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Laguna Beach Information
lways a tourist town, Laguna Beach opened its second hotel in 1889. It was built by Henry Goff and purchased by Joseph Yoch for $600. Yoch also bought the defunct Arch Beach Hotel. He had it cut into three sections, moved it into town, and joined it to his hotel, creating a massive establishment of thirty bedrooms and two bathrooms. This hotel was condemned in 1928, and the present Hotel Laguna opened the following year on the same site. The next vacation retreat was the Brooks House, built in 1892. It was a red, two-story Victorian structure located on the present site of the Isch Building. Unfortunately, the hotel burned down before the paint was completely dry.
Elmer Jahraus came to Laguna from Santa Ana in 1903 and soon opened a cigar factory in the lower floor of the Yoch Hotel. In 1913, he opened Laguna Lumber which is significant in that this enabled the community to grow at unprecedented rates. Prior to the lumberyard, construction materials were hauled by mule down Laguna Canyon, or were floated in on the tide from boats, usually the schooner Emma.
In South Laguna, the Egans, Shrewsburys, Andersons, and Goffs were homesteaders raising beans and melons. South Laguna had several close calls with commercialism. In 1889, the Santa Fe Railroad purchased Goff Island (now Treasure Island) and planned a depot and resort. When the tracks were laid inland instead, those plans failed. The depression of the 1890's saved South Laguna from an urbanized future.
Other early residents included Oscar Warling and Fred Trefren who operated a stage line to El Toro and Santa Ana which ran daily from 1884 to 1901. John Nicholas Isch ran the livery stable (on the site of the present Isch Building). He also ran a grocery and was one of the early postmasters. Known for his trusting ways, he never locked up when he went fishing. Customers came in to shop and to pick up their own mail. They could pay the next time they came in. For a number of years, the only telephone in a town was in the store. The phone was connected with the Irvine ranch house, and messages could be relayed from there to the outside world. North Laguna, called Laguna Cliffs, was developed by Howard Heiseler, L.C. McKnight, and the Thumb Brothers. In 1905, they subdivided and laid out the only streets in Laguna that run at straight angles to one another. Water was piped in from Laguna Canyon, and this was the first neighborhood offering water with every lot. Wells had been used for years and water was hauled in barrels from Laguna or Aliso canyons into town. It had been said "Laguna was long on scenery and short on improvements, especially drinking water." The first important artists to arrive was Norman St. Clair. Who took the train from Los Angeles and the stagecoach from El Toro. He made lots of sketches of the area. He exhibited throughout California, attracted other artists, and a tradition was born. |
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