San Juan

Olga San Juan, the actress dubbed the "Puerto Rican Pepperpot" for singing and dancing roles alongside stars that included Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, has died. She was 81. San Juan died late Saturday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of kidney failure stemming from a long-term illness, said her son-in-law Barry Adelman, executive producer of the Golden Globe Awards. San Juan was born March 16, 1927, and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y.

What an appealing slice-of-life California town, an easy day trip by car or train. Come for the history, stay for the food. This restaurant-intensive ranch town is the oldest community in Orange County. If San Juan Capistrano - or SJC - had a dating profile it would say: "Self-deprecating, authentic, still likes a good time. " The bed. Choices here are limited, though a new hotel is on the way. Till then, you have the Residence Inn Marriott, with one- and two-bedroom suites starting at $179 (33711 Camino Capistrano; [949]

Some San Juan Elementary School parents believe their school has been "neglected" for too long for it to have more students foisted upon it. At a Capistrano Unified School Board meeting Monday night, two parents asked trustees to scrap plans allowing a new charter school to operate there. The parents railed against the crowding and noise complications they say could occur if 60 students from Journey Charter School, the district's first charter program, inhabit the campus.

The longest graded stakes race in North America ended Sunday at Santa Anita with a furious two-horse charge down the stretch that was so close at the finish line it took six minutes to decide whose nose crossed the line first. Bourbon Bay and jockey Joel Rosario were determined the winners of the 13/4-mile $150,000 San Juan Capistrano Handicap by a nose over Eagle Poise and jockey Alex Solis. "That's a heart attack horse," a Bourbon Bay supporter quipped in the winner's circle after his No. 2 was posted on the tote board in the first-place position.

The Rev. Joseph Zehlaoui, auxiliary bishop of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, will pay his first visit to St. John the Theologian Orthodox Church in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday. Bishop Joseph will celebrate the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy and deliver the homily at 10 a.m., following Orthros, which begins at 9 a.m. An informal luncheon with the bishop will be held at the conclusion of liturgy. St.

I'm on my way down to lower Orange County in our old minivan, the Honey Fitz. It's bleeding power steering fluid, but other than that the Honey Fitz is charging out of the barn, three of the four cylinders firing in sequence, the other a virtual wooden leg. I'd planned to bring my wife, Posh, but when I left the house, she was all tied up with some project. Actually, she was lying on the bedroom floor, ensnared in the strings of a Pinocchio toy she was trying to put away a little too quickly.

The air may be chilly from the weekend's winter storm, but San Juan Capistrano is gearing up for spring by celebrating the annual return of the swallows. Monday was Swallows' Day for Mission San Juan Capistrano, where lore has it that cliff swallows return each year just in time for St. Joseph's Day after wintering 6,000 miles away in Argentina. Although the gregarious birds have hardly been seen at the historic mission in recent years, swallows nest in small numbers elsewhere, in the eaves of schools, shopping malls and underneath freeway overpasses.

At Mission San Juan Capistrano, founded centuries ago to spread the Christian faith, Rabbi Allen Krause started an annual interfaith conference in 1994 because he felt that Orange County's religious groups were too insular. About 600 people attended the first Religious Diversity Faire, with spiritual leaders from more than a dozen faiths holding workshops on their beliefs and practices. The event was staged for 15 more years. Providing a window into the religious beliefs of others was a recurring theme for Krause, who was recognized as a trailblazer in the county's interfaith movement.

An outbreak of a deadly virus has horse trainers and owners in Riverside and Orange counties fearful for the health of their animals. On Tuesday, a horse at the Empire Polo Club in Indio was euthanized because of complications from equine herpes virus-1. At Rancho Sierra Vista in San Juan Capistrano, 16 cases of the disease have been identified since Jan. 11 and one horse had to be euthanized. Both sites have been placed under quarantine by state veterinarians. No horses are allowed to leave or enter, and caretakers must take sanitary precautions.

The crucifix has a bullet wound. The story goes that around 1900 a man embroiled in a business dispute unloaded his anger — and his pistol — inside a chapel at Mission San Juan Capistrano. Miraculously, no one was hurt. But the 18th century silver cross likely used by mission founder Father Junipero Serra took one near the top. That the crucifix survived at all is a miracle itself. Generations of carelessness and theft stripped California's missions of much of their artwork and artifacts.

If you go THE BEST WAY TO SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO From LAX, nonstop service to San Juan is offered on American, and connecting service (change of plane) is offered on American, Delta, US Airways, JetBlue and Continental. Restricted round-trip airfares begin at $538. Hacienda Buena Vista, (787) 722-5882, http://www.fideicomiso.org ). Tours are offered Wednesdays-Sundays. English-speaking guides lead the 1:30 p.m. groups. Tickets cost $8 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.

Catchers wear lots of equipment to protect their face, chest, head, knees and ankles. They play the most demanding position in baseball. They're stuck in an uncomfortable crouch for pitch after pitch, getting dirty, nicked up and abused. Yet, Austin Hedges of San Juan Capistrano JSerra acts as if catching is as therapeutic as spending a day at the beach. "It's more challenging, but that's why I like it," he said. Not since the days when Hall of Famer Gary Carter played at Fullerton Sunny Hills in the early 1970s has Orange County produced a catcher with the defensive skills of Hedges.

Nobody seems to notice as the sun descends toward the shimmering sea. Children frolic along the beach as their parents sit nearby, chatting and playing cards. An old man snores contently in a hammock. Young couples embrace in the shelter of a shallow lagoon as the waves crash against a rocky reef. The aromas of garlic, onion and pepper waft across the strand, signaling that dinner preparations are underway at a beachfront restaurant. The day is ending, but no one wants to let go of the daylight pleasures that draw people to Villas del Mar Hau, a smattering of pastel-colored beachside cottages just outside the town of Isabela, a few miles east of Aguadilla on Puerto Rico's northern coast.