Oath for City Planners, Developers and Architects who intend to improve on Ole's vision. "FIRST and formost, I will do no harm" Raise your clean hand and repeat after me... "I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:" I will respect the hard-won gains of those great architects in whose steps I walk. I will apply, for the benefit of all, all measures which are required, avoiding the traps of overbuilding and blocking too much sunlight and fresh air. I will remember that there is art to architecture and cities, as well as profit, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh an extra story or two in a project. I will insist on using quality materials and seek quality craftmanship, I build for the ages. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of tall buildings, for these have great effect and are seen by all; and in civic buildings, for these are for all the people. I will not be ashamed to say "I don't think we should build there," or "I don't think we should tear that down," or, "wouldn't that be better as a public square or a park?," nor will I fail to call my colleagues on the carpet when they accept a commission that shows disrespect to tradition or to the citizenry. I will not fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a project. If I've not clear ideas or strong talents, let me not obfuscate truth with "archi-speak." Those who do should only teach, and never build. If it is given me to build a private residence for a wealthy person, all thanks, may I resist the urge to soak 'em. May I also resist the urge to involve my friends in the profits. It may also be within my power to help the less fortunate. I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those of pure mind and body as well as those with political connections. Above all, I must not do like many in my profession - you've seen the Modernists? the Brutalists? Do not play at god! May I resist temptation to design or put my name on, tea-kettles, bird houses, and pasta spoons. I will remember that I do not build a single building, but that the landscape and the lighting and the space around the building, indeed the polis as a whole - is connected. My responsibility includes all related issues, such as transportation, and sustainability, if I am to care adequately for the population. I will preserve and ennoble nature whenever I can, for I think that I shall never see a steel and glass skyscraper lovely as a tree. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of those in my buildings, even when they can't find parking nearby, or the elevators break, the plumbing leaks, property taxes or heating costs go up, or an esteemed colleague builds something next door and blocks their beautiful view. Were I given good fortune to live to 98 years, may I know when to stop designing. If I do not violate this oath, may I be respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I design my own tomb (if no one else will.) NOTE:  This was not Ole's covenant.  It belongs to another community who's city government had the foresight to create this simple oath.

"I offer San Clemente to the lovers of beautiful California, with the firm conviction that there are many who will appreciate what I am doing and who will help make [keep] it the village beautiful." Ole Hanson, ...if you have not heard the story, was the founder, designer and builder of the Spanish Village By-The-Sea known as San Clemente.  He did a great job of it ,as far as I can see, and he had a plan which he followed carefully.  Like an artist, he executed his plan to his satisfaction, no one elses.  Like Walt Disney's creations, people liked what these guys had to offer and they beat paths to their doorsteps. Not many people have the audacity to look upon someone else's creation and presume to improve on it with their own touch.  If they don't like what the artist has created, they should buy a new canvas and begin from scratch.  Don't tamper with success. In the case of a community such as San Clemente, I have watched as several developers have wandered off the I-5, had a look at San Clemente (another man's work of art) and said to himself, "I will make this place better" - whether the community wants it, likes it, or not.  I have yet to see a replacement of a historic San Clemente building, be better than what was there originally.  Nowhere in this city can be found an example of a better building than the original Spanish style one it replaced. With that in mind please consider the artist's (Ole Hanson's) poetic sketches for San Clemente which were his inspirations for what he built.  Then judge for yourself if tampering by other artists (a.k.a. DEVELOPERS) is justified.  Is it about the design and the art of San Clemente? or is it about the money? And they keep coming...

"Think of it!" Ole Hanson told the world: "This is just a painting five miles long and over a mile wide. Its foreground is the sea. Its background the hills. We will use for our pigments flowers and shrubs and trees and red tile and white plaster. Our streets shall follow the contour of the ground. Our beach shall always be free from hurdy gurdies and defilement. We believe beauty to be an asset as well as gold and silver, or cabbages and potatoes.  We may build at San Clemente but one building, but we will preserve for all time these hills from the heterogeneous mixture of terrible structures which so often destroy the beauty of our cities."  It had never been done before. From "The Story of San Clemente ~ The Spanish Village", by Homer Banks

"I vision a place," he wrote, "where people can live together more pleasantly than in any other place in America. I am going to build a beautiful city on the ocean where the whole city will be a park; the architecture will be of one type, and the homes will be located on sites where nearly everyone will have his view preserved forever. The whole picture is very clear before me. I can see hundreds of white walled homes bonneted with red tile, with trees, shrubs, hedges of hibiscus, palms and geraniums lining the drives and a profusion of flowers illuminating the patios and gardens. I can see gay sidewalks of red Spanish tile and streets curving picturesquely over the land. I want plazas, playgrounds, schools, clubs, swimming pools, a golf course, a fishing pier and a beach enlivened with people getting a healthy joy out of life. ~ Ole Hanson "I want people to have more than a piece of land;  I want them to have location, environment, development.  I feel that my past successes in real estate will assure them of future prosperity here, and I feel that by giving people a chance to live intelligently and artistically I may possibly influence other builders to help. I do not want people to be repulsed and sent away by ugliness in San Clemente as they have been by ugliness in other communities (unless they have been forced to remain and hammered into their ugly molds). This will be a place where a man can breathe! I have a clean canvas and I am determined to paint a clean picture. Think of it a canvas five miles long and one and one half miles wide!" ~ Ole Hanson

Extravagant? Here is what the California Southland Magazine said three, years into the project, in the issue of December, 1928: "Only one who has been closely associated with Mr. Hanson himself all through the history of his dogged adherence to those principles, can appreciate the fine piece of work he had done through careful selection of an organilzation inspired by his own desire for a beautiful creation, and prepared financially to carry it beyond the danger point." While Hanson was platting the land with his engineers and visualizing the future public buildings, the homes, the boulevard shops and the business and indus¬trial districts he kept looking for a young artist who could execute his vision. He found him in J. Wilmer Hershey, then consultant in designing the community habilitating of Santa Barbara in Spanish style.