CITY FOCUS:Cooking continues in Laguna

A new spillproof cover may introduce a new generation to an old Laguna favorite, Arline Isaacs’ “Who’s Cooking in Laguna Beach.”

The book was originally published in the early 1980s, and contains recipes from and personal notes about a lineup of famous Lagunans, some gone, some still here.

The book’s cover is a group photograph, front and back, depicting many of the contributors.

Gloria Fickling, “Honey West” co-author, can be seen on the back in a white hat and flowing dress, looking like a Fellini creation.

Fickling is one of the 150 of Isaacs’ Laguna Beach friends and acquaintances who were asked to submit recipes for the book. Isaacs also wrote small biographies of the cooks which add color and charm to the tome.

Isaacs moved to Laguna from New York in 1970, under the advice of the family doctor due to her son’s asthma.

The asthma went away, but the Isaccses stayed.

“I love New York, but this it it,” she said, gesturing around her home.

Isaacs said that by 1978 she felt she knew everyone in town.

“Laguna was not what it is today; everybody knew everybody,” she said. “It was a whole different world.”

The first edition of the cookbook was self-published, but sold more than 6,000 copies.

Locally, the residents’ familiarity with each other and those in the book helped with sales.

But people from all over — including Australia and various culinary institutes — also purchased it.

“It was a big sensation,” Isaccs said. “Cooking books are so popular.”

The book’s recipes vary from simple cheese-on-bread to elaborate concoctions, all written with a breezy Laguna style.

Isaacs went to New York University and took classes at Parsons, an art college, at the same time, feeding her dual interests in journalism and design.

Her first job was for a prestigious interior decorator on Madison Avenue. The company wanted to hire somebody who did renderings and bookkeeping. Isaacs wanted the job, but came home and cried to her mother about how much she hated bookkeeping.

“Mother said, ‘Just do it how they want it,’” Isaacs said. “It was great advice for the future.”

At New York University, a journalism teacher told Isaacs to forget her arwork.

She didn’t. A classical style portrait of her own creation hangs on her wall beside the home’s expansive ocean view, sharing space with an eclectic collection of works the couple has acquired.

A true Renaissance woman, Isaacs has authored multiple books and works in her husband’s real estate development company.

Isaacs also started up the city’s Arts Commission quite by accident, she said. She gave speeches around the county describing the need in each city for an Arts Commission, not realizing that Laguna didn’t have one.

Then-mayor Kelly Boyd invited her to speak in front of the City Council on the topic, and she said that they unanimously set it up on the spot.

She hinted that she is currently working on a memoir, but would only divulge that it is a story about a wedding.

“If you live long enough, you can do anything,” she said.

The book is on sale at local bookstores.