Nearly 400 guests attended and raised close to $250,000 at the 12th annual Laguna Beach Taste of the Nation event, hosted by Montage Laguna Beach on May 5. Funds raised will be allocated to Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry incentive, which was established to end childhood...

Meet Mike Senna, skilled prop builder, hobbyist, computer programmer and maker of an exact working replica of R2-D2, at the Laguna Beach Library from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 18. Senna’s R2-D2 robot was used for charity events and has brought joy to children since its...

Two hundred residents made the trek to the “Summit to Protect Laguna.” When they arrived, there was nowhere to park their yaks. Everyone got a good yak out of it, because parking is one of many reasons that brought everyone there in the first place. Only the yaks weren’t laughing...

The 44th annual Laguna Open women’s beach volleyball tournament took place at Main Beach on Saturday, May 11. (L-R): Hitting is Tessa VanWinkle, blocking is Kim Dicello, while Katie Spieler (second Laguna Open win in the last three years),...

Steps Against Melanoma 5K Set for Sunday in Laguna Niguel By Amy Orr | LB Indy Stephanie Bowen grew up loving Laguna’s sunshine. “The beaches of St. Ann’s, Thalia, and Brooks Street are embedded in my memory,” Bowen said. “I spent years in the...

By Daniel Langhorne, Special to the Independent Laguna Beach started installing sensors Monday to launch its new smart parking guidance system, but the $1.61 million contract with Frogparking is mired in complaints from two competitors who claim...

By Daniel Langhorne, Special to the Independent The Laguna Beach Heritage Committee hosted a panel Tuesday, including two architects and a Realtor, to explain the benefits of owning a historic home in town. Laguna’s City Council is currently...

On Sunday, May 19, WAVE (Women for American Values and Ethics) will present their first annual “Light the Way for Change” event, aimed at addressing the growing problem of intolerance and violence in Orange County and offering a more just and...

‘Finding Meaning’ gives me license to worship in all of Laguna’s churches. I was recently at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as they prefer to be called (though often referred to as LDS or Mormons). It was a special day because...

Can’t we all get along? The words of that great American philosopher Rodney King echo the theme of our local political leaders with their recent lamentations pleading for more civility in our public discourse. Which raises the interesting question, when were we ever more civil? The much-vaunted...

In his third race in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series, Laguna Beach’s Michael Lewis earned his first victory of the season on Saturday, May 4, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Lewis and his co-driver Mark Wilkins battled rain during practice and qualifying and...

By Frank Aronoff | LB Indy Fisher Eyes State CIF Track Meet Track & Field Sebastian Fisher became the first Laguna boys track athlete to advance to the CIF Masters meet since 2009 with a second-place finish in the D3 1600-meter run on Saturday at El Camino College. The senior’s time of...

Stanford beat USC in the NCAA National Championship finals 9-8 last weekend. There were four Laguna girls on the Stanford team: (L-R) Bella Baldridge, Makenzie Fischer, Thea Walsh and Aria...

By Allison Jarrell | LB Indy The Laguna Beach Police Department recently warned residents and business owners of a new scam targeting Laguna. Authorities said a caller, posing as a Southern...

When I was an undergraduate, I had the good fortune of taking a class called the “History of Jazz” from legendary jazz drummer Max Roach. Max came of age in the golden era of jazz. At 18, he...

After years of below average rainfall in Southern California, most of us rejoiced this January and February when our town received a normal dose of precipitation. Oh, happy day. Our hillsides...

What I have loved about Laguna Beach is not just its scenic beauty, its historic character, and its unique and varied neighborhoods—it’s our fellow Lagunans and the feeling that I have something...

Sunday, May 12 Traffic stop. 2:03 a.m. Ocean Avenue and Beach Street. After allegedly running the stop sign at Ocean and Beach and running a red light at Broadway to evade police officers, a...

With summer fast approaching, Laguna Beach is a popular destination for many, including plastics. If no change regarding plastic production and consumption is made, the ocean will house more...

The true character of “Liberate Laguna” and its mega-developer members continues to be revealed. Recently, a complaint was filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and two...

Who is behind the expensive ads attacking Village Laguna? For one, the developer-backed Liberate Laguna. Why are they attempting to hurt Village Laguna? Because Village Laguna works to protect...

Some claim national press coverage of recent cop car graphics controversy put our town in a bad light. Instead, my liberal and conservative friends across the country empathized with robust local...

A question on Facebook, upon the first anniversary of the Parkland Massacre: Are we becoming numb to mass shootings? Or is it affecting us now more than ever? Why am I, at my present age of 80,...

The alley with a clear view to the ocean bulged with people. “What’s happening?” my husband and I edged closer to the crowd too thick to penetrate. “Oh, I remember, there’s the auction, this...