History of Laguna Beach

ff built a large hotel at Arch Beach in 1886, which was later moved and added to Joseph Yoch's Laguna Beach Hotel built in 1888 on the main beach. Visitors from local cities pitched tents on the beaches for vacation during the warm summers.

The scenic beauty of the isolated coastline and hills attracted plein-air painters in the early 1900s. William Wendt, Frank Cuprien, and Edgar Payne among others settled there and formed the Laguna Beach Art Association. The first art gallery opened in 1918 and later became the Laguna Beach Art Museum. Precursors to The Festival of the Arts and the Pageant of the Masters began in 1921, and were eventually established in their present day form by Roy Ropp in 1936. Due to its proximity to Hollywood, Laguna also became a favorite filming location. Starting in 1913, dozens of silent films were made at local coves with Harold Lloyd, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and others. Actors and film crews stayed during long production shoots at the Arch Beach Tavern on the hillside above Moss Street.

The arrival of painters, photographers, filmmakers and writers established Laguna Beach as a noted artist community. Although there were only about 300 residents in 1920, a large proportion of them worked in creative fields. The small town remained isolated. The Laguna Canyon road was the only access as the coast road extended less than two miles from Boat Canyon to Bluebird Canyon. With the completion of the Pacific Coast Highway in 1926, a population boom was expected. In order to protect the small town atmosphere of the art colony, residents who called themselves "Lagunatics" pushed for incorporation. The City of Laguna Beach was incorporated on June 29, 1927. The city experienced steady population growth since that time, rising from 1900 residents in 1927 to more than 10,000 in 1962, and becoming four