Streets were full on hospitality night

Ken Delino

John Lara’s cartoon in last week’s Coastline Pilot wrongly implied

that streets are empty on Hospitality Night and that merchants stay

open needlessly.

Prompted by that cartoon and some grumblings I had heard from a

few merchants, I took my notebook Downtown last Friday and here’s

what I found. Nearly every store was open, only 15 were closed and

half of those were galleries. More than 20 stores had drinks and

snacks, Laguna Drug was roasting chestnuts, Areo had a Santa, Rubel’s

jewelry was handing out gift bags, Crystal Image had a portrait

artist and Taco Loco had a rock band in the garage. Bands and

carolers were everywhere, thousands of local residents were on Forest

Avenue, and there were lots of people on Ocean and Broadway, too. The

restaurants were packed and the shops were jammed. About 20 merchants

told me how much they liked the event, and that even if people were

not buying, they were looking. Like Siematic Kitchens, for example,

which was packed with locals looking at the model displays. Hundreds

of local families were enjoying Santa and the festivities provided by

the city, the Chamber of Commerce and some dedicated volunteers. So

John, how about a make-up call?

As a side note, the success of Hospitality Night is a good

indication of the importance of our historic Downtown to our sense of

community. Where else do we see so many residents coming together?

The Downtown is every bit as important as the ocean, the open space

and the arts, but has no similar coalition of support. Watching

residents enjoy the traffic free streets on Hospitality Night, raises

the question of why do we not create more pedestrian space. Laguna

Beach urban designer Sean O’Malley was quoted in last Saturday’s Los

Angeles Times asking for more “People Places” in Downtown L.A. Well

how about more people space in Downtown Laguna? We can only do that

if we create more close in peripheral parking to free up space for

wider sidewalks and park area. Maybe giving up a few acres of open

space near the Act V lot would be a good trade to give us more people

space so we can enjoy our Downtown year round.

* KEN DELINO is president of the board of the Laguna Beach Chamber

of Commerce.