A heritage month in May

Barbara Diamond

Laguna Beach celebrates its heritage in May with city-sponsored

activities and traditional community events to celebrate its

distinction.

“What makes Laguna unique is the sense of place,” said Planning

Commissioner Norm Grossman, who has served on city committees for

more than two decades.

“Residents are very aware that it’s different and they want to

protect that, although they may have different ideas of what the

difference is and how to protect it.”

Laguna Beach was regarded for years by many as an enclave of

wild-eyed tree huggers. They were just ahead of their time in

espousing open space preservation long before it became politically

correct. However, Laguna has more registered Republicans than

Democrats and one of the largest community groups is the Laguna Beach

Taxpayers Association -- and John Kerry got two votes in Laguna for

every one for Bush.

“The most conservative people in town are the environmentalists,”

City Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman said. “But we are all willing to

live here in smaller and less accommodating homes that cost way more

than grander houses on our borders.”

Laguna has been unique in South County since the first settlers

arrived. Unlike surrounding communities, most of Laguna was never

part of a Spanish land grant or giant family holdings.

It was pioneered by homesteaders and business people -- who

catered to residents and visitors.

Hotels were among the first structures built in South Laguna,

which was then -- and some say still is -- a separate community, and

in what became one of the most distinguishable downtowns in Orange

County.

From early day, tourism and art have been hand-in-glove.

Laguna’s natural beauty -- the juxtaposition of ocean beaches,

hills and canyons -- brought artists to town before the turn of the

20th century and put the city on the country’s cultural map by the

1930s.

The Laguna Beach Art Association was founded in 1918 and built the sales gallery that morphed into the Laguna Art Museum, the oldest

cultural institution in Orange County.

The museum spawned the first summer Festival of Arts and its

offspring, the Sawdust Festival and Art-a-fair, and the Laguna

College of Art & Design.

Laguna Beach was incorporated in 1927, the first city in South

County. Before incorporation, the chamber of commerce pretty much ran

the town, and tourism was encouraged.

The Laguna Beach Visitors and Conference Center, which spun off

from the chamber, promotes the city as a tourist destination and its

members voluntarily fund art organizations and events that bring

visitors to town.

One of Laguna’s most successful tourist-attracting art events is

the Art Walk, held on the first Thursday of every month, when

galleries and the museum stay open late. An estimated 1,500 people

take the monthly walk in winter, 2,500 in summer. The May Art Walk

coincides with the opening celebration of Heritage Month.

The Laguna Beach Heritage Committee, created in 1990 to advise

city officials on preservation issues, organizes city-sponsored

Heritage Month activities. For more information, call senior City

Planner Nancy Csira at (949) 497-0332.