Laguna Beach and the Greenbelt: Celebrating a Treasured Historical American Landscape

This book celebrates Laguna Beach and its greenbelt, which have been designated a historic American landscape by the National Park Service, Department of Interior, and presents the nomination documentation that is housed in the Library of Congress. It is dedicated to the generations of devoted people responsible for shaping the city’s character and traditions. Laguna’s mountains and dramatic canyons, coastal cliffs, and ever-changing ocean views attracted plein air artists and others beginning early in the last century, and from the beginning, its residents were dedicated to protecting and embellishing it. The fortunate confluence of geography, history, and community resolve has resulted in the preservation, in the face of the surrounding suburban sprawl, of an authentic small town and a vast area of protected open space that provides breathing room for all of us.