Laguna Canyon

I must say, David Hansen, that your recent column was quite confusing. (Re. "Canyon is its own world," Sept. 30) I am a bona fide canyon kid and have called it my home for 22 years. Laguna Canyon is the only home I have ever known. Your column pulled together random aspects about the canyon community while drawing similarities to a conglomeration of mostly negative stereotypical images of America. Assuming that you've never been a resident of the Laguna Canyon and seeing as I have been one all my life, allow me to clear up your fear-driven impressions of this rarity.

ELISABETH M. BROWN "Last week's fire burned about 10,000 acres of the 15,000 acre Laguna Greenbelt, and over 350 homes in Laguna Beach alone. Although the hills are blackened and appear devastated, they are in much better shape than the burned neighborhoods." That's how I started a column just days after the Oct. 27, 1993, Laguna Canyon wildfire. Recent photos from San Diego and San Bernardino brought it all back: the moonscape that was our backcountry 10 years ago. The wind blew streamers of black ash from ridge tops, and the whole landscape was suddenly unfamiliar terrain.

Two of the four Third Street cottages reprieved from demolition by the council were relocated Wednesday night to temporary storage at Big Bend in Laguna Canyon. The surveyor's cottage at 368 Third St., closest to the Laguna Beach Community Clinic and its next door neighbor at 374 made the trip with no discernible damage, Community Services Director Susan Cannan said. "It went very quietly, very smoothly," she said. About a half-dozen spectators gathered on Third Street to see the cottages begin the trip to the canyon.

City officials will comply with a California Coastal Commission staff opinion that the temporary relocation of the Third Street Cottages needs a coastal development permit. The hitch in the relocation of the cottages to Laguna Canyon was announced in City Manager Ken Frank's Jan. 4 update. "While we disagree with this interpretation, rather than argue with the Commission staff, we have delayed the Planning Commission's consideration until Jan. 24 and have noticed it for a Coastal Development Permit as well as a Temporary Use Permit," Frank said.

Eight applicants have been chosen for the newly formed Laguna Canyon Flood Mitigation Task Force. The council on Tuesday selected landscape architect Bob Borthwick, Laguna Canyon businesswoman and resident Susan Hamil, retired county official Eric Jessen, former City Manager of Temple City Karl Koski, retired engineer William E. Lawson, sculptor and canyon resident Louis Longi, retired civil engineer Carl R. Nelson and canyon resident and U.S....

There is an underbelly to Laguna Beach, disconnected from the glitz and grazing plates of Coast Highway. Unlike downtown, it's a place that doesn't pose or preen or gossip. It's Laguna Canyon, filled with rusting trucks and welding tools; oil and grit and mountain bikes; bobcats, rattlesnakes and stray dogs. It's an ancient, two-sided natural corridor: One side of the street is undeveloped with scrappy open space; the other is off-kilter, unbalanced, like a driver's side sunburn on one arm. Speckled like an exotic fruit, you want to experience it because you consider yourself adventurous and cosmopolitan, but you're also a little afraid.

HAPPENINGS Belting it out The Boom Boom Room gets jumpin' on Wednesday nights with "Dream Girls Revue." A10 ALSO: Laguna kids give some New Year's resolutions. A2 Catharine Cooper chases down the Muse. A5 Glori Fickling gets a taste of Pomodoro Cucina Italiano. A10 Poor Sherwood Kiraly had a cold -- it was bad. A11 James Pribram says goodbye to a friend and well-known Laguna musician. A12 CITYSCAPE Watchful eyes A Laguna civic group organizes to keep an eye on Laguna Canyon Creek.

Laguna Beach has been named one of the 20 best small towns in America, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The town landed on the list as No. 17. The magazine's website cited Laguna's impressive art scene, including the Sawdust Art Festival, the Laguna Playhouse and the annual Laguna Dance Festival, which is going on now. The blurb also mentions Laguna's beautiful coastlines, wildlife and the nature of Laguna Canyon. The No. 1 small town in the country is Great Barrington, Mass., according to the website.

Families sheltered in mobile homes on donated land in Laguna Canyon after the Bluebird Canyon landslide will be able to stay for another 18 months, but no longer rent-free — and no new renters will be allowed. The City Council voted for a compromise plan for the use of the mobile homes, an attempt to at least partially satisfy the property owner, the neighbors and the slide-displaced families. The families will get to continue to live in the mobile homes, which is what they wanted.

