A cottage industry

Alicia Robinson

You can’t argue with an ocean view.

The first phase of renovations to 22 historic beach cottages at

Crystal Cove State Park isn’t even half finished, but one

breathtaking glimpse of the Pacific explains why people already are

clamoring to rent them for summer stays.

Work began in March on the $12-million project that will restore

roughly half of the park’s 46 cottages back to the way they looked in

their heyday, which lasted from about 1920 to 1950. The project,

which is scheduled to finish in spring 2005 with the first cottage

rentals projected for next summer, will include the creation of a

visitors center, a cultural center and a pedestrian bridge over Los

Trancos Creek.

Though no reservation system for the cottages has been set up yet,

former Crystal Cove resident Laura Davick said her phone’s been

ringing off the hook. Davick is president of the Crystal Cove

Alliance, a nonprofit group that has raised more than $500,000 toward

historic preservation of the beachfront community.

HISTORIC HIDEAWAY

Having grown up in one of the cottages, Davick is intimately

familiar with the history of the area and has the stacks of old

photos and newspaper clippings to prove it.

The area began to be more than a bare beach around the early 1920s

when it was used for seaside movie shoots, Davick said. Some of the

structures from film sets were left behind, and squatters soon began

building homes overlooking the beach, she explained.

One building atop the bluff was used as a schoolhouse by Japanese

immigrants who farmed nearby land, but it was taken over by the Coast

Guard during World War II, she said.

For years, the land was owned by the Irvine family, and in 1940

the Irvine Co. told the squatters they could move or start paying to

lease the homes. Many agreed to lease. After the state purchased the

land in 1979, residents filed lawsuits to win the right to stay and

people continued to inhabit the cottages until they were evicted in

2001.

The state had long been planning to redevelop the area, but

officials in 2001 nixed a plan for a luxury resort after vehement

public opposition.

DECREPIT TO DAZZLING

Part of what made the cottages charming and eclectic is what

requires them to be rebuilt -- people cobbled them together according

to whim, largely without architects or building permits. The

restoration work has shored up the foundations of the homes and

removed any hazards such as asbestos siding and lead-based paint, and

extensive infrastructure, including sewer lines, is being installed.

Now workers are removing siding, doors and windows to expose the

cottages’ framing. Once the structures are reinforced and fitted for

plumbing and electrical service, they’ll get new floors, walls and

other surfaces that mimic or blend in with original ones.

“This is the historical preservation parallel to the extreme

makeover,” Crystal Cove State Park Supt. Ken Kramer said.

Some of the cottages along the bluff top are as much as 80%

restored and soon it will be time for the fun part: paint. One

cottage that hasn’t been stripped outside is turquoise, and it will

return to that color after the restoration, Kramer said.

“The first 90% of each cottage is rough and painstaking,” he said.

“It’s that last 10% that really becomes eye-popping.”

TIME MARCHES ON

Although a group of former cottage residents lost a court battle

against eviction, some have applauded the state’s restoration plans.

“I’m down [at the cove] just about every weekend,” said Stella

Hiatt, who started camping on the beach at Crystal Cove in the 1950s

and for about 23 years spent part of each year in a cottage there. “I

think they’re doing a great job.”

Hiatt now lives in Palos Verdes, but she still keeps in touch with

her old neighbors and, at 80, regularly visits the cove for a routine

swim to a buoy about 125 yards offshore.

She’s happy to see the area put to educational and recreational

use for the public. Hiatt admits that as a part-time resident of the

cove she was lucky to have another place to go, an advantage about

half of those who were evicted didn’t have.

“For them to have to relocate it was very difficult, and I can

understand that,” she said. “They may still be bitter, [but] life

goes on.”

LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE

With the first phase of the restoration well underway, Davick is

already planning for phase two, which will fix up the remainder of

the cottages. In September, the Crystal Cove Alliance will launch a

$9.2-million fundraising campaign for the second phase of the

project, but no one is sure yet how long it will take or how much it

will cost.

By next summer the park will have its first cultural center with

educational exhibits and a marine research center, and 13 of the

cottages now being restored could be ready to rent. Three will be

hostel-style with expected rental fees at $20 to $30 a bed, and the

individual cabins will likely cost $80 to $150 a night. Based on

demand for camping at other parks, officials expect them to sell out

within minutes.

While Hiatt is looking forward to her former home being open to

everyone, she doesn’t plan to stay in the cottages when they become

available.

“I had it for many years. I’m willing to let it go,” she said.

“That beach belongs to the people.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].