Sorry to see McCallas leave All...

Sorry to see McCallas leave

All of us at Bushards Pharmacy will miss our close and longtime

neighbors at McCalla Pharmacy. We have both served the residents and

visitors of Laguna Beach together for many, many years. We have been

neighbors on Forest Avenue since McCallas opened in 1958. (Joe

Bushard opened his first store in 1946 across from the Hotel Laguna

and then moved onto Forest Avenue in 1949.) We are sorry to see our

good friends at McCalla’s move away.

We thank the residents of Laguna Beach for supporting all of the

Downtown businesses and we at Bushards Pharmacy will continue to

serve Laguna throughout the years to come.

SHEILA BUSHARD-JAMISON

and TONY D’ALTORIO

Owners, Bushards Pharmacy

Thinking about McCallas stirs up myriad memories. 1960 -- The

Huston family moves to Laguna Beach, husband Dan, wife Mary Lou,

daughters Holly, Haven, Hilary and our dog Pierre and cat Sheba.

I was a real estate loan agent and felt it could help me to become

active in one of the service clubs. In 1960, with less than 6,000

population, Laguna had five active clubs, a real small-town

atmosphere. I joined the Optimists. There was also the Rotary, Lions,

Kiwanis and Elks. A few names I recall among the old timers I met --

Pete Kawaratani, Joe Andrus, Charles McCalla, the Marriners, Dean

Renfro, John Hedges, Eschbach the florist, Lorna Mills. (Not all

these were Optimist Club members but worked with us in civic

activities.)

The Optimist Club started the Labor Day Pancake Breakfast at

Heisler Park. We were able to contribute sizably to help build the

Boys Club, donate to the Joplins Boys Ranch, sponsor a Little League

team and help build Riddle Field. In those days the Festival grounds

were not fenced and the Optimists did their job one night a week. We

took tickets and sold programs. After the show we patrolled the

grounds until the police took over at midnight. High school kids were

paid a dollar a night to usher.

Joe Andrus (the plumber) was also the scout master of the Explorer

Scout Troup, also a beneficiary of the Optimist Club. Parking has

always been a problem in Downtown Laguna. Dean Renfro ran the nursing

home on Glenneyre Street near Park Avenue. He was a city councilman

and mayor and headed the campaign to build the parking structure. The

opponents could only see total doom for the village atmosphere.

Aren’t we glad it is there now?

Always active and full of energy, Mac McCalla gave generously of

time and money. If you wanted a laugh, you would stop by the bar at

The White House (Bob Mikels was the proprietor) and listen in on the

gang of truly weird characters that met there almost daily. Virgil

Partch and the Interlandi brothers were ring leaders. I recall Stuart

Avis, Klass Electric, Bentons Coffee Shop. In 1964 Mrs. Huston, Mary

Lou, went to work at McCallas. She retired in December, 38 1/2years.

She was now the official baby holder and puppy patter. What a parade

of funny folk wandered in and out at McCallas. It could make a

hilarious sitcom.

McCallas began a delivery service that went beyond merely taking a

prescription to a customer’s door. It involved feeding pets, acting

as a taxi service, picking up food -- whatever. Bud McCalla just

wanted to be a good neighbor. Susie McCalla Ornelas has been carrying

on this tradition and we truly mourn the loss of another Forest

Avenue old-timer.

The years go by too fast.

DAN HUSTON

Laguna Beach

* EDITOR’S NOTE: McCallas is open at its new location at

Pavilions on Boat Canyon Drive.

Making El Morro a campsite is wrong

The proposal to turn El Morro Village into a campsite is

outrageous; to think about separating the small community. When any

one thinks of El Morro Village they picture a breath-taking coastline

with its small community of quaint beach homes -- its beach life with

flags flying, umbrellas sticking out of the sand, people playing in

the water, and plenty of room to take a stroll on the soft sand.

People have been coming to El Morro Village for more than 70

years. It is a historic site of Laguna Beach. Tourists come to Laguna

Beach for its old beach charm. Since El Morro Village is such a big

part of Laguna’s history it would be a shame to see its coastal

presence be destroyed.