A moratorium on projects where artists live and work at the same site in Laguna Canyon could be lifted if the City Council gives final approval to a proposal by the Planning Commission. The council gave preliminary approval at the May 1 meeting to modifications to the existing ordinance and recommended incentives aimed at providing affordable space for artists to live and work in the M1A and M1B zones in Laguna Canyon, the city's only industrial zones. "This is a serious effort to keep emerging artists in Laguna Beach and to maintain and renew the synergy of the traditional art community," said Planning Commissioner Anne Johnson, who co-chaired the subcommittee with Commissioner Linda Dietrich.

Laguna Beach has been named one of the 20 best small towns in America, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The town landed on the list as No. 17. The magazine's website cited Laguna's impressive art scene, including the Sawdust Art Festival, the Laguna Playhouse and the annual Laguna Dance Festival, which is going on now. The blurb also mentions Laguna's beautiful coastlines, wildlife and the nature of Laguna Canyon. The No. 1 small town in the country is Great Barrington, Mass., according to the website.

The jury is still out on the impact of the state decision to dump certain criminals into the county's lap, according to Orange County Fifth District Supervisor Pat Bates. About 3,500 nominally nonviolent felons will be transferred to the county's jurisdiction, to be jailed or put on probation, Bates said in her State of the County report to Laguna Canyon Conservancy on Monday. The state presumably will compensate the county. "We are supposed to get $26,000, but we all know the state doesn't always come through with its promises," said Bates, who's now in her second and final term as a supervisor.

Vogue Salon offers makeovers to shelter residents The recently opened Laguna Beach Vogue Salon is partnering with the Friendship Shelter to host a Career Makeover Day on April 22. Salon owner Antonietta Bianchini said she loves the salon's location in the HIP District, and she wants to get involved with community efforts, according to a news release. The salon will start with career day makeovers for Friendship Shelter residents. "I want to offer the residents of the shelter the opportunity to look their best so they will have the best chances of finding a job and getting their lives on track," Bianchini said in a statement.

Laguna Canyon Road was reopened Wednesday morning after a car crash caused its closure Tuesday night. The road was closed in both directions from 9 p.m. Tuesday to about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday after a van struck a pole on the side of the road and knocked it over. The driver, Sloane Violet Friedmann, 18, was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, Lt. Jason Kravetz said in a statement. The damaged pole belonged to Verizon, and crews arrived at 2:30 a.m. to repair it. They requested that both lanes remain closed during the repairs since the pole was unstable and it connected lines that crossed the road, Kravetz said.

Three cars were involved in a collision on Laguna Canyon Road near Laguna Coast Wilderness Park on Thursday morning, according to Sgt. Louise Callus Traffic is expected to be delayed for about 30 minutes. There are no major injuries, just complaints of some pain from passengers involved, Callus said. --Staff reports

It's been nearly a year since the vibrant Laguna College of Art & Design mural along Laguna Canyon Road was painted gray by the building's tenant. Since then, LCAD mural instructor Mia Tavanotti has been hard at work, brainstorming and creating the Power of Words Project , which allowed residents to vote on a word that would inspire a new mural. On Saturday, Tavanotti stood alongside students, Mayor Jane Egly and State Sen. Curren Price (D-Los Angeles) during a ribbon-cutting ceremony that revealed the winning word: "wonder.

I don't know Peter Navarro, nor where he gets his information, but I have to strongly disagree with his negative assessment when describing "sad sack incumbents" in the paper, (Mailbag: "'Sad sack incumbents' in power," Dec. 16). As a Laguna Beach resident of close to 50 years, I have seen many City Council members come and go. However, in recent years I have not been very involved with our local politics. Therefore, on a relatively bipartisan basis, in the last two to three years I have personally had the privilege to observe both Jane Egly and Verna Rollinger as they continue to be the only two council members who attend our monthly council-created Complete Streets Task Force meetings.

If you thought 2011 was an interesting year in Laguna Beach, wait until you see what's coming. Here are the hot predictions for next year's news. Out: Fireworks In: Fireworks smackdown Faced with continuing funding problems over fireworks, the city of Laguna Beach will simply annex Emerald Bay using eminent domain and steal its fireworks show. Out: Art Walk In: Wine tastings while standing near art In 2012, Laguna Beach galleries will finally admit that during Art Walk, the better the wine, the better the party.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the greenest city of all? This question will be answered by the Orange County Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council at a reception Jan. 26 in Newport Beach. Ten cities were nominated for the honor — and Laguna Beach wasn't one of them. This has rankled some local environmental activists and public officials, who wonder how cities such as Anaheim or Huntington Beach made the top 10 list and Laguna did not. Several other cities that abut Laguna are in the running, including Aliso Viejo, Newport Beach and Dana Point.