Headlines

  • Pursuit Ends with Arrest of Suspected Racist Gang Member

    Pursuit Ends with Arrest of Suspected Racist Gang Member

    A suspected member of a racist gang was arrested in Anaheim after a pursuit by law enforcement authorities Tuesday, Feb. 21, that began in Laguna Beach. Darryl James Mason, 42, of Huntington Beach, was taken into custody by the California Highway Patrol, according to Laguna Beach police Lt. Jason Kravetz. He was arrested for two [...]

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    | February 22, 2012 | 0 Comments
  • Unexpected Windfall to Lower Tax Bills

    Unexpected Windfall to Lower Tax Bills

    More than 720 Laguna Beach residents will see a decrease of $167 to $299 on ensuing annual property tax bills due to low interest rates on a newly issued city bond. In total, $877,000 will be saved as a result of refinancing bonds initially issued to pay for undergrounding utility lines and poles in seven [...]

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    | February 21, 2012 | 0 Comments
  • Girls Polo Beats Santa Barbara, Takes on Newport Next

    Girls Polo Beats Santa Barbara, Takes on Newport Next

    Laguna Beach High School’s girls water polo team used strong defense in the final minutes to hold off a surging Santa Barbara Don squad and pull out an 11-10 victory in the Division 1 CIF quarterfinal Saturday, Feb. 18.  Melena Masson was key to the effort at the local pool, frustrating the Don’s attack in [...]

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    | February 20, 2012 | 0 Comments
  • Plastic-Bag Ban Bad News for Pet Owners?

    Plastic-Bag Ban Bad News for Pet Owners?

    The city’s ban on the distribution of single-use plastic bags by retailers could pose a sticky situation for pet owners. Dog owners typically reuse plastic grocery bags to pick up their pets’ poop on walks along city streets. “I do know a lot of people use them for the purpose I think you’re asking me [...]

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    | February 20, 2012 | 0 Comments
  • Unmasking a Silent Killer

    Unmasking a Silent Killer

    Screenings save lives By Benjamin Bodart, Special to the Independent       Jennifer Gustafson will always remember June 1. A letter arrived that day saying that a recent medical tests her daughter Dillon had taken identified a potentially fatal heart defect. Moreover, the threat was considered so imminent, the letter warned, that Dillon should [...]

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    | February 19, 2012 | 0 Comments
  • Laying Claim to Budget-Conscious Appetites

    Laying Claim to Budget-Conscious Appetites

    Three restaurants scheduled to open in Laguna Beach this spring should elevate the casual dining options in town. Newcomers BurgerFi, Umami Burger and Carmelita’s, respectively touting healthy and sustainable burgers and franks, burgers with extra flavor, and fine Mexican food, all expect to woo hungry budget-conscious patrons. Each of the owners say Laguna’s unique sense [...]

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    | February 17, 2012 | 0 Comments
  • Collision Closes Canyon

    Collision Closes Canyon

    Laguna Canyon Road reopened for morning commuters Wednesday, Feb. 15, after a 10-hour overnight closure due to a downed utility line, knocked over by a collision involving a teen-age driver from Laguna Beach, police said. The 18-year-old behind the wheel was arrested for being under the influence of drugs, said Lt. Jason Kravetz. Neither she [...]

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    | February 15, 2012 | 0 Comments
  • Navigating Towards a Mariner’s Prize

    Navigating Towards a Mariner’s Prize

    By Benjamin Bodart, Special to the Independent  Laguna Beach’s Liz Fletcher, 17, will soon achieve the prestigious rank of quartermaster in the Mariners Sea Scouts program. The quartermaster rank is comparable to the Eagle Scout rank in Boy Scouts and requires a depth of knowledge about maritime activities as well as completion of a community [...]

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    | February 14, 2012 | 0 Comments

Featured Videos

Featured Videos
  • Author Sprints for Literacy
    Author Sprints for Literacy

    Laguna Beach resident Dennis Yang, who has written over 110 children stories under the pen name Papa Didos, finished a 3,281-mile cross-country journey last year where he gave away books to children along the way. He’s still on the road, this time making a local pit stop at the Laguna Beach Boys and Girls Club [...]