Laguna Beach is known for its picturesque qualities such as the

vision of the El Morro homes on the beach. It would be a great

tragedy to see such a romantic community ruined when there is room

for both increased public access and the beach village to co-exist.

Not only would we lose such a stunning stretch of this historic

beach icon, but also we would be putting the children at El Morro

Elementary at risk by this campground. The only way to ensure their

safety is not to open a campground right next to our most prized

possession, our children.

We must stop this disaster before what used to be elegant beach

community becomes covered in trash and filth. Campers don’t care

about Laguna Beach, they just want a place to hang out and will not

think twice about treating the site poorly. By constructing a camp

you will be saying that not only are the residents of this great town

not important but that a historic part of our beach community will be

destroyed forever. How do we go from a historic El Morro Village to a

repelling day camp?

PATTY MASSARO

Laguna Beach

No more extensions needed for El Morro

The state plans for the El Morro conversion project should proceed

as planned without delay. The latest ploy / proposal from the El

Morro Village Community Assn. is another ridiculous attempt to delay

the process. Crystal Cove State Park belongs to the people.

PAMELIA D. STRAYER

Laguna Beach

Laguna Greenbelt Inc. board member

Crystal Cove is a state park ... an inappropriate location for

private housing.

VERNA ROLLINGER

Laguna Beach

After the extensions that have already been given to the El Morro

Village Community Assn. I am appalled that the state would even

consider yet another extension.

All of the mobile homes should be out now and the land turned over

from these squatters to the public.

ALLEN LOMAN

Laguna Beach

Disingenuous is too kind a word to describe the plan put forward

by the El Morro Village Community Assn. This is just a transparent

attempt to keep the public out of a public park. Let’s review the

facts:

1. The El Morro residents have been living on state park land for

almost 25 years.

2. During that time they have been paying absurdly low rents

($400-$700 per month) and have been able to sublet their trailers for

as much as $2,000 per week.

3. They were given 20 years’ notice that they would have to vacate

their trailers and were then given another five years (until the end

of 2004).

4. Their faulty septic tanks, leach field and urban runoff have

degraded El Moro Canyon and Creek and have caused water quality

problems at the beach.

5. Although El Moro beach is accessible via the parking lot about

1/2 mile to the north, the hike involved and the presence of the

trailers makes this a de facto private beach.

6. The plan by the California State Park system would remove the

trailers, restore the creek bed, remove paving, end sources of

pollution and open up this portion of Crystal Cove State Park to all

the people of California, not just a few. An review of the State Park

plan has been approved. This plan is supported by a large coalition

of environmental groups.

We taxpayers have been subsidizing the El Morro residents and have

been prevented using this land for years. Now the residents want to

extend their favored status for another 30 years by bribing

environmental groups and the state park system and proposing

additional “politically correct” uses for land that they don’t own.

If I lived there I would want to stay too, but enough is enough!

The state park plan will vastly improve the environment and allow the

park to be used and enjoyed as intended.

I urge the Laguna Beach City Council to support the state park

plan and reject the El Morro Village Community Assn. plan.

RICK WILSON

Aliso Viejo

Chairman,

Laguna Beach Chapter

Surfrider Foundation

The most recent plan of El Morro Village, Inc. to replace the

State Parks Department’s publicly conceived campground at Crystal

Cove State Park is just another desperate scheme of real estate

gamblers to extend the state’s more than generous “relocation

benefit” beyond its Dec. 31, 2004 termination.

Both trailer park management and current occupants of individual

mobile sites now seek a whopping 30-year extensions of the state

parks 1979 benefit for the short remainders they purchased from

earlier tenants vacating before the Dec. 31, 1999 deadline. The

additional five years extending their stay to Dec. 31, 2004 seems to have inspired no gratitude, but accelerated efforts to defeat Parks

Department completed, funded plans.

Trailer residents whose children attend El Morro School have

raised the specter of campers as molesters with their PTA and the

deleterious effects of distant barbecue smoke on the kiddies lungs to

prevent public camping. The state Parks Department has made major,

expensive changes to campsites accommodating these concerns.

