Capturing Crystal Cove

There’s something about Crystal Cove.

The dramatic beachfront -- framed by green hills, ochre cliffs and

sparkling ocean -- has attracted attention since it was “discovered”

by legendary plein-air painter William Wendt in the early part of the

last century.

The cove is as glamorous and romantic as any place in California.

It has been used as a mock-tropical backdrop by Hollywood’s silent

moviemakers and as an illicit post for rum-runners during

Prohibition.

Over time, it became populated by a group of hardy, rambunctious

tent-campers and cottagers who hung together year after year to form

a lasting, multigenerational community, or “tribe.”

The crystal-clear waters that gave the cove its name have become

one of the state’s five underwater parks and have gone into marine

lore as the site of the first recorded dolphin birthing ceremony -- a

mystical event in which the mammals encircle the mother and welcome

the offspring.

After being the inspiration for the earliest generation of

landscape painters who founded Laguna Beach nearly a century ago, it

was rediscovered in the new millennium by a group of plein-air

painters seeking to capture its magic before the cove cottages

disappeared into a luxury resort proposed by the state parks

department.

Renovations under way

With the resort plan routed, Crystal Cove Cottages is now entering

another of its incarnations, as a unit of the state park system. Its

ramshackle residences -- built in a charmingly haphazard style called

vernacular architecture -- are undergoing major renovations at a cost

of millions, paid for by state park bond funds.

Next spring, 22 of the 46 cottages will be open for rental to

overnight visitors who, it is hoped, will be able to experience

first-hand the magic of Crystal Cove.

The cottages are being carefully restored to reflect their

origins, while also providing modern conveniences such as plumbing

and wheelchair access.

“It’s been a rough year,” said Laura Davick, a former cove

resident and founder of the Crystal Cove Alliance. “The boardwalk

washed out, and my house [cottage] had to come down.”

A landslide changed plans for one of the most famous cottages,

which became known as the “Beaches” structure after being featured in

the 1988 movie starring Bette Midler. The cottage, located at the

southern end of the village, was to have been restored as a marine

study center, but that honor will now go to another cottage in a

safer location.

Nowadays, the cove looks more like a construction zone than a

beach community as earth-movers tear away at the soil to allow for

sewers and foundations to be installed.

Best-selling book

In the meantime, the cove’s complex history has been captured in a

book which is itself becoming something of a legend -- having popped

up on the Los Angeles Times best-seller list twice since it was

released in July.

The Times described “Crystal Cove Cottages: Islands in Time” as “a

look at a group of historic beach cottages along the Orange County

coastline that mixes bohemia and Americana.”

More than a coffee-table book, “Crystal Cove Cottages” is the

loving work of three women, each with deep roots at Crystal Cove and

hoping to preserve its culture and celebrate its past.

Davick, who grew up at Crystal Cove as part of the latter-day

generation of year-round occupants, fought to save the area from

redevelopment and is leading the group that is overseeing the

restoration of the cottages.

Meriam Braselle is a Laguna Beach plein-air artist and expert on

the genre who collected the numerous cove paintings, many by

contemporary artists, in the book.

Karen Steen, who wrote the text, says the idea for a book about

Crystal Cove had been knocking around in her head since she became a

journalist. Her South Pasadena family had been coming to the cove for

long summer stays since well before she was born.

“I had a nostalgia for the time period, and after I left

California, the romance stayed in my mind. It was unique, and I

wanted to write about it,” Steen says.

Steen grew up steeped in stories about the old tent-camping days,

when summer vacationers would pitch their tents all along the

California coastline to escape the intense inland heat. At Crystal

Cove, this summertime ritual had evolved into a year-round beachfront

community with unusual features.

Movie colony

As Steen describes in the book, moviemakers were the cove’s first

temporary residents, and the first structures were tropical-inspired

sets as well as huts to house the workers. “Treasure Island” was

filmed there in 1917, and Gloria Swanson and Gary Cooper were some of

the stars who acted in films shot at Crystal Cove.

The moviemakers introduced coconut palms and other tropical plants

to the area, and this led to an edict that all structures be covered

with palm fronds so the movie-making could continue uninterrupted.

The thatched “Gilligan’s Island” effect startled many early

travelers, and Davick says most of the area’s palms and other

greenery are left over from those early Hollywood set days.

End of an era

In 1962, beach camping was outlawed in Orange County, bringing the

tent era to an end. But the Crystal Cove Cottages stayed on because

of an unusual arrangement between the residents and the Irvine Co.,

the firm which controlled the land.

A member of the Irvine family had purchased the cove area with two

partners in 1864 from Spanish land grant holder Jose Andres Sepulveda

for a sheepherding venture. James Irvine eventually became the sole

owner of the 48,000 acres that would become known as the Irvine

Ranch. Unlike many large tract owners, Irvine wanted to keep the land

natural and refused to use it for anything but agricultural or other

“passive” uses, which apparently included moviemaking.

Many years later, the Irvine Co. kept that tradition, shying away

from development but allowing the cove cottagers to remain as

leaseholders -- as long as their residences were not improved.

Some residents found a way to circumvent that restriction by

making repairs and even improvements that closely matched the

original style and by using a special “disappearing” paint that lent

an old patina to any new structure.

The cottages therefore remained in their time capsule for some 60

years.

Battle over cottage community

After the Irvine Co. sold nearly 2,000 acres of coastal land to

the state park system in 1979 for $32.6 million -- the most ever

spent at that time in a single parkland purchase -- the cove

community bitterly fought the dissolving of their village but lost

after a decades-long struggle that is echoed in the current battle

over the El Morro Village trailer park nearby.

In 2001, Steen, a writer based in New York City, saw an article in

the New York Times about the Crystal Cove residents being forced to

move out of their longtime home. Feeling this was a story she wanted

to tell, she wrote it up as an article for Metropolis, an

architecture and design magazine.

While researching that article, Steen interviewed Davick -- whose

grandparents were friends of Steen’s grandparents at Crystal Cove --

and reacquainted herself with many of the cove’s former residents.

The resulting article delighted Davick, who by then had founded

her organization, which sought to keep the cottages intact in the

face of a state parks proposal to turn the area into a luxury resort.

Davick asked Steen if she would like to write a book about Crystal

Cove, and Steen jumped at the idea.

The book, Steen thought, would give the Crystal Cove tribe

something to remember, as well as tell the story of a unique

community.

“I see it as a great story, and a way to explain why there was

such a fight over the redevelopment plan,” Steen says. “It’s

incredibly sad to lose something that’s been in your family for five

generations.”

Family photos

The book contains photos of beach parties, luaus, tent camping,

and abalone catches that look like they came from family photo albums

-- which they did. Steen gathered oral histories from some of the

cove’s oldest residents, giving the book an authentic voice.

“It’s a capsule of California history, from the moviemaking era to

auto touring, the postwar boom, and the state parks purchase,” Steen

says.

“All these moments in history are reflected, and one of the most

interesting facts is that it [Crystal Cove] still exists because of

the unique arrangement with the Irvine Co., where the residents

couldn’t change anything.

“Something about Crystal Cove gets its hooks into you.”

To buy the book, which costs $35, from the Crystal Cove Alliance,

visit www.crystalcovealliance.org. All proceeds will go toward

restoration efforts.