Monarch Beach Dana Point California photo D Ramey Logan

Monarch Beach is a small neighborhood in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

located within the city of

Dana Point Dana Point () is a city located in southern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 33,107 at the 2020 census. It has one of the few harbors along the Orange County coast; with ready access via State Route 1, it is a popu ...

. It is primarily a residential community. Two luxury resorts, Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club and the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, are located within the area. Monarch Beach is close to the city boundary between Dana Point and

Laguna Niguel Laguna Niguel () is a city in Orange County, California, United States. The name Laguna Niguel is derived from the words "Laguna" (Spanish for "lagoon") and "Niguili" (the name of a Native American village once located near Aliso Creek). It al ...

History

Monarch Beach is named after its most prominent geological feature, Monarch Bay, aptly named as its rolling hills of

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North Amer ...

and

manzanita Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus '' Arctostaphylos''. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from Southern British Columbia and Washington to O ...

were once a breeding ground for the

monarch butterfly The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. I ...

. The butterflies were once seen there in large masses, but have disappeared from the area because their habitat has been replaced, almost entirely, by the large houses that can be found in the Monarch Beach neighborhood. Monarch Beach became a subdivision of the incorporated city of Dana Point on January 1, 1989.

Culture

Monarch Beach has access to Salt Creek Beach and a picnic area. The neighborhood includes the Monarch Beach Resort & Links Course – an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. It is also the home to the Dana Point Concours d'Elegance automotive charitable event held each year on the Monarch Beach Golf Links.

Notable people

Marcus Allen Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal li ...

Fred Roggin Frederick Jay Roggin (born May 6, 1957) is an American sports anchor currently with Los Angeles sports radio station KLAC. He is best known for his career at KNBC-TV. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Roggin was also a sports talk radio host at K ...

Nicole Brown Simpson Nicole Brown Simpson (née Brown; May 19, 1959 – June 12, 1994) was the second wife of American professional football player, actor, and media personality O. J. Simpson. She was murdered outside her Brentwood home, along with her friend Ro ...

O. J. Simpson Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024), also known by his nickname "the Juice", was an American professional American football, football player, actor, and media personality who played in the National Football League (NFL) ...

References

{{More citations needed, date=March 2014 Dana Point, California Neighborhoods in Orange County, California Gated communities in California