San Juan Capistrano’s Metrolink Station Honors the Past, But is Firmly in the Present
- Joel Beers
- 1 day ago
- 11 min read
Updated: 9 minutes ago
This old town station is portal a to Orange County history and one of its most thriving culinary scenes.
This story is a part of our series OC by Metrolink, discovering what makes each stop worth the stop.
With Metrolink fully invested in rebranding from a commuter rail network into something closer to a true regional rail system emphasizing leisure travel, it may seem odd that one of its most appealing day-trip destinations – San Juan Capistrano – has such limited service.
While 24 weekday trains serve the first eight OC Line stations, from Buena Park to Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo, only 10 stops are in San Juan Capistrano, the first southbound arrival at 10:45 a.m. and the final northbound train departing at 3:45 p.m. Weekends shrink to eight trains, with the first southbound at 10:06 a.m. and the final northbound at 6:03 p.m.
In practice, that caps a weekday visit at about five hours and eight on weekends. Other rail options exist but are awkward. An O.C./Inland Empire train leaves San Juan Capistrano at 6:18 p.m. during the week but travels only to Orange before heading east. To reach Anaheim or points north requires a transfer and nearly doubles the trip time. Amtrak stops more frequently, including a last northbound departure daily at 10:34 p.m., but it’s pricier and stops only in Irvine, Santa Ana, Anaheim and Fullerton.
Track Trauma
It’s not like Metrolink doesn’t want its trains to stop more frequently in San Juan Capistrano; it’s that the tracks beneath those trains make it currently impossible. From Los Angeles Union Station to Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo, there are at least two tracks, allowing trains to run north and south simultaneously. But just north of Trabuco Creek, the line mostly narrows to a single track, like a two-lane road shrinking to one, forcing trains in opposite directions to wait at passing points. With Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner and BNSF freight trains sharing the line, every movement must be carefully timed. The single-track bottleneck limits how many trains can run, makes schedules fragile and turns small delays into chain reactions.
Double-tracking this stretch isn’t simple – it involves money, city halls, other rail operators and stubborn geography, including narrow rights-of-way, coastal bluffs and erosion-prone sections. Until then, Metrolink’s regional rail ambitions effectively stop just south of Laguna Niguel.
Fewer trains, better scenery
Ironically, that same single track marks the start of the OC Line’s first scenic stretch. The seven-minute ride from Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo to San Juan Capistrano passes open space, manicured golf courses, rolling hills, glimpses of pricey real estate and occasional orchards and produce fields – remnants of Orange County’s agricultural past. The route also skirts creek corridors like Oso Creek and the Arroyo Trabuco, where patches of native scrub and grassland peek through, before arriving at the heart of the historic town.
San Juan Capistrano’s Metrolink station (which really isn’t a station, more on that later) sits in the literal center of Orange County’s most historic area, which includes its oldest neighborhood and most historically significant landmark, the Mission San Juan Capistrano. While history abounds, so does a culinary scene that has exploded in the past several years. It’s a place where legendary dive bars can coexist with petting zoos, and while any development sparks debate over preserving historic charm, growth is not stagnant. The opening of River Street Marketplace a little more than a year ago and discussions over building a 48,000-square-foot performing arts center with a 450-seat theater in a neighboring park attest to that. It’s an intriguing blend of old and new, all in a compact area easily explored on foot.
PHOTO 1: While Metrolink trains lack Wi-Fi and finding an electrical outlet can be tough on some cars, it doesn't stop Fullerton resident Drew Dee, 23. from setting up his laptop on his weekly visits to see his girlfriend in Redlands. PHOTO 2: Upgraded Metrolink cars offer vinyl seats and tables spread throughout. Photos by Joel Beers, Culture OC
But first, a detour
So, what’s it like on these trains, anyway?
Metrolink trains were designed to move commuters over relatively short distances, not leisure travelers. That means no frills beyond the basics – and little to distract you from the fact that you’re on a train.
Metrolink cars can theoretically reach 90 mph, but most average around 40 mph. You’re free to move between cars, but curves and station approaches make holding on a smart idea. Stand between cars in the accordion-like gateways and you’ll really feel it. Still, it’s far less harrowing than flying and far safer than driving.
Entertainment and refreshments are whatever you bring. There are no screens, magazine racks or Wi-Fi. Amenities are minimal: restrooms in every car, drinking fountains near the doors.
In 2019, Metrolink announced plans to upgrade its 121 bilevel cars, built between 1991 and 2002. Upgraded cars feature vinyl seats, more electrical outlets and either tables or fold-down desks. In non-upgraded cars, you’re lucky to find a single outlet, and the seats can trend from worn to very worn.
Out the window, you may see an Amtrak train roaring past, freight trains rattling through Buena Park and Fullerton, or maybe one of the handful of late-evening freights running from San Clemente to Orange. As far as scenery, from Buena Park to Tustin, expect suburban sprawl: rooftops, backyards, trailer parks, industrial zones and freeway stretches. Approaching Irvine, the landscape grows greener, with parks, bike paths and landscaped neighborhoods. By Laguna Niguel, the scenery opens, becoming genuinely scenic heading to San Clemente, which parallels the coast.
