Resort

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.

The Laguna Beach Planning Commission has tacked another year onto the temporary parking permit for Montage Resort & Spa employees. Employees park across Coast Highway from the resort, using the old Unocal property, which the resort owns, and the adjacent strip, which it rents, hoping to buy it if the owners ever agree to sell. The commission voted 3-1 for the extension to Feb. 1, 2007. Commissioner Robert Zur Schiede was absent. Resort owners had requested a two-year extension.

The Laguna Chapter of the National Charity League honored 22 women who have served a total of 6,165 hours to local philanthropies. Those recognized at the Dec. 21 ball included Laguna Beach residents Sonia Badheka, Ashleigh Barker, Lindsay Butterwick, Breyon Lauher, Jessica Levin, Ashley Maddocks, Martina Speare and Blair Urban. ... The Montage Resort and Spa has named Christopher Coon as its wine director. He will oversee the wine program for the resort's three restaurants and will take charge of the selection, purchasing and storage of wines for the entire resort.

Montage Resort & Spa has enough parking for its employees and its guests, according to a traffic study conducted this summer. The City Council will review on Tuesday the study that was required as a condition of approval in 2005 for the resort-owned parking lot at 30782 Coast Highway. "This should be the end of it," Community Development Department Director John Montgomery said. "The Planning Commission recommended approval of the report that the resort has adequate parking for employees and guests and is using it."

Two Orange County resorts -- Montage Laguna Beach and The Resort at Pelican Hill -- earned new 2013 five-star ratings from the Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, Forbes announced Tuesday. In making the Forbes five-star list, Pelican Hill's hotel and Montage joined one other Orange County property, the St. Regis Monarch Beach.  The Resort at Pelican Hill, which opened in 2008, became the first and only in Newport Beach to garner the rating.  Both hotels have won top honors from various trade organizations, such as AAA's Five Diamond Award.

Barbara Diamond Montage Resort management has 60 days to resolve its overflow-parking problem, preferably in its own backyard. The City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to accept the decisions and recommendations, with one major exception, made by the Planning Commission on Nov. 12 after reviewing the second of two traffic and parking studies. A third parking study, requested by the commission, is scheduled for February. Councilman Wayne Baglin, who appealed the commission's determinations, withdrew his appeal and voted with the rest of the council, but admonished resort operators that off-site parking is not acceptable.

Joan Corman has won the Create Your Own Disaster competition sponsored by the Laguna Beach Library. She had submitted a pastel and soot abstract painting, "Flaming Embers -- Laguna Beach Firestorm of 1994." The library invited artists to create a rendition of a natural disaster through dioramas, posters, sculptures or paintings. The submitted work was judged at the Laguna Beach Library on Feb. 17, in conjunction with a book signing event by Bryn Barnard, an alumnus of Laguna Beach High School.

Barbara Diamond Despite the objections of Montage Resort & Spa neighbors and an irate councilwoman, the City Council voted 3-2 after nearly two hours of testimony to lift a two-year time limit on a conditional use permit granted Feb. 1 for the resort's employee off-site parking. "I am mad," said Councilwoman Jane Egly, whose motion, seconded by Councilwoman Toni Iseman, to remove the item from the agenda was voted down. "This is a second bite of the apple."

AAA Division-leading Sportsworld shook off any lingering effects from spring break to notch a resounding, 15-1 victory over Diamond Resort in Laguna Beach Little League action Wednesday at Riddle Field. Sportsworld starter Blake Pivaroff continued to amaze by throwing a perfect three innings, striking out eight of the nine batters he faced. Sportsworld's offense got rolling thanks to a Pivaroff double, and solid singles by Christian Holm and Dillon Gaboury. The knockout blow for Sportsworld came in the bottom of the second inning when Wyatt Shipp hit a two-out grand slam over the center-field fence.

-- Barbara Diamond Once upon a time there was a little princess. Her name was Joan. Princess Joan's father died when she was two, but she still had her mother, Athalie, and her grandfather, the powerful King James II of Irvine. Joan lived with her mother in the adjoining kingdoms of Los Angeles and Pasadena. But among her favorite childhood memories are the visits with James II. She rode with the cowboys who herded the king's cattle. She watched his crops grow -- he liked to call himself a farmer.