Cottage homecoming

Peggy Ogden can remember when Beethoven sat in her yard at Crystal Cove — well, his bust, anyway.

Ogden and her husband Brent lived for about eight years in what is now cottage No. 39 at Crystal Cove State Park, and they came back over the weekend to relax and reminisce.

The cottages were built starting in the 1920s and were the center of an eclectic beach community for years. The state bought the land in 1979 and finally made residents move out in 2001.

It took the state parks department until this summer to refurbish 13 cottages and open them to the public for overnight stays. Other cottages are being turned into a marine research facility, a cafe and other facilities.

The first reservations to stay in the hugely popular park sold out within hours, but the Ogdens were lucky enough to get one — though Peggy said it took two and a half hours on the phone.

While they like what the state has done with the place, the biggest change the couple noticed was what’s missing: the personalized decorations, plants and flowers, sea shells, colorful floats from lobster traps, and flags that adorned the walls, porches and yards of the cottages. And in the Ogdens’ case, Beethoven.

The living is a little easier now, with the cottages freshly outfitted and a restaurant nearby. When they moved into their cottage, it was somewhat more primitive, with unreliable plumbing and peeling paint. But that was all right, Peggy Ogden said — they were used to that.

Peggy, 74, and Brent, 77, originally met on Balboa Island when she was in college and he was in the Marines. They married a year later, and they moved down to Newport from South Pasadena for Brent’s job.

They had stayed in the cottages on weekends and wanted to live in one, but it was nearly impossible to find one available, Peggy remembered.

By chance, they met a woman walking on the beach who liked them and referred them to her friend, who had to move for health reasons and rented the Ogdens her cottage for most of the year.

“It looked like fun. We’re both campers; we like to travel,” Peggy Ogden said. “When they closed Crystal Cove, we put everything in our camper and drove to Alaska.”

Most of the cottages were weekend places, but about seven or eight families lived in them full time. The atmosphere at the cottages was friendly and casual, and people would help each other out, the Ogdens said.

They’d see dolphins, pelicans, lizards and raccoons, and they met people from all over the world who were visiting the beach, Peggy Ogden said.

What was once their cottage has been divided into three bedrooms with a common kitchen and dining area. Peggy Ogden can point out where they had a piano, pictures on the walls and which room was their library.

When they had to move out, the Ogdens weren’t bitter about it, Peggy Ogden said, because they knew it was coming. They just feel fortunate to have lived there, and even more so to have come back.

“I feel doubly blessed to be back here because I’m a cancer survivor,” Peggy Ogden said. “Two years ago I wasn’t sure I’d ever be here again.”

Getting another cottage stay probably will take persistence. There are 24 more cottages waiting for renovation, but no state money is available to pay for it.

When a new set of reservations opens up on the first of every month, it takes about 10 minutes to sell out, said Laura Davick, a former cottage dweller who founded the Crystal Cove Alliance to preserve the cottages.

When she gave her monthly tour of the Crystal Cove historic district over the summer, Davick said, 300 people attended.

Everyone who stays there says “it’s the experience of a lifetime,” Davick said.

It’s been twice in a lifetime for the Ogdens, and they may try to rent a cottage again in the future. The best thing about being at Crystal Cove again, Brent Ogden said without hesitation, is hearing the ocean.

“Every little wave is different,” he said. “It’s mystical.”