I hope Mo Honarkar reads this letter. He has leased the Hotel Laguna for 99 years. Decades ago, the Hotel Laguna was painted pink. I think the hotel should be a pastel coral, green, blue, yellow or pink again. It would symbolize in our downtown that we believe in the arts. We have 50+ art galleries, a wonderful art museum, college of art and design, 60+ public art pieces, colorful street banners, three art and crafts people festivals and a long history of local artists.
Mo Honarkar’s Hive brings new life with color, giant graphics and hundreds of overhead lights at night. His Terra restaurant on the Festival of Arts grounds is without question one of the most unusual cement creations around. The new front and entrance to the Art-A-Fair is brightly colored, to say the least. Some think it’s too gaudy, but really—it does catch your eye and make you wonder what’s going on inside.
Whether his proposed large hotels north of the art museum and across from Ralphs should be part of Laguna remains to be seen, but for me, a pastel Hotel Laguna next to the Pacific Ocean is the perfect combination.
Roger Carter, Laguna Beach