Consultants for El Morro tenants have approached local advocates

for much needed “low-cost housing” with offers to provide units at an

unspecified location within Crystal Cove State Park, but not within

“El Morro Village, Inc.” This “community” must remain inviolate for

its revenue production and charitable donations?

To their credit, “low-cost housing” leaders in Laguna Beach,

Laguna Greenbelt President, Liz Brown, and California State Parks

Foundation President, Susan Smartt have soundly rejected this latest,

“wildest yet” proposal. Parks Supt., Mike Tope, deserves the full

support of the general public for his accommodation of legitimate

concerns and infinite patience in moving forward the public planning

process for long-overdue camping facilities in our ocean front state

park.

ED MERRILEES

Laguna Beach

None of the leases for the present mobile homes should be extended

and the plans developed for the El Moro camp site by the state park

personnel should be implemented. We do not believe that state park

property should be used for the development of low income housing.

DALE AND MARILYN GHERE

Laguna Beach

Say no way to another grand prix

I believe the Rotary Club Grand Prix is a nuisance to a village

laid out as ours is. It blocks passage to businesses and many other

locations.

Following the last grand prix, there were numerous letters from

out-of-town people approving the race. There were several letters by

locals. The vast majority of letters to our newspapers were

approving. Certainly. They would like to continue it here and not in

their towns. The disproportion of out-of-town letters could well have

been pre-arranged!

Please do not allow disturbances to continue. Certainly not in the

pattern of the last event.

KENNETH WOOD

Laguna Beach

A big ploy may work for Laguna too

There was a story in the Los Angeles Times the other day about

this small town that was thinking of building a giant lava lamp to

attract visitors. It made me think of a ploy of a similar nature to

lure visitors to our museum and or galleries.

Since bigness has always been a good bait for the American, why

not advertise -- say, “the biggest Persian miniature in the world.”

If necessary, I will volunteer to paint it. Can’t miss.

HARRY HARRISON

Laguna Beach

Care must be taken in canyon project

At its November general meeting, Village Laguna had the

opportunity to examine a development proposal for the property

adjacent to the Art-A-Fair and the city employees’ parking lot in

Laguna Canyon.

The property owner, Rick Hubbell, described a development that he

is calling Artists’ Walk -- a mixed commercial-residential use for

the property including 19,000 square feet of high-end retail space,

two restaurants and 19 artists’ live-work units of 1,500 square feet

each, underpinned by a 200-car parking structure.

Village Laguna members welcomed the residential component of the

project, but worried that units as large as those proposed would

probably not be affordable. They also questioned the need for

additional retail space in a town already dotted with empty

storefronts and expressed concerns about the density of the

development and the architectural style of the complex, which seemed

formulaic rather than genuinely belonging to Laguna Beach.

The sense of the meeting was that the project might better meet

both the community’s needs and those of the developer if it were to

focus on small artists’ live-work units rather than high-end

commercial uses, accept the physical constraints imposed by the

topography of the site, thus avoiding the massive grading that the

current proposal would require, and adopt a style that reflects the

individualistic, low-key, informal character of the historical

architecture of Laguna Canyon.

We hope that the project will see changes along these lines as it

moves through the planning process.

BARBARA METZGER

Secretary, Village Laguna

War is coming regardless of rallies

Niko Theris and I may not agree on most things, but in opposing

this war fever; we agree.

I am an “America Firster” conservative and haven’t yet seen the

connection between what happened in September 2001 and Iraq. In fact,

seems to me we should have invaded Saudi Arabia by now if 9/11 was

our reason for war.

But Theris and I differ with regards the herds of “sheeple” who

drove past his demonstration on the Coast Highway uninterested. It

matters not which way the mob votes, if it had been Gore or the

“unsafe at any speed” guy -- wouldn’t matter. Despite public

sentiment and the coffee clatch at the United Nations, we would still

today be headlong to war.

Unseen hands are at work here, Theris, we don’t get to vote on it!

MATT SMITH

Laguna Beach

Demonstrators display ignorance

In response to your articles concerning the anti-war protesters at

Laguna Beach, Jan. 18, 2003, [“Veterans of Peace” Coastline Pilot,

Jan 24.] I feel it necessary to speak out in defense of President

Bush’s policies concerning the United Nations and Iraq. Your articles

seem to be so one-sided that I feel balanced reporting these days is

meaningless. In some heated discussions with these protesters, I came

away with a feeling that most of them were either uninformed or very

ill-informed.