  • Amateur Video Hits Extra Points for Principal
    Amateur Video Hits Extra Points for Principal

    Buick devised the competition to show that NCAA athletes are about more than points and playoffs. Contestants were required to submit a mini-documentary, up to 60 seconds long, about a former NCAA athlete’s experience on or off the field that caused them to take action. In the film, Culverhouse describes a life-changing experience as an [...]

  • Chameleon Actor Inhabits a Holiday Classic
    Chameleon Actor Inhabits a Holiday Classic

    Popular wisdom holds that one can’t be everything to everyone. Don’t tell that to actor James Leaming, who embodies George Bailey, the main character, and everyone else in the Laguna Playhouse production of “This Wonderful Life.” The one-man Steve Murray stage play is based on the iconic holiday film, Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.” [...]

Arts

Indy on Arts Feb. 24-March 1, 2012

Indy on Arts Feb. 24-March 1, 2012

Friday, Feb. 24   Sawdust Art Festival art classes: 10 a.m., chain making with Annette Doreng-Stearns; 2 p.m., print making with Hedy Buzan. www.sawdustartfestival.org/studioartclasses  949-494-3030. Also Saturday.   Hansel & Gretel; Cinderella, Youth Theatre production, 7 p.m. Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Rd. 949-497-2787 www.lagunaplayhouse.com  Through March 4.   Jazz with pianist Giovanni Miradi at [...]

Artists of Disparate Mediums Find Common Ground

Artists of Disparate Mediums Find Common Ground

The show “So Close/So Far” features two Laguna Beach artists whose mediums and aesthetics could not be farther apart. Or so one might think. But glass artist Sian Poeschl and photographer Suzi Chauvel reveal much in common when it comes to creative inspiration. In this show, the artists’ shared the same frame of reference in [...]

Getting Out

Getting Out

Bossa Zuzu Reinterprets Brazilian Music The hot sounds of Brazil are coming on Wednesday, Feb.  29 to the Laguna Beach Live! Jazz Wednesdays Winter Series. Bossa Zuzu, featuring Dan Reckard on saxophone, guitarist-vocalist Capital, and percussionist Jose Gurria, plays recent popular Brazilian music and original compositions to reinterpretations of classic bossa nova songs. The two-set [...]

News

Indy Globetrotters

Indy Globetrotters

Send readers a postcard with a highlight from your travels. Pack an Indy and send a hi resolution image to www.lbindy.com. We’ll do our best to get them in print. Happy travels.     Bora Bora   Arab        Colorado     New York       Continental Divide       San [...]

Save a Life with a Q-tip

Save a Life with a Q-tip

Long-time Laguna Beach resident, Lesley Domiano has been battling Myelodysplastic Syndrome for four years and now needs a bone marrow transplant to live. To help her find a compatible match, Mozambique is hosting an event on March 7 from 5 to 9 p.m. where the public is encouraged to help save a life simply by [...]

Street Beat

Street Beat

Monday, Feb. 13   Suspicious. 6:52 a.m. 500 block Cliff Dr. A resident who asked a man to leave refused and began masturbating in view of a window.   Fraud. 10:16 a.m. 31300 block of Brooks St. A man who purchased a Maserati put his roommate’s name on the title.   Grand theft. 1200 block [...]

Opinion

Village Matters

Village Matters

Much hinges on Stonehenge   The historic “Stonehenge” house, marked by the octagonal cupola and sunroom just north of Laguna Royale, was stripped of its interior without permits in June of 2009.  Then in 2010, demolition resumed, also without permits, removing the exterior surfaces too. The city issued stop work orders both times.   Now [...]

Police Tactics Unfairly Pressure Homeless

Police Tactics Unfairly Pressure Homeless

Editor, The homeless population did not change appreciably while citations tripled (“Homeless Citations Triple,” Feb. 2 edition.) The shelter capacity dropped from 60 persons to 45 persons during this time, forcing more homeless into the surrounding area. The majority of citations are to people sleeping immediately adjacent to the shelter. Forcing people to go to the [...]

Two Cheers for Hedden

Two Cheers for Hedden

Editor, We have lived in Laguna Beach for many years and particularly love reading the Indy History Pages. Andy Hedden’s article in last week’s issue, “A Little off the Top,” (Limelight, Feb. 17) was fun and infromative.   Rudy Campos and the other barbers and barbershops may have moved around, but the memories remain. Andy’s [...]

