Zorro Rides Again!

Visit and have my picture taken at each of the old 21 Spanish missions of California

San Diego de Alcalá	Santa Cruz
San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo	Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
San Antonio de Padua	San José
San Gabriel Arcángel	San Juan Bautista
San Luis Obispo de Tolosa	San Miguel Arcángel
San Francisco de Asís	San Fernando Rey de España
San Juan Capistrano	San Luis Rey de Francia
Santa Clara de Asís	Santa Inés
San Buenaventura	San Rafael Arcángel
Santa Bárbara	San Francisco Solano
La Purísima Concepción Then travel to Spain before returning to Washington State.

The Legend of Zorro began in 1919 when Johnston McCulley, a 36-year-old former police reporter, wrote The Curse Of Capistrano. His story first appeared in the August 9, 1919 issue of the pulp magazine, All-Story Weekly. The Curse Of Capistrano is set in early 19th century California and tells the story of Don Diego de la Vega, the son of a rich land owning Californian family. Johnston’s Diego acted dainty and would rather read poetry than participate in anything that involved violence. Diego’s behavior however, was only an act. For when night fell he became Zorro (fox in Spanish), a fighter of evils, a righter of wrongs. Zorro was a defender of the weak and oppressed.

McCulley may have been inspired by a number of California legends, including the infamous bandito Joaquin Murieta. Murieta was a miner who struck back at the gold-seeking gringos who overran the Mexican settlement of San Andreas. Regardless of who McCulley’s inspirations were, the public fell in love with his Zorro. They devoured the first few installments of The Curse Of Capistrano, and All-Story Weekly and Johnston McCulley knew they had a hit on their hands that was bigger than anyone could have imagined.

For more information on the old Spanish missions of California, click here.



This may be Zorro's only mission visit (to San Juan Capistrano). Looks like the cache he visited after this one was sacked, and he was stolen. See Travel Bug Terminal. Too bad there's not a real Zorro to bring justice to jerks who do stuff like this!