PHOTO 1: Amtrak cars offer ample overhead baggage bins, larger seats with footrest, fold-down tables and more legroom than Metrolink trains. PHOTO 2: One big difference between traveling on Metrolink and Amtrak trains is the latter offers a cafe car that both coach and business class passengers can visit. Photos by Joel Beers, Culture OC
What about Amtrak?
In contrast to Metrolink’s no-frills approach, Amtrak treats the ride itself as part of the trip: reclining seats with footrests, overhead lighting, fold-down tables, power outlets at nearly every seat, ample luggage space, and a café car serving snacks, beer and wine. Business class, which costs about $10 more than coach, offers larger seats, more legroom, reserved seating and, usually, far fewer travelers because of that extra charge.
Metrolink, however, wins on convenience and pricing. A trip on Amtrak from San Juan Capistrano to Fullerton begins at $16 for a coach ticket and is $9.75 on Metrolink, which also offers far more discounts. Metrolink tickets can also be bought on your phone even after the train starts moving, unlike Amtrak, and bicycle cars are plentiful and require no reservation – also unlike Amtrak, which offers just one bike car per train, always the first or last car depending on which direction the train is heading.
One other note: neither Metrolink nor Amtrak trains idle too long at station stops, but Metrolink really wants to get going, so pay attention to the conductor announcing the next stop.
A stop more than a station
San Juan Capistrano has had a train station since the Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1887. The original one-story wooden structure was upgraded seven years later with a more elaborate station influenced by Mission San Juan Capistrano and the Mission Revival architecture popular at the time. Legend has it the railroad even pilfered materials from the crumbling mission. With arcaded walkways, arched doors and windows, a 40-foot domed tower and red tile roof, it was, and is, one of the prettiest in the state.
The depot closed in 1966 when the Santa Fe discontinued passenger service. Amtrak service returned in 1974, but plans were already underway to repurpose the building as a restaurant. Over the years, vintage rail cars were added as dining rooms and lounges, and in 1995 the complex was reconfigured into two restaurants, with Amtrak ticketing and a waiting room housed in boxcars at the north end.
How long those Amtrak facilities were open is anybody’s guess; what isn’t is that they are currently closed and there’s no indication on Amtrak’s website when they might reopen. That makes San Juan Capistrano the only Orange County station where Amtrak trains stop but there’s no Amtrak presence. Passengers can’t buy tickets from a human being, check baggage or sit inside; the only place to sit are benches on the platform on the east side of the track (if you don’t count the two restaurants that are in the station). There are also no bathrooms besides those in the neighboring restaurants, and also no pedestrian overpass or underpass, even though the station sits in the middle of a heavily traveled pedestrian corridor. When a train approaches and the crossing gates fall, bells clatter and lights flash, everything pauses. It’s great for close-up train watching but not for forward motion.
PHOTO 1: The Los Rios Historic District, Orange County's oldest neighborhood, is a blend of private residences, restaurants, cafes and shops, including Tea Que, which is the retail arm of the Tea House on Los Rios. PHOTO 2: The Ramos House Cafe, located in the Los Rios Historic District, opened in 1995 in a former private residence built in 1881. Its Saturday and Sunday brunch is very popular. Photos by Joel Beers, Culture OC.
Oldest neighborhood and Oldest culture site
The train stops directly across from the Los Rios Historic District, the oldest continuously inhabited residential neighborhood in California. About 40 homes line its tree-shaded streets, including three adobe structures built in 1794, among them the Rios Adobe, which is still occupied by descendants of its original owner. Some homes remain private residences; others house restaurants, cafés and boutiques, including the Cottage Gallery, which features work by 40 local artists. The district also includes a petting zoo and the O’Neill Museum, home to the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society.
A four-minute walk the opposite direction from the station brings you to Mission San Juan Capistrano, visited by roughly 350,000 people annually, according to its website. Founded in 1776 as the seventh of the 21 Spanish missions in California, it played a central role in the region’s agriculture, religion and community life. An earthquake in 1812 destroyed its towering Great Stone Church, and after secularization in 1833, the mission was neglected and all but abandoned. Preservation efforts began around 1920, followed by restoration and stabilization work.
Today, the mission is a museum, a working archaeological and restoration site, and an active Catholic parish. Its beauty, its ruins, its lush gardens and its history (and those swallows) make it the most visited of all the California missions, and a major heritage tourism site. But its legacy also includes the forced labor, land loss and cultural destruction suffered by those who lived in the area for thousands of years, the Indigenous Acjachemen people, a painful history that reverberates today.
The nonprofit that has run the mission since 1999 has taken great strides in honoring Acjachemen heritage through, the L.A. Times reported in 2024, “creating a Native American Museum and Interpretive Room, adding local Native American voices in the audio tour and inviting descendants to ring the bells during special ceremonies.”
