Are hordes of summer visitors really turning Laguna Beach ‘crappy,’ as one woman puts it?
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Aug. 14. I’m Carol Cormaci bringing you this week’s TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events.
The many charms of scenic Laguna Beach draw around 6 million visitors a year, but the hordes that arrive each summer have left residents of the coastal town calling it “destructive tourism,” and they want city officials to do something about it.
In her L.A. Times story headlined “Trash, traffic, tempers, tourists: Laguna Beach’s summer of discontent,” our colleague Hannah Fry looks at the seasonal sand-to-sand combat, claustrophobic traffic and ongoing battles to keep this piece of paradise clean.
Fry explains that such issues intensified four years ago, “at the beginning of the pandemic, when people itching to get outside flocked to the beach in search of a safer way to congregate. Residents say it hasn’t slowed down much since.”
Visit Laguna Beach, the city’s tourism marketing arm, has already pivoted to encourage environmental stewardship to tamp down negative impacts, the Daily Pilot reported in December. At that time Mayor Pro Tem Alex Rounaghi commented during a meeting of the City Council, “You don’t really need to market Laguna Beach. What we need to do is preserve Laguna Beach and the beauty of what makes it so special.”
According to Fry’s story this week in The Times, officials formed a committee to address visitor issues “and launched an ad campaign on Google to target misbehaving tourists. The ads, which will run for the rest of the summer, focus on residents’ most common complaints, including litter, cigarette smoke and loud vehicle exhaust.”
There are worries that as the climate continues to become even hotter, more and more visitors will be drawn to the beaches to get a break from their inland cities, exacerbating already serious problems, Fry reports.
Among the concerns is this: Once at the seashore, visitors don’t always take care to stay away from sensitive habitats like tidepools.
Jinger Wallace, co-founder of the Laguna Bluebelt Coalition, told the reporter more enforcement is needed and that she believed there should be tidepool educators to help protect sensitive habitats.
“It’s a privilege and responsibility to protect Laguna’s sea life after decades of overfishing and pollution,” Wallace told the reporter. “[T]rash, careless damage to tidepools and unnecessary discharges of urban runoff ... each one of us has a responsibility to solve these challenges.”
Fry also refers in her story to the recent TikTok video showing a resident using foul language as she shrieked at visitors to get off “her” beach, despite their right to be there. Perhaps it was pure selfishness on the woman’s part, or maybe some of the tensions of an overcrowded community got the best of her.
Another woman, Joanne McMahon, told Fry she’s lived in Laguna Beach for nearly 40 years and has witnessed the increasing issues as more and more people have become enamored with the town.
“I feel like we’re promoting tourism to the point of just over impact. Why do we need to continue to promote this for visitors? We can’t handle what we’ve got now,” McMahon said, before summing up for Fry the general sentiment among those worried about the summer crush.
“It’s a slice of heaven,” she said, “and it’s getting really crappy.”
MORE NEWS
• Hannah also reported here on a UC Irvine poll released Friday that indicated what many locals may have already noticed in their neighborhoods: more than a third of O.C. residents faced with the high costs of housing and basic necessities are actively considering moving elsewhere. According to her report, more than 50% of respondents are considered “potential leavers,” with women, people under 40, nonwhite residents and those without a college education being more likely to depart than others.
• A state of the county luncheon was held in Newport Beach Friday, where County Supervisors Katrina Foley and Don Wagner spoke on the county’s finances and the ongoing challenges associated with the shortage of affordable housing (see above) and rising homelessness, among other issues. The event, which drew 480 guests, was hosted by the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce at the Pendry Hotel.
• The completion of a universally accessible playground was celebrated Friday at the Fountain Valley Sports Park by civic leaders and children alike. The play area has a combination of nature- and sports-themed equipment. The slide area appears as a waterfall that leads into a river on the surface. There are also opportunities for parallel play at the swing-set and zipline areas, with accessible seating available at each. John Borack, chairman of the city’s advisory committee for persons with disabilities, referred to the playground as a symbol of “inclusion” and “acceptance.”
• The Costa Mesa City Council last week supported staffing enhancements and salary increases for police academy cadets and reserve officers — adding another $211,000 to the Costa Mesa Police Department’s nearly $62-million budget. The hourly pay rate of new recruits in the Costa Mesa Police Department’s police academy will be boosted from $30 to $40, and reserve officers who help fill staffing shortages will be paid $42.50 per hour, up from $38.
• Vice-presidential hopeful and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz braved his way into heavily Republican Newport Beach yesterday afternoon, appearing at the Balboa Bay Resort for a well-attended, enthusiastic campaign fundraiser for the Harris-Walz presidential ticket. Walz spoke of his time as a congressman representing a mostly Republican district. “At that time you could actually work across the aisle,” he told the crowd. Prior to his O.C. engagement, Walz made his first solo appearance on the campaign trail, giving a speech to a labor group in Los Angeles.
PUBLIC SAFETY & COURTS
• A 74-year-old Laguna Beach man pleaded guilty Monday to embezzling nearly $6 million as the executor of the estates of wealthy clients. David Robert McDonnell embezzled the money through his Laguna Beach-based company, McDonnell Business Services, prosecutors said.
• An Orange County judge on Friday rejected a Costa Mesa murder case in gang-related shooting that occurred last November. Following a preliminary hearing, Judge Sheila Hanson ruled there was not enough evidence to bind the defendant, 19-year-old Ryan Ivan Ramos, over for trial and dismissed the charges.
• A 26-year-old Anaheim man was fatally shot in the city Monday night, City News Service reported. Police were dispatched at 9:30 p.m. to the 900 block of N. Siesta St. where they found the victim, identified as Christopher Monge.
