Southern California Basque Club

The Southern California Basque Club was born in 1946, under the name Southern California Eskualdun Club, at the hands of a Benedictine monk. Its founder, Father Charles Espelette, born in Aldude (in the French Basque Country), travelled as a missionary from the former monastery at Montebello to the places where the Basques lived, scattered across southern California, and taught them their dances himself. The club's first picnic, in 1947, brought together 730 people in Shell Park, and the barbecued lamb lunch cost 1.35 dollars. The celebration later moved to the Club de Pelota in La Puente and is now held in Chino. The Basque Government recognised the club in 1999.