Action Needed to Save Historic Character

It’s always sad to see someone buy an old house in a quaint town like Laguna Beach and then proceed to destroy its charm and character, and that of the neighborhood, by replacing it with a hopelessly out-of-place contemporary or, as in the case of the Reynoldses (“Eclectic Cottage,” Oct. 5), tacking on an unsightly industrial-like structure to its back end.

Here in Laguna Beach we are losing more and more of our original historic houses.

Before our neighborhoods erode further into an unsettling mishmash of incompatible architectural styles, I would call on the City of Laguna Beach, and all other communities with significant collections of older homes, to designate official historical zones with strict and enforceable guidelines as to the design of any further remodels.

RICK GARTNER

Laguna Beach