Viva El Paseo
Harley Rouda, our new Democratic Party representative to Congress, had his first town hall meeting in Costa Mesa on Feb. 19. Orange County used to be so conservative that you couldn’t make a left turn. Three right turns were required instead. Now we’ve got a Democratic congressman hosting a town hall on Goat Hill. He’s even from Laguna.
Some things change and others don’t. There’s the continued bleating for Park Plaza. This park would close one of the few remaining left turn options for southbound traffic on Coast Highway.
Supporters persist in spite of the fact that nobody with a car wants it. You’ll have to pry that left turn option from their cold dead hands. Nobody wants to wait in line for the left turn lane on Legion and Coast Highway.
You could turn this proposal into something everyone could support by taking the needs of the commuting Lagunatic into account. Closing a street to make a park is only half the solution. You’ve got to improve traffic flow, not impede it, as part of the project.
Before they built Main Beach Park, Laguna Avenue, by the Hotel Laguna, was connected to Coast Highway by El Paseo Street. What remains of El Paseo is the indentation in the curb for the bus stop, just south of Ocean Avenue. It’s the area where the Craft Guild has their shows.
Coming south on Coast Highway, in the days before Main Beach Park, you could make a right on El Paseo, hook left onto Laguna Avenue, scoot across the highway at the signal, and zip right up Park Avenue. It was a beauty of a shortcut.
This was long before left turn lanes and signals. It was one of the few ways you could cross the highway on a Sunday afternoon of summer traffic heading back to L.A., when the only way from L.A. to San Diego was right through town on Highway 1.
They closed El Paseo when Main Beach Park was developed. The focus was on park building, not traffic planning. Wouldn’t it be great if they put that traffic option back?
A reincarnated El Paseo could hold quite a few cars waiting to cross the highway and head straight up the hill on Park Avenue. No more need for the left turn lane at Coast Highway and Forest. Go ahead, close the street into Park Plaza. The Craft Guild can have their show there.
Nobody in a car is going to care. They’ll have a much better new route directly up the hill.
J.J. Gasparotti moved to Laguna Beach with his family when he was 11 years old. He has loved it ever since.