To ask some of them the following questions:

* How many people were killed in the Sept. 11 Word Trade Center

massacre?

* What had they read in that morning’s L.A. Times (far removed

from a moderate or conservative publication), concerning Secretary of

State’s Colin Powell remarks about proof of Baghdad’s lying?

* Did they think they were jeopardizing our military men and

women in uniform by these protests?

* Were they willing to fight in a war to protect this country’s

freedom and preserve its sovereignty?

* Were we justified in fighting (still fighting) the Afghanistan

war, to rid the country of the oppressive Taliban?

* What kind of commitment were they ready to make if our shores

were invaded (militarily or with bio-chemical warfare)?

* Where is the American flag at these demonstrations?

* What do you think the “peace sign” means?

* Why isn’t there more horn-blowing signaling support for your

efforts?

I was met with blank stares, or inane remarks, or invectives aimed

at President Bush.

Some responses included the following:

* “I don’t care what happened on 9/11. That was in the past.”

* “President Bush was AWOL in his service days and does not have

a high I.Q.”

* “We don’t raise the American flag at these rallies because it

might give you the impression that we support President Bush.”

* “The Afghan leaders are still in turmoil and people are

starving.”

* “Please move away from my sign.”

If this is the extent of dissension in these groups, then we have

lost a great deal in the current forming of opinion in America and

that depresses me.

It is fruitless to debate ignorance.

Yes, I was one of the two men exercising their right to challenge

their views as discussed in your column, Dennis Piszkiewicz.

Believe me, I do not condone war as a solution in the issue of

Iraq, but neither do I shrink from standing up to a war criminal,

such as Saddam (remember he lost the 1991 Gulf War)! As far as not

being there in droves to protest the anti-war advocates, I feel that

I am well represented (greater than 60%) by President Bush and the

marvelous staff he has assembled (Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice,

Donald Rumsfeld, Karen Hughes, Karl Rove, John Ashcroft, etc.).

Another question:

Why is it only on Saturday that the rallies exist? We have a great

country, state and city to protest in, but does it have to be only on

glorious sunny days! How far from reality can you get??

EUGENE LEO

Laguna Niguel

Water company responds to letter

Having received a response from the water company to my letter

published in this paper on Jan. 17, “Take responsibility for water

usage,” I went back into my file of published and other letters on

water written before the company became part of the city and seems to

have been filled with a new list of “officers” under their logo.

The important thing is that they “will be stepping up (their)

efforts and are planning a variety of focused campaigns to get the

water conservation message out to all customers on a regular basis.”

Now that is good new because it will take such actions to raise the

community consciousness to begin to achieve a conservation effect.

The wasters may be a difficult group to reach as old habits are

hard to break and represent individual expression. On the other hand,

people like myself are radical and go to extremes. For me to teach

how I conserve would take a guided tour around the property and in my

home to demonstrate and communicate my methods. Mark Chamberlain

pointed out to me that those who have ever lived on a boat may have

by necessity already discovered some themselves.

Because water scarcity may become a major crisis in California,

major conservation efforts must take place not only around the home

but especially in agricultural areas where water is used most

extravagantly and in parks and public places as well.

For years I have advocated the on-site retention of runoff. One of

the ways to accomplish this is the use of cisterns. The methods are

as old as civilization and can be created in homes and elsewhere.

Also, it must start with land use planning so that properties are

terraces and roof runoff retained as well.

Laguna Lakes became a natural place to retain runoff and prevent

flooding, but they should be enlarged now that a new and wider Laguna

Canyon Road is being made.

When and if water really does become scarce, the water company can

always do what they did in the earl days and send a red, brackish

substance through the pipes which can be obtained under ground.

Perhaps then people will shape up really fast.

ANDY WING

Laguna Beach

Driftwood Estates no good for Laguna

The proposed Driftwood Estates subdivision is a project that the

Laguna Beach City Council should disapprove based on the safety

issues involved and the diminished quality of life it would produce

for all Lagunans, particularly for the citizens in the immediate

neighborhoods.

