Cove on a coffee table
Once used as a movie set and now a state park, Crystal Cove has now
been immortalized in a book. Filled with historic photos and
paintings, “Crystal Cove Cottages,” debuted in July and made the Los
Angeles Times’ regional list of bestselling books shortly thereafter.
The book’s three authors will hold a book signing Sunday at the park.
The idea formed when journalist Karen Steen, who now lives in New
York but who spent summers at Crystal Cove as a child, was writing an
article about residents moving out of the cottages in 2001. The
book’s five chapters cover significant eras in Crystal Cove history
-- from its early days as a Native American camp site and a vista for
plein-air painters to its rebirth as a state park today.
The authors collected oral histories from former cottage dwellers,
dug up old photos and read the dozens of news articles that have been
written about the place.
“It was kind of like peeling back the onion,” said Laura Davick, a
co-author whose family lived at Crystal Cove. “We ended up with this
massive amount of information.”
For instance, most of the palm trees at Crystal Cove were planted
by Hollywood types who used it as a place to shoot silent movies set
on tropical isles. The waters off Crystal Cove were the first place
people observed the birthing behavior of dolphins in the wild, Steen
said.
Davick is the founder of the Crystal Cove Alliance, a nonprofit
group that has raised about $1.2 million to benefit the development
of the park’s historic district. Half the proceeds from any books
sold at the event or through the Crystal Cove Alliance will go to
historic cottage restoration efforts.
Steen said the area’s plein-air painters donated their work to
appear in the book, and people were generous about sharing their
stories of Crystal Cove, which is in keeping with the spirit of the
place.
“That’s what Crystal Cove was -- it was a community of people that
kind of all came together and made this a place unlike any other,”
she said.
The free book signing event is scheduled from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday
with a tour of the cottages at 4 p.m. Crystal Cove State Park is on
Coast Highway between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, with parking
available in the Los Trancos lot. For information or to purchase a
book, visit o7www.crystalcove alliance.orgf7.
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