Sports & Schools

Winter Sports Update

Winter Sports Update

Boys Basketball Basketball concluded their season with a 48-33 loss to the county’s sixth ranked J Serra in a Southern Section, Division 4 AA CIF contest last Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Dugger Gym.   Breakers seemed a little tentative in their shots early on against the taller Lions (17-11) and could never really sustain a [...]

Spring Teams Dig in to Rebuild

Spring Teams Dig in to Rebuild

Most of Laguna Beach High’s nine spring sports programs have tough acts to follow after last year’s incredible run of success. Six of those nine won league titles. One made it to CIF quarterfinals. Two were CIF runners up. And one took home a regional state championship.   Boys Volleyball As a former college player [...]

Sign-up for Girls Basketball

Sign-up for Girls Basketball

Registration for girls basketball for grades K – 9th has begun at the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach. Player evaluations are mandatory and will be held the week of March 5-9 by coach Hans Laroche.   Weekly one-hour practices start on April 2. Volunteer opportunities are also available for parents interested in coaching. [...]

Town Crier

Save a Life with a Q-tip

Save a Life with a Q-tip

Long-time Laguna Beach resident, Lesley Domiano has been battling Myelodysplastic Syndrome for four years and now needs a bone marrow transplant to live. To help her find a compatible match, Mozambique is hosting an event on March 7 from 5 to 9 p.m. where the public is encouraged to help save a life simply by [...]

Going the Distance for Art

Going the Distance for Art

By Anne Salafia, Special to the Independent   When former Laguna Beach resident Helen Keeley received an invitation to attend an art opening this month in the Caribbean, she reluctantly declined, saying in a note to the artist “…I know your show will bring you fame and fortune. Wish I could be there. I’ll soon [...]

Business Moves

Business Moves

Top Ranking for Covington Shauna Covington was named 2011’s leading agent for her sales production by  Prudential California Realty’s Laguna Beach office, manager Jim Vermilya announced.   Covington also earned the Chairman’s Circle Diamond award, a feat that ranks her in the top ½ of 1 percent of the company’s 60,000 agents nationwide.   “Shauna’s [...]

Limelight

Indy Globetrotters

Indy Globetrotters

Send readers a postcard with a highlight from your travels. Pack an Indy and send a hi resolution image to www.lbindy.com. We’ll do our best to get them in print. Happy travels.     Bora Bora   Arab        Colorado     New York       Continental Divide       San [...]

A Little Off the Top

A Little Off the Top

By Andy Hedden, Special to the Independent   Just ask Sampson. Getting a bad hair cut can have devastating results.  Any man worth his salt knows that his hair as much as his clothes make him. I have had good luck and bad when it comes to this. Fortunately for the citizens of Laguna, a [...]

Dropping in On a Homegrown Sport

Dropping in On a Homegrown Sport

Words and Images by Mitch Ridder   Skimboarding originated in the late 1920′s when Laguna Beach lifeguards used flat sheets of wood to skim across the wet sand. In the ‘60s as the surfing craze took off, skimboarding’s popularity grew and began evolving toward its current form that involves skimming the sand into the water, [...]

Other Recent Posts

Answer to Missing ID

Answer to Missing ID

| February 22, 2012 | 0 Comments

Editor,   In the Feb. 17, paper, the unidentified patron (in the Limelight story “A Little Off the Top”) is our son Jesse Bartels in the photo on page 8 getting his hair cut by Rudy Campos.   It was either 1988 or 1989 when he was in high school.  Great to see!   Marlo [...]

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Questionable Spending

Questionable Spending

| February 22, 2012 | 0 Comments

Editor, I am glad the Independent reported on the city council decision to reimburse council members the cost of attending certain social events (“City Picks Up the Tab for Events,” Feb. 17 edition). It would have been easy to say “yes, but it’s only $450″ and let the principle of the matter slide. (So much [...]

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Plastic bags aren’t meant for poop

Plastic bags aren’t meant for poop

| February 22, 2012 | 0 Comments

Editor, I’d say that justifying the use and promotion of plastic bags for the picking up of dog poop is quite far-fetched in the article, “Plastic Bag-Ban Bad News for Pet Owners?” There are numerous alternatives.   As stated, biodegradable bags are such a better alternative: healthier for the environment, sturdier, and the right size. [...]

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