When Ole Hanson founded San Clemente in 1925, he envisioned something unprecedented: a master-planned community where every building would honor the same Spanish Colonial architectural tradition. White walls. Red tile roofs. Arched doorways. A village that looked like it had been there for centuries.
Hanson was a former mayor of Seattle, a man who had broken the Seattle General Strike and then walked away from politics to build his dream on the California coast. He purchased two miles of oceanfront land and began constructing his vision — homes, a pier, a beach club. But the centerpiece was always going to be the Casino.
The word "casino" comes from the Italian for "little house," but in early twentieth-century America, it meant something grander: a place of entertainment, a social hall, a dance palace. Hanson looked to the Catalina Casino — that iconic circular ballroom on Catalina Island — and decided San Clemente needed its own.
Architect Charles A. Hunter drew the plans. The Strang Brothers, a local construction firm, won the contract. What happened next entered local legend.A crew of over one thousand workers descended on the site. They worked in shifts, around the clock, racing to complete the Casino before summer ended. The cost ran three times the original estimate. No one complained. The dome rose over the coastline in just six weeks.On July 31, 1937, five thousand guests arrived for opening night. The Sterling Young Orchestra played. CBS Radio broadcast the celebration live across the nation. Admission was forty cents. The dance floor was full until the early hours of the morning.
"Five thousand guests arrived for opening night. The dance floor was full until the early hours."
The Casino quickly became a destination. Orchestras and big bands performed six nights a week. The dome's acoustics — an accident of its design — turned out to be exceptional.
Judy Garland sang beneath the dome. Mickey Rooney took the stage. Dorothy Lamour and Cesar Romero were spotted in the crowd. The Casino appeared in postcards and travel magazines. It was, for a moment, one of the most glamorous dance halls on the California coast.
This was the era of live radio, of swing, of coastal glamour. Every weekend, cars lined Avenida Pico. Every night, the dome filled with music.
The big band era faded. Television replaced radio. Dance halls across America closed their doors. The Casino endured, but its purpose shifted — community events, local gatherings, occasional rentals. The dome remained, but the glamour dimmed.
Ownership changed hands. Maintenance deferred. By the early 2000s, the building needed more than care — it needed rescue. The electrical was outdated, the plumbing failing, the structure sound but neglected. The Casino that had hosted Hollywood was showing its age.
In 2009, Linda Sadeghi acquired the Casino. What she found required years of work: new electrical systems, new plumbing, new climate control. The work was painstaking and expensive. But some things didn't need replacing.
The original oak dance floor remained. The dome endured. The 1937 fireplace on the Patio of the Stars still worked. The bones were good. Linda reopened the Casino as an event venue in 2010, returning it to its original purpose: a place of celebration. In 2020, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing structure in the North Beach Historic District.
"She looks not a day older than her Grand Opening on July 31, 1937."
Today, Casino San Clemente operates under the stewardship of Jay's Hospitality Group — a family-owned company that has catered landmark celebrations across Southern California since 1967. Two legacies, meeting.
We see ourselves as caretakers, not owners. The dome will outlast us. Our job is to preserve the architectural integrity and celebratory spirit that has defined this building since 1937 — and to share it with the next generation of guests, couples, and families who will make their own memories beneath the dome.The dance floor is still original. The curfew is still 1:00 AM. The music still plays.
