City seeking ways to use Legion Hall

The Veterans Memorial Building will get a new lease on life when the Community/Senior Center is completed.

City Recreation Department classes and Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. activities and lunches have been held for 25 years in the building leased from the American Legion Post in Laguna. The post was notified that the city did not intend to renew the lease when the center becomes operational, a financial disaster that could force the sale of the building.

“There are three options,” said retired U.S. Marine Corps pilot Col. Charles Quilter II.

“Extend or modify the lease arrangement. Manage or hire a manger to run the property, but we can’t do it. And that forces us into the third option, which is to sell it.”

Bree Burgess Rosen, founder of “Lagunatics” and No Square Theater, had a fourth option.

“No Square Theater is homeless,” Burgess Rosen said. “Rehearsal space is just not available. Our board will pledge $2,000 a month in rent of the dance floor. We pride ourselves on playing well with others. We want to be part of the solution for this.”

The city’s current lease payment is $2,100 a month, which goes into the legion post’s scholarship fund and pays for veterans activities, including the Patriots Day Parade.

“Our goal is not to make money,” Quilter said. “Let’s just continue the relationship.”

However, the relationship includes the city maintaining the building, routinely called Legion Hall, and paying the property tax. Landscaping costs $1,750 a month, which Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson said probably could be cut in half.

“And if No Square only wants the dance floor and some storage room, we could lease the other space,” Pearson said.

Councilman Kelly Boyd, who sponsored the agenda item, said he believed that between Burgess Rosen, Quilter and himself they could whittle the costs down to almost nothing.

The building holds a special place in the hearts of some Lagunans. Quilter said the city’s lease describes the building as a resource because of cultural and historical implications: the oldest civic building in Laguna.

“It is one of the most important structures in our history,” Laguna Canyon Conservancy President Carolyn Wood said.

It served as a school house in the early days of Laguna.

“My grandmother taught there,” said Boyd, scion of the pioneering Thurston family.

The legion post was established in 1927 by World War I veterans, post commander David Connell said.

He was among the veterans and residents who spoke in favor of continued city financial support for the building.

“It is such an honor to be in a room with all these vets,” Mayor Pro Tem Cheryl Kinsman said. “We wouldn’t be here without their sacrifice.”

But she was willing to sacrifice the cannon on the property, as suggested by veteran Bruce Hopping.

“Sell it to Baghdad,” he said.

Veteran Frank Ricchiazzi said the building is special because of the people in it.

“You are dealing with a special group of men and women who have done a lot for their country and Laguna,” Ricchiazzi said.

Resident Arnold Hano said the building is needed more than ever, now that Wells Fargo has closed its public meeting rooms at night.

“I would like to see my tax money used to support this,” Heritage Committee member Bonnie Hano said.

The rare unanimity between the Hanos and Ricchiazzi prompted Mayor Jane Egly to ask whether the moon still hung in the sky.

“This is a building of treasures,” Councilwoman Toni Iseman said. “It is our job to keep it and keep it in good shape.”

To that end, the council unanimously voted to continue the lease and, if necessary, work with Quilter to find other people willing to use the facility.

BARBARA DIAMOND can be reached at (949) 494-4321 or coastlinepilot@latimes.com.