CITY FOCUS: Beautifying street ends

Three of Laguna Beach’s street ends “” roads that dead-end at the ocean “” are getting virtual makeovers from Cal Poly Pomona landscape architecture students.

Members of the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Beautification Council asked university officials to incorporate the street ends project into the students’ curriculum. Ends of Brooks, Cress and Mountain streets were selected and assigned to the third-year landscape architecture students in three separate classes.

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‘Ugly and unsafe’

The street ends are a special project of the Beautification Council, which lobbied the Laguna Beach City Council for funds to plan improvements. The council recently approved $100,000 toward the project, said committee member Al Trevino.

“Many of the street ends are ugly and unsafe, and a lot can be done to add accessibility,” said Kimberly Stewart, president-elect of the Chamber, who attended Cal Poly Pomona herself.

“The beach ends are very important to Laguna,” said longtime Lagunan Harry Lawrence, a Beautification Council founder. “This [the student project] is an experiment to see what we can afford to do.

“Thirty years ago we put in cement steps and now we want the street ends to have the beauty that Laguna deserves.”

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Each site different

The students were assigned to delve into the street ends from many aspects, including environmental, social and aesthetic, and come up with ways to make the sites more accessible, attractive and useful. They also found ways to improve water quality and “green” the sites.

Students were not restricted by budget, said Andrew Wilcox, an assistant professor at Cal Poly Pomona’s department of landscape architecture. He said students were asked to look at the street ends as “pieces of public infrastructure.”

“We wanted them to focus on the uniqueness of each street and to think big,” said professor Mark Holden. “We want the ideas to grow in the next phase.”

The students, who will be graded on their work, presented their diagrams and models created in the first phase of the class at a viewing Tuesday at Wells Fargo Bank’s community room.

Money was no object for the students, but how the plans would be funded is already being considered by Trevino, who told the students that an assessment of adjacent residents may be considered.

The students talked to residents living around the street ends and discovered each site has its own history and pattern of use.

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Mountain Street

Mountain Street, next to the landmark Boom Boom Room gay bar, is also the site of an AIDS/HIV Memorial park. Ashes from those who have died of the disease are located at the small park, making it a virtual cemetery which the students took very seriously.

In one proposal, student Pavel Petrov and his group designed a gently sloping walkway with a glass bridge over the AIDS garden.

In another, memorial stones are used to demarcate the area. “We wanted to be respectful” of the memorial park, said Robyn Newkirk.

That proposal includes a walkway in a woven design “to draw people down” to the park, Newkirk said.

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Brooks Street

At Brooks Street, site of what is considered locally to be one of the longest-running surfing contests anywhere, students proposed various forms of an amphitheater for viewers of the annual competition.

One group incorporated a five-minute parking zone or loading area specifically for people “to check the surf” and ferry items to and from the beach.

Another Brooks Street proposal provides steps and seating made of rammed earth that could accommodate up to 100 viewers, and a curbless design that could morph from vehicle to pedestrian traffic, student Jason Traina said.

Also at Brooks, one group proposed a more traditional design with a gazebo, hanging flower planters and a sculpture wall into which works of art could be inset.

“We wanted to make it look more friendly,” said student Kim Mok. A sitting arbor of California Craftsman style, with a hint of Japanese flair, is also part of that plan.

The students all attempted to improve the water quality at the street ends, which typically funnel storm drain runoff directly into the sea. Permeable paving and water reclamation facilities are incorporated into most of the plans.

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Cress Street

Cress Street, with its dramatic rock formations, inspired one group to create a design they call “Nature Breaking Through to Art.”

The design “emulates a shell,” explained student Andrea Baratie. The sloping, curvaceous design includes a bridge and a hidden water reclamation facility, and incorporates permanent artists’ easels for plein air painting.

Another Cress design uses a whale motif, with a whale fluke fountain at the entry and a pod of whales in a central observation area.

“It all plays off the ocean,” said student Carmela Aguilar. “It’s as if you’re walking over the ocean.” This plan includes open areas the students thought could be used for a farmer’s market or other gatherings.

The students also designed this plan with steps to the beach that “give a different view of the ocean at every turn,” Aguilar said.

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What next?

As for the next steps in the beautification project, Trevino told the students during the viewing that the group is “feeling our way.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the city, which has done nothing with these street ends for 50 years,” Trevino said.

The chamber hopes to present the diagrams and models at various locations throughout Laguna, Trevino said.

A link to the designs will be placed on the chamber’s website, Wilcox said.

“We will go as far as we can” with the street ends project, Lawrence said. “If we could get it done it would be wonderful.”