Village Matters

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By Ann Christoph
By Ann Christoph

Sunday’s very last performance of the Laguna Beach High School’s musical “Bye Bye Birdie” was also the rendition of the last musical production by teacher and director Mark Dressler. He’s retiring after 25 years of building the school’s drama program into an award-winning cooperative adventure. He’s created enthusiasm in students, their families and drama devotees, producing events that community members look forward to seeing—even those without children in the schools.

He’s leaving a legacy, developed a tradition, that will carry on with the next generation of teachers, parents and students.

More and more often I phone a colleague and I’m told they’re retired. How can they do that to me! To no longer perform their expected role! They tell me they’re doing “other things.” What could be so important that they’re not available to do what I need?

One of the ghosts from Laguna’s past.
One of the ghosts from Laguna’s past. Photo by Doug Miller

But then the message sinks in. Our time here has a limit. There’s only so much time we have, and it’s running out. Life becomes not so much building up more and more things that we can say are ours, but rather striving to create value that we can leave as evidence of a life well spent. Are these the “other things”?

Even though we spend a lifetime denying the shortness of our lifespan and our insignificance in the overall scheme of the eons, ultimately we realize that the things we have, these subservient items that we can shape and collect, will survive us.

That is, if we take care of them now, and provide for their future. That is what Laguna Beach’s historic preservation program is trying to do. Just as we want to protect views, the greenbelt open space, the marine life and waters, we strive to protect our neighborhoods, their scale, charm and the sense of times gone by that historic buildings tell by just being there.

Do we really want to “opt out” of historic preservation? Allowing our generation to destroy buildings that have survived all this time to disappear forever? Depriving subsequent generations from experiencing them in real life, as owners, neighbors or visitors?

Photos and plaques are nice but don’t approach the tangible impact of the real thing.

Doug Miller has been posting his collection of 1970s and onward photographs on Facebook. There I saw a building that had to be of Laguna Beach, must have been Coast Highway, hillsides in the background–a turreted stucco fairytale-looking building. But where was it, or where is it now?

It was on Coast Highway, between Calliope and Bluebird. It was demolished by Mark Gumbiner in the early 1970s and has been replaced by newer buildings. Take a look next time you drive by and see if you can imagine the ghost of that earlier charmer.

There are more ghosts all over town, places that are only memories or examples in a book. There are other beautiful buildings that have been cared for, restored, and that continue to make us feel at home and part of Laguna’s long tradition.

Enthusiastic support of historic preservation will mean that we build appreciation for the buildings that are the manifestation of our heritage. We can build incentives to help owners keep their buildings well-loved, and make our preservation program easy to use and understand.

Opt in—for both our personal and Laguna Beach legacy.

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