I'm certainly not the first traveler to be seduced by Laguna Beach's charms. Since the late 1800s this 7-mile stretch of sandy coastline resting below rolling cliffs about 50 miles south of Los Angeles has attracted tourists and travelers, including many artists who made the town their home.
Today, besides the landscape's raw beauty, and the town's well-preserved architecture and independent shops, Laguna Beach hosts an arts community that imparts a funky, if upscale, authenticity that's getting harder to find in a homogenized world.
It's easy to navigate around this city of about 24,000. The Pacific Coast Highway, PCH in local jargon, runs north-south through residential and commercial neighborhoods. (It takes a while for an East Coast gal to get her sense of direction aligned; it always feels like the ocean is on the wrong side.) The center of town abuts the conveniently named Main Beach and North and South Laguna both offer areas to eat and shop as well as secluded beaches.
"The nicest thing about Laguna is there's out-of-the-way cove beaches. A lot of people don't know about them," says Ron Reno, owner of Andree's Patisserie.
Speaking of out-of-the-way, I had heard that Andree's had the "best ham and cheese croissant in the world," but first I had to find it in South Laguna, tucked behind a restaurant named French 75 and next to Bounce, the last remaining gay bar in town. (Look for a fading rainbow flag along the PCH.)
Reno gave me a warm and savory croissant, and sent me off to find Thousand Steps Beach and Crystal Cove State Park, two gems I would have missed without his guidance.
"Crystal Cove is like walking into the 1930s. It gives you a sense of old Laguna Beach," Reno said.
The park, which offers 2,400 acres of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails, includes a historic beach district where cottages built in the '30s are being restored for public use. (Fourteen out of 46 are available; rentals are scheduled six months in advance.) At the newly opened Beachcomber restaurant, the tradition of raising a martini flag at cocktail hour has been revived.
