Fifty or so, and showing her age

Barbara Diamond

“The lady needs a face lift,” said Peggy Ford.

She wasn’t talking about herself, her friends or the members of

the Laguna Beach Woman’s Club. She was talking about the building the

club has occupied since 1950.

“We are lucky that the building is still structurally sound --

minimal maintenance has been done, but we are at the point that if we

don’t do something now, we will be in real trouble.”

The club recently kicked off a yearlong drive to raise funds for

renovations. An estimated $250,000 is needed -- but $75,000 would

give the club a good start.

“We could do the majority of the cosmetic work ... for $75,000,”

Ford said.

The proposed work on the exterior would include landscaping,

painting, lighting, repairing block-wall fences, gutters and

drainage, and installing a security system -- the club has been

broken into twice in the past four years.

Interior plans call for new flooring, painting, and updating the

kitchen and the acoustics and the sound system.

“The need for new flooring actually sparked the whole project,”

Ford said. “But one of our major concerns is to install handicapped

facilities.”

The club has hired interior designer Barbara Lolli.

“We are working on a color palette,” Ford said. “We’d like to

start on the interior next summer -- most of our programs end in

June, and that would give us three months to complete the work.

“We are getting started on the landscaping and we are aiming to

have that completed by the fall.”

The goal is to avoid the kind of problems seen last year.

“We had flooding inside the building and we had to trench the soil

to get the water to run off.” Ford said.

Ford said the projects are doable with a $250,000 budget, based on

estimates.

Fundraising events will be announced.

“Many fun events are planned throughout the year, starting with

Casino Night, Saturday, Sept. 24,” said club member Peggie Thomas,

who will chair the event.

The club is usually on the giving end, rather than the receiving

end of fundraisers.

“Since its inception in 1922, woman’s club members have worked to

alleviate problems in our community through volunteer services,”

Thomas said.

The Women’s Resource Center, which supports families in times of

disaster, such as the recent Flamingo Drive landslide and assists

women seeking education, a better life and access to community

resources, is just one, although a priority, club project.

The clubhouse also has been the collection site for donations of

clothing, school supplies, food and household items in times of

disaster and in good times, such as the annual holiday party at which

low income families “shop” for gifts.

During Ford’s first term, the club launched a back-to-school

program to equip children with clothes and materials for the upcoming

academic year and sponsored afternoon art classes taught by members

of Laguna Outreach Community Artists.

“We are trying to do more outreach and we would like to see the

building used more,” Ford said.

The clubhouse is already the site of many annual community events,

including nonpartisan political forums, author’s presentations, a

multi-day art show of works by local women, and luncheons that honor

the outgoing mayor and the club’s woman of the year.

“Members of the community have come to depend on the clubhouse as

a place to hold their civic and private events,” Thomas said.

Community-minded women organized the club in January 1922 to

benefit the residents of Laguna Beach through philanthropic

activities. The club was admitted to the state Federation of Women’s

Clubs in April of that year and the General Federation in October. It

was incorporated in July, 1927, the city was incorporated, according

to club history.

Club member Beryl Wilson Viebeck is the granddaughter of Jennie

Johnson, wife of the first chief of police when the city

incorporated. Jennie Johnson and her sister Ora Warling, started the

Laguna Beach Woman’s Club.

Club members should be able to take as much pride in their

clubhouse as they do in their club’s picturesque beginnings and its

community service, according to Ford.

“Our clubhouse should be a place we are proud to host club and

community events,” Ford said. “The WCLB clubhouse should be where our

community spends their most treasured family events and where our

future generations will create new memories.

For more information about the club, membership or to make

donations toward the renovation, call (949) 497-1200 and leave a message.