Laguna’s historian

Mary A. Castillo

Laguna Beach resident Ed Perry, 87, has a passion for preserving

the past. Every Sunday, he greets visitors who come to the Murphy

Smith House on Ocean Avenue for a glimpse of Laguna’s history.

His love of history began when he took a British history and

literature class at Whittier College in the 1930s.

Even though he made a career of running his father’s furniture

business, Perry parlayed that interest into the establishment of the

Whittier Historical Society. In 1983, joined the Laguna Beach

Historical Society and later served on the Heritage Committee.

“When I joined, it was just a group of old-timers designating

certain homes as heritage homes,” he said.

The historical society not only preserves vintage photos, it also

offers educational programs to the public, including a presentation

about the life of impressionist artist Isaac Frazee.

Perry’s yellow-shingled cottage, perched on the hillside

overlooking Bluebird Canyon, was officially designated a heritage

home in 1992. He proudly displays a black and white photo that shows

his cottage and another as the only two structures on a dirt road

bordered by sage and scrub brush. Perry also likes to point out that

his home cost a kingly sum of $20,500 in 1966.

Although Perry has mourned similar cottages that gave way to

lot-hogging houses and has shaken his head at some of the

developments along Coast Highway, he believes that preservationists

haven’t lost the war.

“I don’t believe Laguna’s charm is lost,” he said. “I think that

people on the Design Review Board and City Council are constantly

making sure that this is a city that has its own flavor.”

But one of the major problems preservationists face are real

estate values. Perry believes that higher prices compel property

owners to build larger homes to get their full money’s worth.

“The problem is that people can’t live forever,” he said. “The

children sell it, and the land is more valuable than the house.”

So he does his part by showing newcomers and visitors that

Laguna’s now high-priced charms were established by expressive

free-thinkers who lived life on “seaside time.”

“He is ‘Mr. Dependable’ and we can always count on him,”

Historical Society President Gene Felder said. “He is most generous

with his time, whether greeting visitors to the Murphy-Smith house on

Sundays or conducting a Laguna history program for students or

seniors.”

Perry isn’t about to cut back his weekly schedule, which is

crowded with a morning ritual of 38 laps at the Surf and Sand Hotel’s

pool, delivery of day-old breads to local nonprofit groups and

bringing communion to elderly parishioners.

But he does believe that he’s done his share in the community.

“I think on a lot of these things, the young people should be

taking on those jobs,” he said.