As we celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, the America250 initiative invites us to honor the workers who made our favorite beaches more than just stretches of sand. At Doheny State Beach, a proud member of the Adventures Unbound family, we are recognizing the Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees who built the campgrounds, picnic areas, and facilities that transformed a donated stretch of coastline into California’s first state beach.

Building a Beach for the Public

In 1931, oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny donated the land at the mouth of San Juan Creek in memory of his son. The beach was California’s first, but raw land alone does not make a park. That job fell to the CCC. In the late 1930s, corps enrollees arrived and went to work constructing campgrounds, picnic areas, parking lots, and a custodian’s lodge that would allow the public to actually use and enjoy the new state beach.

In 1936, the CCC erected a distinctive adobe wall along Pacific Coast Highway near the campground entrance, a structure that still stands today as the last surviving CCC feature at Doheny. By 1940, the corps had completed the full suite of visitor infrastructure. Their work was part of a massive statewide effort: the CCC built over 1,500 structures and landscape features across California State Parks during the 1930s, including bridges, roads, trails, campgrounds, restrooms, and visitor centers.

Just down the coast, CCC crews simultaneously developed neighboring San Clemente State Beach from 1934 to 1937, constructing an office, residences, maintenance buildings, and the full campsite layout that visitors still use.

The Wall That Remains

Today, most of the CCC’s original work at Doheny has been replaced by modern facilities. But the plastered and tiled adobe entryway along Coast Highway endures, a quiet monument to the young men who turned a generous land donation into a functioning public beach. Every camper who pitches a tent at Doheny is enjoying a tradition the CCC started nearly ninety years ago.

To learn more about how we are celebrating the diverse stories behind America’s national heritage, visit America250 at Adventures Unbound.