First greeter met the stagecoach

Someone suggested a walk to the old store to watch the stagecoach

come in. It carried passengers from Aliso City (now Lake Forest) to

Laguna Beach. This was the operation of the stagecoach after the

Santa Fe Railway had tracked from Los Angeles to San Diego in 1889.

Prior to this, the Concord Stagecoach made the trip to Santa Ana

about every other day, except in the winter when the trips varied.

During the days of the stagecoach, it was an honor to be the

driver, especially that of the Concord. The stagecoach did not have

springs, but swung in leather straps. The motion was like that of a

teeter-totter and many became seasick.

When you heard the rattle of the rickety stagecoach approaching,

everyone headed for the Isch store and post office at the southeast

corner of what is now Coast Highway and Laguna Avenue.

Old Joe Lucas would be standing there with his bushy hair, holding

his trident and meeting all who arrived on the stagecoach. He would

also be there to bid them farewell when they departed.

Joe Lucas was a character who was loved by all. He was unable to

speak English and made himself understood by his actions. The only

time he spoke English was when he would swear. Joe was Portuguese. He

developed a fear of the ocean after he survived a shipwreck, and

decided to spend his last days in Laguna where he became a recluse

and lived in an old one-room building where the City Hall is now. The

old room had been Laguna’s first schoolhouse.

* This BIT OF HISTORY comes from “The First 100 years in Laguna

Beach 1876 -- 1976” by Merle and Mabel Ramsey. The Coastline Pilot

thanks the Laguna Beach Historical Society for this information and

obtaining permission from the Ramsey family to publish.