On Monday, May 27, the Laguna Beach American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars hosted a Memorial Day ceremony in remembrance of those who died while serving our country in wars and conflicts. Photo by Jim Collins The ceremony took place at Monument Point in Heisler Park at 11 a.m. and featured keynote speaker Carla Hogan, a Gold Star Mother whose son died while fighting in Afghanistan. American Gold Star Mothers is a private nonprofit organization of American mothers who lost sons or daughters in service of the United States Armed Forces. Photo by Jim Collins The Laguna Beach ..read more

By Jackie Connor, Special to the Independent In a 3-0 vote, city council members will repeal Ordinance 1675, a contentious piece of legislation that has sparked significant public debate over zoning codes relating to commercial building height, mass, bulk and parking. The ordinance changes the zoning codes to exclude lot mergers from exceeding 15,000 square feet within 500 feet of downtown Laguna Beach as well as limiting building height to 36 feet, two primary concerns the public focused on during a Tuesday’s city council meeting.  Councilmember Bob Whalen and Mayor Pro Tem Alex Rounaghi ..read more

The Laguna Beach Police and Fire departments responded to the 2600 block of Laguna Canyon Road about an injury traffic collision into a utility pole on May 28 at 4:03 p.m. The utility pole fell into the road and blocked both directions of travel on Laguna Canyon Road. Laguna Canyon Road was closed for almost six hours on the evening of May 28 after a Frontier utility pole was hit by a car and blocked both directions. Photo courtesy of the City of Laguna Beach. “It looks like it was a Frontier power line that fell as a result of a traffic collision,” City Manager Dave Kiff told the public durin ..read more

Local and state dignitaries and members of the public converged on Marina Park in Newport Beach last Friday, May 24, to watch the christening of the new marine safety vessel, “Wave Watch.”  Left to right: Laguna Beach City Councilmember Mark Orgill, Mayor Sue Kempf, Mayor Pro Tem Alex Rounaghi and Councilmember Bob Whalen step inside Wave Watch during last week’s official vessel christening. Mary Hurlbut/Courtesy of the City of Laguna Beach This 33-foot Crystaliner vessel, designed to improve Laguna Beach Marine Safety emergency response capabilities along the city’s 7.5 miles of beach, w ..read more

Popular novelist Michelle Huneven will be featured at Susi Q’s fifth “Evening With An Author” event on June 3. The series, beloved by book club members, includes light appetizers, wine and an opportunity to mingle with fellow book lovers. Doors open at 4:30 p.m., with the program beginning at 5:15 p.m., followed by book signings. Author Michelle Huneven will be at the Susi Q on June 3 for Evening With An Author. Photo courtesy of Michelle Huneven Huneven is the author of five novels, most recently Search, which the New York Times Book Review calls “a wicked pleasure” and which was also selecte ..read more

This summer, the Pageant of the Masters steps into the world of fashion with its new production-themed “Á La Mode: The Art of Fashion.” Anticipated to be one of the most exciting seasons yet, audiences will be swept off their feet with this captivating journey through history’s most iconic fashion trends and spectacles. Among the highlights, is the re-creation of the famed “Angel Shoe” from Alexander McQueen’s groundbreaking 2010 Fall Collection. “Angel Shoe,” by Alexander McQueen, currently on exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, will be re-cr ..read more

The Laguna Ocean Foundation (LOF) is gearing up for National Ocean Month in June. What better time to celebrate the ocean and the amazing life it supports than the start of summer? Events kick off on Saturday, June 8 on World Oceans Day with LOF’s annual event KelpFest and culminate on June 28 with a Pacific Vocal Series recital. Ocean lovers learn how to do the Kelp song and dance during KelpFest in 2023. Photo/LOF GUIDED TIDEPOOL TOUR – Saturday, June 8, 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Join LOF’s Biologists for a guided tidepool tour at Heisler Park. The group will meet at the Rivian South Coast Theater ..read more

Teenagers By Mark D. Crantz By Mark D. Crantz Teenagers? If you are a parent of a teenager who graduated this year, I want you to know that you should be the one walking across the stage in cap and gown receiving a certificate of survival. Congratulations, parents. My kids have outgrown their teenage years and now have teenagers of their own. I had lunch with one recently. “What’s new at school?” I asked. “”Nuthin.’” “What’s going on with your social life?” “Nuthin.’” “What do you think of me?” “Nuthin.’” I enjoyed lunch in spite of the lively repartee. It made me think back to my teenage year ..read more

Billy Fried Though we’ve long fancied ourselves a progressive and tolerant community, there can be no stronger evidence to the contrary than our spurious ban on cannabis dispensaries. How can our city government be so tone-deaf to the will of their constituents, who had the highest percentage of pro votes in the County on the legalization of both medical marijuana (Proposition 215 in 1996) and recreational (Proposition 64 in 2016)? It’s been nearly 30 years of residents saying yes and the City answering no.  We’ve long prided ourselves on being gay-friendly. We offer f ..read more

The Sweet Smell of a Newborn   My daughter Gabby had just birthed my first grandchild, Oliver Grady Norquest, 8 pounds, 14 ounces, and was the epitome of the super-protective new mother.  She and her husband, Mike, live in Highland Park, near Pasadena, and Oliver was a week late, so they decided to induce her.    The hospital is in Glendale, and it has no waiting room—weird but true—so you wait in the lobby of a nearby hotel. Gabby told me not to come. She was worried that I would be worried, and she did not want to worry about me being worried. I told her I would ..read more