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SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, famed for its swallows which return annually on St. Joseph's Day, lies halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego.
SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA, one of the few missions as yet unrestored, shows clearly the austere architecture of many of these structures.
SAN MIGUEL ARCANGEL, windows in one side wal
lidway up the California coast, has large which suggest possible interior shooting.
FILMING THE ROYAL ROAD
DON CHARBONNEAU, ACL
EL CAMINO REAL— the King's Highway— is California's storied coastal route from the Mexican border to San Francisco and beyond, so named by her valiant pioneer, Fra Junipero Serra, nearly 200 years ago. It was his dream to build a chain of Franciscan missions along this road from San Diego in the south to the northernmost point of Spain's colonial empire in America. His dream was fulfilled; but, having personally founded nearly half of them, he died before all of the twenty one were completed.
California's early history is inextricably bound up with the missions, first outposts of Spanish rule in the rude young land. Around the missions grew up the villages and towns which have become the flourishing cities of today. From the ways of the good padres developed California's vast agricultural system — her citrus industry, huge ranchos and rich vineyards. Her style of architecture, the acknowledged charm of which is well known, is a heritage from the humble Franciscan brothers. Much more besides can be laid to the influence of the mission builders, but it is to the missions themselves we would direct your attention here.
RICH FILMING REWARDS Few highways in America can match the romance and color of El Camino Real. None can surpass the poetic beauty and picturesque settings of the old missions. It would be difficult to find a subject for filming as rich and varied as this historic trail (flowing past the modern splendors of the Golden State), its old landmarks graphic examples of an exciting and colorful epoch in our past. Movie makers with a zest for the different and an eye for harmonic composition need add only the ever important dash of imagination to come up with a vivid and enchanting picture of one segment of Americana. Some of the mission interiors cannot be filmed because of light limitations. Those that permit shooting call for a fast, wide angle lens.
THE MISSION DESIGN
No two of the missions are alike, though possessing common architectural characteristics. Constructed of stone and adobe, they were finished inside and out with mud plaster and then whitewashed. The interior walls sometimes were decorated with simple paintings. All have pitched roofs, covered with tiles, square towers with domed or arched belfries and were constructed around patio quadrangles that included such auxiliary buildings as kitchen, workshop, tannery, weaving room, cells for the monks and quarters for the Indians, servants and visitors. It has been said that the engaging simplicity of the missions resulted from the vow of poverty to which the Franciscans were pledged and the limited resources of material and skilled labor with which they had to work. Their relative austerity, which is their charm, is in striking contrast with the ornate Churrigueresque style of vice-regal Mexico.