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Dilemma Lingers On How do we solve our downtown dilemma: finding a way to foster our traditional small downtown within the changing economics of retail? Thanks for the thoughtful responses to this question I posed in my last column. Respondents have opened the door to more...

Seeking a Traditional-Contemporary Downtown Blend My Aunt Margaret begged before Christmas, “Don’t get me anything!” To her the important part of the holiday was getting together with the family for a nice meal. As a child I just couldn’t understand not wanting gifts for...

Not Like Every Other Place “It seems to me that being quirky and non-conforming is essential to what we like about Laguna. It’s not like every other place, and we love it because of that, ” mused a Laguna Canyon resident who has been attending the city’s neighborhood planning...

We Have Everything We Need Neighbor and fellow landscape architect Sally Dunne had stage four cancer for years. Surgeries, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants bought her time. Always cheerful and beautiful—even though bald—she’d walk past our house with her large black poodle...

Not Even Noticing   The ultimate in not being racist is to not even notice. My neighbor and office assistant Ann Henry told me about a video of a kindergartner who asked his mom for a new, very short haircut. He wanted his hair to match his friend’s exactly. “That way our...

So Much Fun Ahead On Monday we all gathered for a mini potluck, saying farewell to one of our most dedicated and endearing gardeners. She and her husband are soon moving to Australia. She’ll be close to her family where job opportunities have opened up and housing costs are...

Who is Behind those Doors? When we walk our neighborhoods we see house after interesting house. Laguna Beach is unique in southern California. You could walk our streets all day and never see two houses the same.   They make our walks and drives through town all the more...

Time to Repurpose a Landmark In the summer of 2009 my brothers and I, spouses and kids went back to our Wisconsin hometown for our mother’s graveside service. It was a trip of memories, not only of her, but of our childhoods with her and my dad, growing up on the family farm just...

Holding Hands This is my 301st Village Matters column. I started these in 2004 at the request of former Indy editor Stu Saffer when Arnold Hano decided to stop writing “The Village Character” column. At first I was reluctant. Hano is a professional and famous writer, I am just a...

Get Out Your Clipboard Your clipboard, your shovel, your social connections; whatever it takes to make a difference, set things right. That is the message of President Obama’s farewell address, and the theme of the Martin Luther King Jr. gathering at Main Beach this past Sunday....

As Good a Place as Any Every Christmas we trek to be with our families to Arizona, the least favorite of any of the places I have lived. Yet, this week there we were, checking out our “final resting place,” walking through Mountain View, “Mesa’s Best Cemetery.” “As good a place...

Love it All Like loving that perfect person we chose to spend our life with, who it turns out has some qualities we wish we could “adjust,” loving Laguna means loving it all, the whole package. Quaint charming neighborhoods come with small houses, tiny rooms and eccentric floor...

Unexpectedly Making History We don’t know we’re part of history when we’re in it. We’re just living our lives and dealing with what is laid before us, with glimmers of leadership and inspiration offered to add innovation and meaning to our existence. Then years later someone...

Battles before Us “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9, quoted by Hillary Clinton the day after her defeat, Nov. 8. Some of our best candidates don’t get elected. Some of the most worthy causes are...

Last Minute Tricks Laguna Beach has had its share of last minute political dirty tricks. Perpetrators know that even when they are found to have spread erroneous information the tricks can leave impressions on voters that are negative and lasting. I have experienced some of them...