legacy San Clemente catches swells all year long. Going from South to North, they include Trestles (technically just south of the city line), North Gate, State Park, Riviera, Lasuen, The Hole, Beach House, T-Street, The Pier, 204, North Beach, and Poche. San Clemente is also the surfing media capital of the world as well as a premier surfing destination. It is home to Surfing Magazine, The Surfer's Journal, and Longboard Magazine, with Surfer Magazine just up the freeway in San Juan Capistrano.The city has a large concentration of surfboard shapers and manufacturers. Additionally, many world renowned surfers were raised in San Clemente or took up long-term residence in town, including Shane Beschen, Mike Parsons (originally from Laguna Beach), Stephanie Patzin, Paolo Pandolfi, and many others. San Clemente High School has won 6 out of 7 most recent NSSA national surfing titles.One title was won by Capistrano Connections Academy. San Clemente Surf Culture
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