Editor,
Our family moved to Three Arch Bay in 1970, my husband and I with our four young children.
Down the street lived Jim and Jeanette Dilley and their collie dog, Patrick. Our new neighbors at this time owned their outstanding bookstore across Coast Highway from the Hotel Laguna.
We discovered we could order a book if they didn’t have it from anywhere in the world, and it would be delivered almost the next day! The store was stocked with wonderful books on shelves to the ceiling, with a ladder as high to retrieve them! Magical!
At the same time Jim Dilley was responsible for opening up a building he owned in Laguna Canyon for AA meetings and was also involved in the early steps to save the canyon from vast development, dynamic challenges.
I wonder how many people really know how Jim Dilley devoted his time to keep Laguna canyon from being developed instead of the open country it almost still is? His legacy, his memory still needs to be recognized and so do the contributions of Jeanette Dilley. They were responsible as well for helping to provide the land and the wonderful Canyon Club with contributions of other AA’s and supporters.
Their former bookstore employee continued to help Jeanette after the sale of the store and the passing of time. We met the first Monday evenings of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy at Tivoli Terrace with Jeanette until her death and continue to this day. The legacy lives on. The Dilley legacy continues.
Their bookstore employee has cared for their home across our street refurbishing it beautifully. We think its time for a celebration of Jim Dilley Day in Laguna.
K. Nelson, Laguna Beach
[…] legendary man, Dilley, remains regarded as a dilly of a character and respected, before and after his death, as the father of the greenbelt. Dilley […]