By Sam Digiovanna, Special to the Independent If there are reports of wildland fires: Listen to local radio or TV stations for updated emergency information. Follow instructions of local officials regarding the safest escape route. (It may be different than you expect; wildland fires can change direction and speed up suddenly.) If you have one, [...]
Former professional surfer and groundbreaking beachwear designer Michael Elliot Tomson was arrested for suspicion of felony drug charges after causing a two-car traffic collision in Laguna Beach on Monday, April 29, police said. A 65-year-old woman suffered injuries as a result of the 9:17 a.m. rear-end collision, which led to the temporary closure of Glenneyre [...]
Merchants, shoppers, property owners and residents interested in the regulatory blueprint of Laguna’s downtown might do well to attend special Planning Commission workshops welcoming public ideas. The workshops aim to look at specific topics affecting the downtown from a “philosophical point of view” before making policy decisions, said Commission chairman Norm Grossman. What emerges will [...]
As Laguna Beach moves forward on initiatives to ease congestion, increase mobility, and aesthetically enhance its downtown, the City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to investigate retaining an urban planning expert to provide an overarching analysis of the city’s various concurrent projects to ensure they mesh. Separately, they also unanimously approved the hire of Irvine’s RBF [...]
After what seems like thousands of requests in seemingly as many years, the boarded-up and abandoned house at the south end of 1000 Steps Beach in south Laguna is officially heading south. On Monday, workers were preparing the concrete structure, which once bore a “Chateau Relaxo” sign, for demolition with bulldozers and dump trucks readying [...]
Residents craving a Brooklyn-style pizza will soon be able to save their airplane miles and instead head over to Dom DeMarco’s Pizzeria and Bar, which plans a casual and affordable family-style restaurant on Ocean Avenue. First, though, the owners intend to restore the 68-year-old building to its Spanish Colonial Revival design. Laguna Beach’s City Council [...]
Maggie Carter’s boss was “in the oil business.” He relentlessly harassed her, a situation she could not tolerate for long. Perhaps it was her own naiveté as a 20-year-old, or her own sense of self-worth. But she did what was unheard of in 1972 and reported him to his superiors. For her courage, Carter, now [...]
By Justin Swanson | LB Indy “Orange has its Circle, San Juan its Mission, and for Laguna, it’s this tower,” says local historian Andy Alison, who helped renovate Laguna Beach’s iconic landmark tower beginning in 1997. That project fortified the structural integrity of the tower, wreaked by El Niño flooding. Today, though, the town’s [...]
Mission Hospital will seek permission of state Public Health Department regulators to allow admitted patients to recover in under-used private rooms of the intensive care unit in the Laguna Beach campus. City officials who last week learned of the initiative initially feared that hospital administrators intended to close the unit altogether, which would also trigger [...]
Two men who are reputed members of a notorious South Los Angeles street gang were arrested for suspicion of armed robbery in the pistol-whipping last October of occupants of a Laguna Beach home, Laguna Beach police announced Tuesday. Tyrone Lamont Beasley, 21, was arrested at a South Los Angeles home, while Jyvontaye Demetric Harris, 20, [...]
By Rita Robinson | LB Indy To exacerbate the deluge of emaciated sea lion pups at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, adult sea lion females with chronic and often-fatal domoic acid poisoning are also being rescued along the local coastline. Last week, 21 starving young sea lions were shuttled by emergency animal services to [...]
The death of a 51-year-old diver, who was unresponsive when pulled from the ocean at a popular dive spot in Laguna Beach, remains under investigation, according to the county coroner. An autopsy was performed on the body of Mark Gibbs, of Tustin, but no ruling was made on the cause of death pending the outcome [...]
Laguna Beach resident and tireless philanthropist Jean Raun received more than the usual cards from well-wishers for her 90th birthday. The town she’s made home for half her life issued a proclamation honoring her 90th birthday for the years of dedicated service. “It is my privilege to honor you this evening,” said council member [...]
Mission Hospital made an informal inquiry of state Health Department regulators about seeking permission to change the sort of patients that could make use of its underused 10-bed intensive care unit at the Laguna Beach campus, officials confirmed on Friday. City officials who learned of the initiative initially feared that hospital administrators intended to close [...]
A sea change is reshaping downtown’s Ocean Avenue as business owners tied by common threads redefine their neighborhood. Four years after Peter Blake Gallery staked a claim to a spot on a street losing its vibrancy, Carl Smith, owner of CES Contemporary, also relocated his gallery there. The two gallerists who envisioned cohesiveness among fellow [...]
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 [...]