• A former General Motors manager from Irvine was handed a two-year prison sentence yesterday for taking more than $3 million in bribes from a South Korean parts supplier in return for a major contract with the automaker. Hyoung Nam So, 48, known as Brian So, was also ordered to pay a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
SPORTS
• Newport Beach native Trinity Rodman and Huntington Beach’s Jenna Nighswonger helped the Team USA women’s soccer team ascend back to the top of the podium as they captured gold Saturday at the the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games. Team USA beat Brazil 1-0 in the gold medal match.
• Speaking of the Paris Olympics, 26 student journalists who attend Cal State Fullerton were in France to cover them as part of a study abroad program, according to this TimesOC story. The articles the students produced while they were there ranged from athlete profiles to how Parisians have mixed feelings about the games. Their work counted toward the completion of sports broadcast journalism and sports reporting classes.
• Huntington Beach hosted the U.S. Open of Surfing last week, which culminated Sunday with Alan Cleland and Sally Fitzgibbons capturing the men’s and women’s titles, respectively. Leland was the first Mexican-born surfer to win the championship and had just surfed for Mexico in the Olympic Games before heading to SoCal. The 33-year-old Fitzgibbons, an Australian, beat Bella Kenworthy, 17, of San Clemente in the final. Fitzgibbons also won in 2011 at the age of 20.
• Angels rookie Jack Kochanowicz, 23, pitched 7⅔ innings to earn his first major league win Sunday in a game against the Washington Nationals. It was his third career start. “Every time out, I feel more comfortable,” Kochanowicz said. “It’s the same stuff: trusting myself and feeling more comfortable as it goes,” he said following the 6-4 victory.
• Jarren Duran, today a Red Sox who played baseball for Cypress High, then Long Beach State before turning pro, was suspended for two games without pay for yelling a homophobic slur at a fan during a game Sunday at Fenway Park, the Red Sox announced Monday. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Duran issued a statement of apology through the team, according to The Times report.
• RIP. Santa Ana native and onetime Los Angeles Dodger Billy Bean, credited with being the second Major League Baseball player to come out as gay (Glenn Burke was the first), died Aug. 6 from leukemia at the age of 60, Major League Baseball announced. Bean, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia last September, served as MLB’s senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, according to The Times’ report on his passing.
LIFE & LEISURE
I should probably have relabeled this section of today’s newsletter as “Good Grub,” because TimesOC had some enticing reports come in this past week about area eateries. I’ll start here with breakfast and end with dessert.
• Did you hear there’s a new place in Newport Beach where you can order up your first meal of the day? Little Billy’s Cafe, 2606 Avon St., held a soft opening Aug. 2 and has been attracting customers since then. Buttermilk pancakes can be ordered in classic, chocolate chip or blueberry varieties. Rolled-oat pancakes are also available, and a pastry case offers a daily selection of cookies and croissants, according to Sarah Mosqueda’s TimesOC report. The menu also features omelets, a breakfast burrito and a breakfast sandwich; there are also lunch offerings. Hours are 8 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
• There is definitely some fine dining to be found in O.C., which has not gone unnoticed by the folks who put together the Michelin California Guide. This month, chef Jordan Nakasone and his wife, Debrah Cha, learned their restaurant, Rebel Omakase, was awarded a coveted Michelin star. Rebel Omakase joined fellow Omakase concept Hana Re and Knife Pleat, both in Costa Mesa, as the county’s one Michelin star establishments, signifying “high-quality cooking, worth a stop.” Rebel Omakase is located at 361 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach.
• Sweets for the sweet: Our freelancing food critic, Edwin Goei, noting that we have reached the dog days of summer and primed to indulge in cool ice cream, decided to bring us the scoop on three O.C. establishments that have opened in the last year where “we hope you can make even more ice cream-based happy memories,” as he put it: Strickland’s Ice Cream,1835 Newport Blvd., Suite B-121, Costa Mesa; Pampas Helado Argentina, 26841 Aliso Creek Road, Suite B, Aliso Viejo; and Sweet Scoops Homemade Ice Cream, 135 E. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton. Read Goei’s findings here.
CALENDAR THIS
• Singer, songwriter and actor Christina Aguilera will headline City of Hope Orange County’s “Promises of Hope” Celebration at the Resort at Pelican Hill on Sept. 14, it was announced yesterday. Funds raised will benefit Orange County’s only specialty cancer hospital, which is slated to open next year. The black-tie optional event begins with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. For more information on ticket sales and sponsorship opportunities, visit PromisesOfHope.givesmart.com.
• A Gourmet by the Bay annual fundraising dinner takes place Saturday, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center in Newport Beach, supporting the nonprofit Newport Bay Conservancy. The semiformal dinner features live jazz, food and drinks and a silent auction. General admission is $75 per person. For information or to purchase tickets, visit newportbay.org.
• OC Public Libraries will host Jefferson Fisher, a Texas trial lawyer and founder of Fisher Firm, at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday) at the Norma Hertzog Community Center, 1845 Park Ave., Costa Mesa. Fisher, who has expertise in effective communication strategies and is a social media influencer with more than 10 million followers, will speak on “The Power of Persuasion.” No reservations are required, but guests are encourage to arrive early.
• The city of Costa Mesa will screen “The Goonies” Saturday night at Tewinkle Park. The Movies in the Park event sets sail at 7 p.m. with raffle prizes, games and activities for children as well as a food truck. Admission is free. TeWinkle Park is located at 970 Arlington Drive. Parking is available off of Junipero Drive, and the movie will be shown across from the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.
Until next Wednesday,
Carol
KEEP IN TOUCH
I appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to carol.cormaci@latimes.com.
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