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chapter 4

Laguna Coast Wilderness Park

The quintessentially coastal town of Laguna Beach blankets pillowy hills that rise abruptly from the sea to an elevation of nearly 1,000 feet. Many of its finest houses cling precipitously to ledges cut into the steep slopes. Other houses seemingly defy gravity by resting upon cantilevered platforms or spidery networks of steel poles. There is an almost universal striving to capture a piece of the view, which without a doubt encompasses one of California’s most dramatic stretches of coastline.

Laguna Beach residents have faced disasters periodically. The Laguna Beach Fire destroyed hundreds of homes in 1993. A landslide on a waterlogged slope destroyed or destabilized dozens of hillside homes in early 2005.

Laguna residents have also been fiercely protective of the natural environment around their coastal town. In the 1980s and ’90s, they spearheaded a campaign to protect thousands of acres of land in and around Laguna Canyon slated for development. Those efforts reached a dramatic crescendo in 1989 when more than 8,000 people marched down the road through Laguna Canyon protesting the Irvine Company’s plan to build a huge housing development there. In what many regard as a win–win outcome, the company was allowed to proceed with massive urban development elsewhere, and large parcels of land, such as the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, were created with the help of grants, donations, and park bond funds. The park now forms the heart of the South Coast Wilderness.