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....

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.

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.

Send DATEBOOK items to the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA 92652; fax to 494-8979; call 494-4321 or e-mail coastlinepilotlatimes.como7. f7Submissions must be received two weeks before publication. TODAY SKIMBOARD AUCTION Sawdust Art Festival holds its Project Skimboard auction event, 7 p.m., with live music by The Eliminators. Laguna Beach residents admitted free. Main stage, 935 Laguna Canyon Rd. Information, (949)

The Laguna Canyon Conservancy honored Jim Dilley on Monday at Tivoli Terrace. Recognized as the "Father of the Greenbelt, Dilley would have been 100 years old this year. Scott Ferguson donned a bushy mustache to take on the persona of Dilley and recount some of the stories that have become legend in Laguna. Ferguson, as Dilley, said it was great to be there, and not just because the monthly dinner only costs $10, but because of all that has transpired in the greenbelt since a company called Great Lakes Carbon decided to buy up land on the corner of Laguna Canyon and El Toro roads in the early 1970s and develop it. "This was a test of how much a community could limit development," Ferguson said.

I know my story is not unique, but that is all the more reason to tell it. I grew up in the Boy Scouts of America and from the time I was a small child my mother was the Den Leader of our Cub Scout troop until I went off to college, and I was proud to have earned my Eagle Scout badge. Between the weekly meetings, monthly campouts, annual summer camps, ski trips and canoe trips, the time and energy that I dedicated to the organization is astounding. That dedication is matched only by the leadership experience, confidence and character that I gained through my relationship with scouting.

The city will pay a consulting firm to complete an analysis of Laguna Canyon Road and propose options for its improvement. The City Council voted Tuesday to retain RBF Consulting to analyze the road from Forest Avenue to El Toro Road, taking into consideration other projects under consideration or underway, and come up suggestions for a comprehensive plan for the entire stretch, as proposed by Councilman Robert Whalen. The $45,000 fee for the consultant will come from savings on the Downtown Specific Plan project.

How many years does it take for a world renowned artist colony to build a Village Entrance? You know, that inviting reminder to tourists who support the very existence of its attraction and the revenue brought in to our town. Neighboring communities such as Dana Point built a bridge that goes from an empty lot to a Denny's. Now Newport has one of those bridges that takes one no where also. Not to mention the millions of dollars Santa Ana invested in its art projects over the past five years.

The final portion of grant money generated from a proposition passed in 2000 will be going to protect a 56-acre swath of Rim Rock Canyon. The Laguna Canyon Foundation spearheaded the acquisition of the land previously owned by the McGehee family. The $1.5 million-purchase is a partnership with the city of Laguna Beach, the county of Orange, and California Coastal Conservancy. The city owns the land that extends from Temple Hills Drive to Old Top of the World Road and west to Morningside Drive in Rim Rock Canyon, according to a foundation release.

Two cars were hit by downed power lines on Laguna Canyon Road on Jan. 20, according to the Laguna Beach Police Department. At 10:01 a.m., dispatch received a call of low or downed wires in the outbound lanes of Big Bend, 2995 Laguna Canyon Road, Sgt. Louise Callus said in an email. Several large Verizon wires came down when a bracket on the pole failed, she said. Of the two cars hit, one received minor damage and the other moderate damage. A bicyclist was reportedly hit as well, but left the area without contacting officers, Callus said.

The Laguna Canyon Conservancy honored Jim Dilley on Monday at Tivoli Terrace. Recognized as the "Father of the Greenbelt, Dilley would have been 100 years old this year. Scott Ferguson donned a bushy mustache to take on the persona of Dilley and recount some of the stories that have become legend in Laguna. Ferguson, as Dilley, said it was great to be there, and not just because the monthly dinner only costs $10, but because of all that has transpired in the greenbelt since a company called Great Lakes Carbon decided to buy up land on the corner of Laguna Canyon and El Toro roads in the early 1970s and develop it. "This was a test of how much a community could limit development," Ferguson said.

Converting a couple of undevelopable city-owned lots to mini parks was Ken Franks' brainchild, but Laguna Beach landscape architect Bob Borthwick made it a reality. Mayor Jane Egly and Mayor Pro Tem Verna Rollinger cut the ribbon Aug. 16 for the Park Avenue View Park, the second one designed by Borthwick on a less than lavish budget. It is different by design from the first park located off of Laguna Canyon Road. "Ken came up with the idea for the parks about three years ago," Borthwick said.

If you think traffic is bad now — just wait. The city of Irvine is in the process of approving more than 10,000 residential units, all within 10 miles of downtown Laguna. In an effort to raise additional funds for the construction of the Great Park (after wasting uncounted millions of dollars), Irvine is on track to approve 5,000-plus new units by converting mixed-use commercial zones to residential zones. This is in addition to the 5,000-plus units already approved for the Great Park, and an additional 1,200 units approved in the Irvine Spectrum Center.

A Laguna Beach woman died after the vehicle she was traveling in overturned near the Laguna (133) Freeway, according to the Orange County Coroner. Sann King, 58, was traveling southbound on Laguna Canyon Road, just north of Route 73 when a vehicle she was in careened off the road and flipped about 3:52 p.m. Friday, according to the coroner. She died at the scene, according to the coroner. The cause of the vehicle leaving the road was unclear. — Lauren Williams Twitter: @lawilliams30

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.