The main entrance to the proposed development is at the north end

of Driftwood Drive, a very narrow, 26-foot wide street having no

sidewalks. Cars are usually parked on both sides of the street due to

the many short driveways. The school bus travels on Driftwood to pick

up children in the neighborhood. All pedestrians, including children,

must walk in the street. Added traffic from the proposed development

will only increase the existing hazard.

Recently, I met a car on Driftwood and had to back up a

considerable distance before being able to pull to the curb and allow

the oncoming car to pass. On another occasion, while driving on

Driftwood Drive, I found myself behind our local refuse truck. With

no way to pass, I had to wait while the truck emptied each can on the

street. Who would ever approve a new subdivision at the end of this

narrow, congested street?

A proposed emergency access to the project is through a narrow

easement, between two existing homes, connecting to Ocean Vista

Drive. Because of the problems noted above, some proponents are now

talking about making this a full-fledged access road. Such a plan

would create a very dangerous intersection for the following reasons:

This would be a blind intersection because the level of the access

road would be considerably below developed property on each side of

the proposed road. Vehicles traveling from the project wouldn’t be

visible to traffic on Ocean Vista Drive until right at the

intersection. Also, the proposed intersection would be too close to

the crest of Ocean Vista Drive. Drivers traveling in a northerly

direction on Ocean Vista would be unable to see the proposed

intersection until it’s too late. Calculations show that cars

traveling above 25 mph would have difficulty stopping before the

intersection, particularly in wet weather.

The City Council must consider, above all else, the safety of the

residents of Laguna Beach. This project will benefit only the

developer, who stands to make a considerable profit. The residents of

Laguna Beach would be the losers as they see their quality of life

diminished by the increased hazards, traffic congestion and loss of

open space. The City Council should reject this project and act in

behalf of all the citizens of our city. How refreshing that would be.

RICHARD BABCOCK

Laguna Beach

My husband and I live on Ocean Vista Drive and have been working

to stop the proposed Driftwood Estates Development for more than a

year.

We attended the City Council meeting on Jan. 14, at which I was

one of the many that spoke against the project. One of those many

that spoke was Sally Wilde. She lives in the Diamond / Crestview

neighborhood where there has been an ongoing development being built

for the past eight years. This is a much smaller development than the

proposed Driftwood Estates. She told the City Council of the

nightmare that she has lived and will continue to live through for

who knows how much longer and begged the City Council to not put our

neighborhood (that surrounding the proposed Driftwood Estates)

through the same hell.

My husband and I had heard of this development before but had

never driven up there to see the Diamond / Crestview area for

ourselves. We drove up there last week and now know what we had only

imagined before -- what our neighborhood will be put through if the

Driftwood Estates are approved.

I invite other residents of Laguna Beach to drive up Crestview

(turn right off Diamond and go to the dead end of Crestview) and see

for themselves what those neighbors have had to put up with. It is

still awful but you can imagine how much worse it was when the big

grading tractors, dirt hauler trucks and the lumber and all the other

supplies needed to build multiple homes were traveling up and down

that narrow steep road. Then ask yourself if you would want this in

your neighborhood. It could happen to you, as there are many large

undeveloped pieces of property in Laguna Beach.

The City Council will be setting a precedent if they OK the

Driftwood Estates, as this is not already individual lots but one

piece of property that would be subdivided into 15 large lots. These

lots are proposed to sell for upwards of a million dollars to build

custom homes on. What size homes do you think that a person paying

that kind of money will build. I think not Beach Bungalows. I thought

that our city wanted to stop mansionization.

Please residents of Laguna Beach, don’t let this kind of project

set the precedent of things to come.

DON AND SHARRY JONES

Laguna Beach

Help! Calling all Lagunatics. We need your vote to keep Laguna

free of people who want to “clean up the mess.”

Open space is not a mess [Morris] Skenderian. I love it just the

way it is. I am using the word love here.

I love the way the ridgeline looks from Coast Highway when I drive

north or south.

I love the way it looks from the top of the ridge when I look

down.

I love this back yard, this beautiful open space.

