View preservation and public safety received top billing at Laguna Beach’s City Council, which heard testimony Tuesday on progress by a committee drafting a new view ordinance and from staff investigating the addition of video surveillance cameras downtown and at the city’s exit points. Larry Nokes, chair of the view equity committee established in January, [...]
He came up to the podium looking like a stylized beach version of the Great Gatsby. Top-siders without socks, dark blue trouser shorts patterned with red embossed anchors, a starchy-new cream-colored sport coat with a blue- and white-checked pocket scarf, a white dress shirt with dark blue tie and stylish, neatly parted black hair. A [...]
Few surprises surfaced in the public workshop held Tuesday as Laguna Beach’s city staff presented a proposed two-year budget, outlining estimated expenditures of $68.5 million for the coming fiscal year and of $67.6 million for the following year. City Council members largely endorsed staff recommendations for use of a $1.1 million windfall in the general [...]
By Tad Heitmann, Special to the Independent Laguna Beach High School’s Park Avenue Players have forged their own intense interpretation of Arthur Miller’s classic American cautionary tale, “The Crucible,” which opens a seven-performance run on Friday, May 24, at 7:30 p.m. Featuring an entirely original prologue depicting the forbidden events that unleash the subsequent hysteria, [...]
Baseball (26-3) Laguna’s storied 75th season ended in the heat at La Sierra High School as the Breakers struggled early against the Eagles (18-10) on Tuesday, May 21, when temperatures reached the 80s. Grant Wilhelm (3-3) started for Laguna and faced only five batters without an out. Wilhelm had recently had a strong outing against [...]
By Robin Pierson, Special to the Independent Calm in demeanor, clear in vision and strong in her devotion to children’s education, Peggie Thomas acts with a quiet efficiency that the limelight often misses. But not this year. Thanks to an overwhelming number of votes, the Laguna Beach Woman’s Club named this unsung heroine Woman of [...]
Five hours after police released the identity of a suspect in a sexual assault in April, the 26-year-old man turned himself in to the Laguna Beach Police Department. Earlier in the week, police obtained a warrant for the arrest of Babak Azadgilani, also known as “Bobby”, of Laguna Niguel, but he had evaded custody at [...]
Richie Nunis delivered a one-out bases loaded single deep into right-center field to lift Laguna to a 5-4 victory over Victor Valley (14-17) as Laguna defeated the Jackrabbits for the second consecutive season in CIF play on Saturday, May 18. Last year Laguna won in the bottom of the seventh on a walk, but 2013 [...]
By Justin Swanson | LB Indy Laguna resident Holly Morrell was going under the knife again, the sixth procedure in nearly a decade. A defibrillator planted in her chest required repair. Two wires, or “leads,” were fractured, meant to connect to veins near her heart that monitor rhythm and correct dangerous flutters. Another lead was [...]
Two musicians of divergent piety are ready for their final judgment. St. Peter peruses his roster and says to the first, “Here my friend is your harp; welcome to heaven.” Collaring the other player he changes his tone. “I’ve been watching you. Here’s your accordion; welcome to hell.” Old as it is, the joke still [...]
Photos by Mary Hurlbut Sampling a Hospitality Night Tradition Go into the kitchen and see a behind the scenes video of tamale making sold on Hospitality Night in the Presbyterian Church. Here
In 1938 the Nazis annexed Austria and its Jewish population found itself in immediate peril. While countless Austrian Jews joined the 6 million murdered between 1939 and 1945, Lisa Jura, an aspiring concert pianist of 14, survived the Holocaust. Though the invasion dashed her ambition to perform at the storied Vienna Musikverein concert hall, [...]
By Peter A. Bowler Allan Schoenherr, author of “A Natural History of California”, has done it again! In an elegant, magnificently illustrated treatment of Orange County open spaces, Schoenherr has brought forward basic ecological principles, applied them to local communities and habitats, and produced a superb guide to the “natural history of open spaces of [...]
Musician Adds DJ to His Resume Local musician Jason Feddy began a day job this week, taking on the five-hour, midday time slot of Laguna Beach’s FM station, KX 93.5. Feddy, a local singer-songwriter known for his regular gigs around town and his “Shakespeare in the Park” project, earlier held down one of the station’s [...]
View preservation and public safety received top billing at Laguna Beach’s City Council, which heard testimony Tuesday on progress by a committee drafting a new view ordinance and from staff investigating the addition of video surveillance cameras downtown and at the city’s exit points. Larry Nokes, chair of the view equity committee established in January, [...]
He came up to the podium looking like a stylized beach version of the Great Gatsby. Top-siders without socks, dark blue trouser shorts patterned with red embossed anchors, a starchy-new cream-colored sport coat with a blue- and white-checked pocket scarf, a white dress shirt with dark blue tie and stylish, neatly parted black hair. A [...]
