The Muses of Arch Beach
Ever felt the joy of writing something that transcends your normal stuff? It’s a sweet moment, isn’t it? Writers, caught by the beauty of their words, may credit one of the Greek muses. In Laguna, we have the muses of Arch Beach, which leads to a story from Laguna’s early days.
Canyon Acres was homesteaded by Harvey Hemenway who had two sisters, Sylvia and Elizabeth. Elizabeth married a Connecticut boy named Henry Goff whose three brothers, Frank, Hub and Leon (Lee) also came to Laguna.
Sylvia married a Spencer Brooks and they had four children before his death in Texas: Nate, Will, Oliver and Melissa (Lizzie). They came here too. Two of the Brooks married Clapps (Will to Annie Clapp, and Melissa to Will Clapp).
If you’re counting that’s ten interrelated families—the Hemenway-Goff-Brooks-Clapp tribe—and they once owned most of coastal Laguna. This overlooks the George and Sarah Thurston family, but their ranch was up Aliso Canyon.
Back in the day, Laguna Beach was three nascent towns, each with their own post office. Jane Janz wrote a book about it. Besides Laguna, there was Arch Beach and South Laguna. The South Laguna post office was variously named Aliso and Three Arch Bay but this story is about Arch Beach.
According to Joe Thurston, Nate Brooks and Hub Goff “went in together and founded the town of Arch Beach.” It’s said that Arch Beach was named by Annie Clapp Brooks for the arch by Pearl Street Beach. She may have also named the streets for she and Will were married in Utah, where towns had a “Center Street.” The original part of Arch Beach has a Center Street, surrounded by Agate, Pearl, Diamond and Ruby.
But it’s the nine streets between Sleepy Hollow and Bluebird Canyon that we’re talking about today—call them the “muses of Arch Beach.” Three of the streets still carry the names of muses, Calliope, Cleo, and Thalia. Calliope was the best-known muse, associated with rhetoric and epic poetry. Cleo (though spelled with an ‘e’ rather than an ‘i’) was the muse of history, and Thalia represented comedy. You’ll get the latter from Jim at Auto Repair Laguna Beach.
St. Anne’s, we’re told, was originally called Euterpe, the muse of music. The original 1887 plat called Anita Street “Melipomena” (the muse of tragedy) and Oak Street was “Terpsichore” (the muse of dance).
That leaves three muses missing: Polyhymnia (muse of sacred poetry), Erato (muse of love poetry) and Terpsichore (muse of dance). I propose that Brooks, Cress and Mountain were once named, or meant to be named, for these missing Greek muses.
This makes a point about Laguna and life by the sea—it seems to connect us with our higher senses. And this was before the artists that made us an art colony. There’s meaning in that.
Skip fell in love with Laguna on a ‘50s surfing trip. He’s a student of Laguna history and the author of “Loving Laguna: A Local’s Guide to Laguna Beach.” Email: [email protected].