“Clean up the mess” is a direct quote in Morris Skenderian’s open

statements Tuesday, Jan. 14 when trying to sell a subdivision of 15

lots to the City Council.

I feel the town I grew up and played in needs to come together on

this and just say no. We’re saying no here in our own back yard.

STEPHEN SMITH

Laguna Beach

The new provisions in the Design Review ordinance call for a

rendering -- photographic, digital or otherwise -- of the elevations

of three existing homes on either side of a proposed project or

changes of 50% or more on existing structures and for certification

that all neighbors within a 300-foot radius have been notified by the

applicant or architect to review the proposed project.

Bad idea for the following reason:

1. Board members, even though they are required to visit each

application site, may not do so for convenience reasons knowing

beforehand that they will be viewing the immediate neighborhood on

paper. Therefore they would not familiarize themselves with the

actual conditions, style, scale and flavor of the neighborhood.

2. Designers, graphic illustrators and artists can easily do a

snow job on the unsuspecting and possibly poorly informed board

members by producing fantastic renderings of the “neighborhood.”

3. It seems that the requirement by the owner or design

professional to notify homeowners within a 300-foot radius may stir

up neighbors who are not all affected by the proposed project. They

will receive notices from the city anyway. Is it the council’s

intentions to prolong the design review process and add an enormous

cost to all involved? Has the council considered the applicants’ and

design professionals’ animosity and hostility engendered by these new

rules?

The Design Review Board should be encouraged to say no to

unacceptable projects and be supported by the City Council. There

should be no fear of a lawsuit. Perhaps the lawsuit adverse policy

has made the city too timid to enforce the rules we already have.

PETER WEISBROD

Landscape architect

Laguna Beach

The South Laguna Civic Assn. is very concerned about the proposed

Driftwood subdivision.

One important issue has been resolved in the process to date,

namely the commitment to dedicate the entire remaining area of 218

acres for open space. We emphatically support and recommend this

dedication.

However there are many unresolved and very important issues.

Following are our recommendations regarding some of these issues:

Construction impacts are significant and potentially devastating

to the surrounding neighbors. These concerns must be addressed in the

form of specific conditions, bonding and penalties for

non-performance. We suggest that the council instruct staff to

develop a list of such conditions that address all of the

neighborhood concerns.

Preservation of the southern maritime chaparral and the

crownbeard. The site visit reinforced our concern with grading of the

slopes and fuel modification above the existing homes. We recommend

that the council require that the plans be changed to eliminate

grading of these slopes and require preservation of the vegetation on

them. There appears to be ample room to site houses on the pads

without changing the grading of these existing slopes.

Building size and visual impacts. Specific commitments regarding

building size, building envelopes and architectural character need to

be wrapped into this project approval, probably in the form of a

Specific Plan and CC & Rs.

The Driftwood development should be required no less than what was

required by the county or city of Laguna Niguel, or what our own city

required at Treasure Island -- which is the submission of proposed

building envelopes for evaluation. The long term affects of this

development on the views from Coast Highway and from the

neighborhood, and on the scale and character of the neighborhood are

very significant, especially if no over-all limits are proposed at

the time of tract approval.

The project proponents should show where structures will be

allowed on the lots, what the maximum building envelopes will be,

what the maximum building site coverage and floor area will be and

then do visual simulations showing what the impact will be as viewed

from a number of important view points.

The size limits on the buildings should correspond to the existing

sizes of homes in the neighborhood.

Residents have rightly expressed concern that an approval of this

subdivision without such constraints condemns them to years of Design

Review meetings as houses are reviewed one by one. Design Review

alone has historically been unable to control the overall size of

homes in new tracts without an overall plan restricting size.

Now is the time to control mansionization in this area, not

individually at Design Review meetings.

BILL RIHN

Board member of the

South Laguna Civic Assn.

The Coastline Pilot is eager to run your letters. If your letter

does not appear it may be due to space restrictions and will likely

appear next week. If you would like to submit a letter, write to us

at P.O. Box 248 Laguna Beach CA 92652, fax us at 494-8979 or send

e-mail to coastlinepilot@latimes.com. Please give your name and

include your hometown and phone number, for verification purposes

only.