Coast Highway

A male pedestrian was hit by a car at the corner of Coast Highway and Aster Street late Thursday night. Police report that an Illinois man was arguing with his girlfriend at 9:51 p.m. During the altercation he told her she was leaving and ran across Coast Highway when traffic was not at a stop. He was hit by a vehicle traveling south and was thrown into the air. He landed on the hood of a car traveling the opposite direction in the left turn lane. He seriously injured his left arm, had a laceration on his head and was scraped up. Police report that he is expected to fully recover.

A man suffered minor injuries in a head-on traffic crash at Coast Highway south of Moss Street on Friday, Laguna Beach police said. Officers responded to the site at 4:36 p.m. and found one of the vehicles' occupants with injuries, but he was not transported to a hospital. There were no arrests made, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Louise Callus said in an email. As of midday Tuesday, the report was not written, so the make and model of the vehicles involved were unknown, Callus said.

Kentucky Fried Chicken at 695 S. Coast Hwy. closed its doors last week. A paper sign in the window says "Sorry, moved to Corona del Mar. 2929 E. Coast Hwy. " Another location at 2900 Harbor Blvd. in Costa Mesa closed this week. Calls to the restaurant went unanswered Friday. KFC is across the street from Mosun Sushi & Sake / Club M, which also abruptly closed last month. * Coffee shop swap Passersby may have noticed the new paint on the space that was once occupied by Java T Go at 980 N. Coast Hwy. The drive-thru coffee stand is no longer in service but has a fresh coat of paint.

A Sig-Alert was called around 3 p.m. Monday on Coast Highway in South Laguna after a suspected drunken driver allegedly hit three parked cars near West Street, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Jason Kravetz said. At 4:30 p.m. traffic was reported backed up all the way to Diamond Street. The driver, who was injured, allegedly fled the scene but was taken into custody and transported to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, Kravetz said. “We received many calls of a white Porsche with Florida license plates which hit three parked cars in South Laguna.

A major sewage spill has forced the closure of Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. Starting about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, sewage began to leak from a transmission main located underneath Coast Highway near Center Street, Laguna Beach City Manager Ken Frank wrote in press releases. The ruptured line transports raw sewage from central Laguna Beach to a treatment plant in Aliso Canyon. The volume of the spill is about 50 gallons per minute. Some of the sewage has reached the beach, and the beach will be closed, Frank said.

Bryce Alderton A proposal to build an underground pedestrian walkway across Pacific Coast Highway is sending chills of skepticism through the veins of a number of residents and business owners. Councilwoman Toni Iseman has proposed an underground walkway that would connect Broadway to Main Beach by cutting underneath Coast Highway. Iseman claims the walkway would reduce the amount of traffic clogging city streets in the summer and on weekends by cutting down on the number of pedestrians.

ART WALK Join more than 40 galleries throughout Laguna Beach on the first Thursday of each month for a festive cultural evening from 6 to 9 p.m. Free shuttle service starts from the Laguna Art Museum and Bluebird Center at 6:15 p.m. and runs until 8:45 p.m. Information: www.firstthursdaysartwalk.com or (949) 683-6871. ( Denotes galleries that participate in the First Thursday Art Walk.) The next Art Walk will be Aug. 2. Laguna Art Museum 307 Cliff Drive (949)

A high-end steakhouse planned for the former French 75 site in Laguna Beach by a group that includes Anaheim Ducks' player Teemu Selanne is expected to open later this summer. Jim Shumate, owner along with Selanne and Kevin Pratt, hopes to open the restaurant, now set to be called Selanne's, July 1. The three friends got together five years ago to discuss opening a restaurant, said Shumate, former general manager of the Chart House in Dana Point. The search spanned coastal areas from Laguna Beach to Newport Beach.

No one likes to admit they have a dark side. But like alter egos, the alleys of Laguna Beach parallel our lives. We rely on them for privacy. We use them as shortcuts. We park in them illegally. Both in residential and business areas, there are an impressive amount of alleys in Laguna - all underutilized and most in disarray. But there are some really cool ones too. With a few exceptions, almost anywhere you live in the city - north, south or downtown - you have alleys nearby.