Around 2009, the city followed suit, installing a series of plaques on a historic depiction wall in Los Rios. Among them are markers honoring Chief Clarence Lobo, who successfully lobbied the Lyndon B. Johnson administration to reimburse California Native Americans for lost land; and Modesta Avila, Orange County’s first convicted felon, who in 1889 was charged and convicted with obstructing the railroad in protest of the track running just 15 yards from her home. Though many published accounts state that she died two years into her three-year sentence in San Quentin prison, the 2022 book “A People’s History of Orange County” says she was released after serving her time. Reviled at the time in the press, she is now remembered by some activists as an icon of resistance.
PHOTO 1: The exterior of Heritage Barbecue, which opened in 2019 and earned its first Michelin Bib Gormand designation in 2021. PHOTO 2: Ortega's Capistrano Trading Post opened across the street from the Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1987 and sits on the site of the city's first cafe. PHOTO 3: The Swallows Inn has been a San Juan Capistrano institution since the 1950s. Photos by Joel Beers, Culture OC
A dining renaissance
For decades, San Juan Capistrano’s dining scene was modest, anchored by El Adobe (a favorite of San Clemente resident Richard Nixon), L’Hirondelle French Cuisine and Sarducci’s at the Capistrano Depot. In the 1990s, Ramos House Café and the Tea House at Los Rios became fixtures. All remain, but since Sarducci’s became Trevor at the Tracks in 2016, a flurry of ambitious restaurants has followed.
Heritage Barbecue, one of the most lauded restaurants in the county, opened across from the mission in 2019. The walk-up barbecue joint received Michelin’s respected Bib Gormand designation in 2021, and has held onto it ever since, except for one year.
The Levantine-inspired Mayfield followed in 2020. Bloom Restaurant and Bar opened in the original City Hall in 2022. The Tavern at the Mission debuted in 2023, and Rosewood Social opened in 2024.
In late 2024, one of the most ambitious developments in the city’s history opened at the southern edge of Los Rios: River Street Marketplace, a 60,000-square-foot development blending retail and dining with a Western-themed aesthetic. Its eight standalone restaurants and 10 food hall vendors range from a full butcher-steakhouse hybrid to probiotic-rich fermentation specialists.
The River Street Marketplace. PHOTO 1: The mall features farm-inspired architecture built around a central green and a California native landscape. PHOTO 2: The Rodeo Public Market, part of the River Street Marketplace that opened in late 2024, currently includes 10 vendors, ranging from the Asian casual Nom and Argentinian Paranas Empanadas, to the Italian pasta Pastalia and Bred Hot Chicken. PHOTO 3: River Street offers a petting zoo, a kiddie train ride, mini tractors and pony rides. Photos by Joel Beers, Culture OC
What else to see and do
No visit to the area is complete without the Swallows Inn, one of Orange County’s great bars, offering live music nearly every night and operating as a bar in some form for nearly a century. Rancho Capistrano Winery and the Inn at the Mission, a Marriott-owned boutique hotel that opened in 2020, are also highlights.
Farther afield are the Ecology Center, a 28-acre regenerative organic farm and educational center about a mile south, and the legendary Coach House, one of the county’s premier live music venues since 1980, about 1.5 miles south. About 2 miles north of the station is Putuidem Village, a 1.5-acre cultural park built on a portion of a tribal village where Indigenous people lived until the 1700s.
Address: 26701 Verdugo St., San Juan Capistrano
Opened: 1894
Parking: 355 spaces in parking structure at 26732 Verdugo St. $2 hourly parking, $2 all-day parking before 10 a.m., no overnight parking; 34 overnight spaces, $20 per day (72 hours maximum).
Ridership: 60 average weekday Metrolink boardings (2025) ; 163 average weekday Amtrak boardings (2025)
Amenities: Bike racks, restrooms, dining nearby. Amtrak ticket office and indoor waiting area (currently closed).
Route: Tenth stop on the OC Line, which runs from Los Angeles Union Station to Oceanside; also on Inland Empire/Orange County Line, which runs from Oceanside to San Bernardino.
Metrolink Train Schedule*
Weekdays: 10 trains First southbound train (from Los Angeles) arrives 6:57 p.m.; last southbound train arrives 11:05 p.m. First northbound train (from Oceanside) arrives 4:46 a.m.; final northbound train (from Oceanside) arrives 3:56 a.m. One northbound Inland Empire/OC train arrives at 6:18 p.m., last OC Line stop Orange.
Weekends: Eight trains. First southbound train arrives 10:06 a.m.; last southbound train arrives 5:36 p.m. First northbound train arrives 9:05 a.m.; last northbound train arrives 6:03 p.m. One northbound Inland Empire/OC line arrives 7:03 p.m., last OC Line stop Orange.
Amtrak*: 24 trains daily, first southbound train arrives 7:26 a.m.; last southbound train arrives 11:26 p.m. First northbound train arrives 5:34 a.m; last northbound train arrives 10:34 p.m.
*subject to change