Few surprises surfaced in the public workshop held Tuesday as Laguna Beach’s city staff presented a proposed two-year budget, outlining estimated expenditures of $68.5 million for the coming fiscal year and of $67.6 million for the following year. City Council members largely endorsed staff recommendations for use of a $1.1 million windfall in the general [...]
By Mia Davidson and Jan Sattler Laguna Beach supports a large number of resident bird species and one of the more distinctive species sighted is the Brandt’s cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus). Found only in North America, Brandt’s cormorants are marine birds that are mostly permanent residents of the Pacific coast and congregate in colonies on [...]
By Mark D. Crantz Laguna Beach. Another perfect day in Paradise, but oh no, there’s CO2. For those readers not familiar with these elements in the periodic table, I want to know where you were instead of chemistry class in high school. Be careful with your answer because there’s no statute of limitation on [...]
Editor, I’ll believe the city wants to do the right thing on protecting our views when they bury our power poles first. What ever happened to the idea that trees are also beautiful? Jon Chance, Laguna Beach
Jackson McKay Pries is the winner of the DAR American history scholarship for Laguna Beach High School. The organization also honored a score of other students at an awards program at Laguna Presbyterian Church last week. Counselors and teachers selected Jackson for the award because of his passion for American history as well as his [...]
Middle School’s Café to Open May 30 Thurston Middle School’s Wave Rider Café is scheduled to open Thursday, May 30, allowing parents and students to purchase a sample lunch while they are visiting campus during the annual open house. The café is intended to offer students nutritious, healthy grab-and-go lunches without a long wait. “A [...]
Eighty-five students in Laguna College of Art + Design’s class of 2013 participated in this week’s commencement ceremony. This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Mitch Rosenberg, a human resources expert. President Jonathan Burke congratulated students on their achievement, which he described as demanding rigor, perseverance and creative vision. “I had the privilege of watching the [...]
Some of the principals involved in the 1990 negotiations to save Laguna Canyon will recount their efforts during the next Laguna Beach Historical Society program, Tuesday, May 28, at the Laguna Beach City Hall Council Chambers from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The public is invited and there is no charge. The panel will include [...]
Sarah Mahoney is determined to walk again and the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach wants to help her. Last May, Mahoney, an “A” student at Saddleback College, who can play at least four different musical instruments, was accepted to UC Berkeley as a music major. But muscle weakness that she initially attributed to a cold [...]
Club Leader Nominated for Women in Business Award Ellie Tipton Ortiz, current president of Laguna Beach’s Woman’s Club and a member of Soroptimist International locally, earned nomination by the Orange County Business Journal for its annual women in business award. Ortiz is an experienced divorce mediator whose company, Laguna Beach Legal Document Service, specializes in [...]
Devoted readers share a bit of themselves and their journeys even as they tote along a token from home. Thanks to readers for opening a window into their lives. To those setting out on new forays, the Indy continues to welcome more images from your adventures at lbindy.com. Antarctica: Laguna Beach residents Jim Kisel [...]
Immersed in Nature’s Rain-Dance Symphony Cloudy mists settled heavily into the dark folds of the verdant blanket wrapping around the canyons and hills. Like a Japanese woodblock print, it felt solid yet ethereal. The valley below was dancing in the flashing rays of sunlight cutting through the Pacific mist, like so many filigree-winged fairies. [...]
Laguna Beach High’s Eric Hulst Track and Geyer Field came alive last Saturday, as thousands of spectators, coaches and athletes ushered in a new era in the storied history of the Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational track and field meet. “We’re going to continue to build a quality meet and try to make it better every [...]
Art Sleuth Retraces Payne’s Steps Laguna Art Museum will host “Art Sleuthing Edgar Payne’s Paintings,” a free talk with art consultant and Laguna Beach resident Eric Jessen in Thursday, May 30, at 7 p.m. Jessen, a consultant on the Payne exhibition to the Pasadena Museum of California Art, will share the detective work that went into solving [...]
Laguna Art Museum’s 2013 Palette to Palate fundraiser, which took place at the museum earlier this month, raised $190,000, 25 percent more than a year ago. The museum expects to net $125,000 for its education and exhibition programs. Now in its eighth year, Palette to Palate saw the museum transformed by the culinary talents of [...]
Pacific Symphony Music Director Carl St. Clair, left, with his wife Susan, attended the symphony’s annual gala with supporters Joyce and Ron Hanson, among 325 guests. More than $1.34 million for the symphony’s artistic and education programs was raised at party led by Hope Miller, Pat Podlich and Patricia Steinmann, who transformed the St. Regis [...]
Police Use Taser to Subdue Assault Suspect
An assault involving three men escalated into a struggle with Laguna Beach police, who ultimately deployed a taser twice to subdue the younger combative suspect in the 300 block of Cozumel around 1:15 a.m. Friday, May 10, police said. Police ultimately arrested Laguna Beach resident Sergio Gabriel Borgognone, 51, for allegedly resisting arrest and his [...]