As I write this column the fog is rolling in deep and I'm listening to Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood crush a version of "Voodoo Child. " There's a full gospel chorus behind Clapton's wailing guitar. It's "Blues On The Beach" Friday night at KX93.5 FM, and I've got it turned way up - and just right. By now you know about Laguna's start-up radio revolution, or your head is in the trees that block everyone's view. Six months in and these guys have built an independent radio model from the ground up that doesn't answer to corporate suits, where they actually play artists that aren't dumbed down and force fed from the major labels.

I moved to Laguna Beach when I was 25. That was in 1962. I have pedaled its streets ever since then, including the 37 years I worked at Laguna Beach High School when I lived in upper Bluebird Canyon. Four years ago I volunteered to serve on the City Council-appointed Complete Streets Task Force. I was anxious to make a difference in how our town would encourage alternative means of transportation, given what I thought was always a forward-looking and environmentally-positive city philosophy, as well as a place that was becoming glutted by automobiles.

Laguna Beach resident Karen Kramer Maroney, one-time owner of the city's Oak Street Antiques, passed away at Mission Hospital Mission Viejo on Feb. 14. She was 73. Maroney was owner and proprietor of Oak Street Antiques at Oak Street and Coast Highway from 1994 to 2006. The store carried California pottery, antique jewelry, architectural antiques, vintage books and vintage furniture. She provided free advice to customers who wanted to know more about their pottery, her husband Welton Becket wrote in an email.

A man suffered minor injuries in a head-on traffic crash at Coast Highway south of Moss Street on Friday, Laguna Beach police said. Officers responded to the site at 4:36 p.m. and found one of the vehicles' occupants with injuries, but he was not transported to a hospital. There were no arrests made, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Louise Callus said in an email. As of midday Tuesday, the report was not written, so the make and model of the vehicles involved were unknown, Callus said.

Two Orange County men riding in a stolen car allegedly hit parked cars and a street pole at Pearl Street and South Coast Highway Sunday afternoon. Laguna Beach Police responded to the scene at 1:55 p.m. Eddie Reyes Martinez, 19, from Mission Viejo, and Jonathan Jesus Cordova, 18, from Laguna Woods ran from the scene, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Louise Callus wrote in an email. Citizens in the area of Bluebird Beach and Coast Highway detained the men until officers arrived. Both men were injured and taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, police said.

There are a few ramshackle stretches of Coast Highway in Laguna Beach cluttered with tired buildings and bad imagination. You become immune, driving by in a daze because there's nothing much to look at. But then you notice the curve. It's an organic, perfectly undulating S shape that takes your breath away. Located at 883 S. Coast Hwy., the building is the latest creation of Laguna architect Horst Noppenberger, and it will be the home to Obagi Skin Health Institute, set to open later this spring.

It's not every day that people get the chance to do something creative that they're not only passionate about, but also pays their bills. Toes on the Nose window dresser Sydney Hensler says she got lucky. "It's something I never expected to do, but it totally fits me in a weird way," the Newport Beach resident said. "I really enjoy doing it, and I really enjoy doing it in Laguna Beach because I feel like it's a community that appreciates it. " Hensler, 28, was working at Toes on the Nose in downtown Laguna about two years ago when she was asked to try her hand at the storefront windows that face South Coast Highway.

The sleepy seaside village of Laguna Beach is the backdrop of a local filmmaker's latest thriller - "Mirror Image. " The independent film stars Eric Roberts, "CSI" star April Eden, Ed O'Ross of "Six Feet Under" fame and Eve Mauro of "Dexter," among others. It screens at South Coast Cinema on Sunday night. Executive Director Joey DePinto moved to Laguna six years ago and thought the quiet town would be the ideal location for his latest suspense movie, which centers around a girl who grapples with the murder of her twin sister.