Coastline Pilot
June 13, 2008

Chasing the Muse
Catharine Cooper

Specifically - Downtown?

It was without glee that I learned that the former Security Pacific Bank building, aka Banana Republic, aka furniture store on Forest Avenue, was to become the new home of Sotheby’s Real Estate.

Bill, my stylist at Furioso’s Salon, was snipping the ends of my tresses when he conveyed the news. The view from his second story window is directly toward the building, and we’ve always enjoyed people watching from his chair.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I said to him.

“Nope. Real estate,” he responded.

“Well that’s just great!” I said, squelching a number of obscenities that might otherwise have affected my speech. “That’s just what we need. Another real estate office. Right in the middle of our shopping corridor.”

Talk about a business that serves the needs of our residents. I’m sure none of us could possibly find a real estate office anywhere else in town.

What goes through the minds of our elected/appointed officials when they make these decisions? And what criteria do they use to interpret the Downtown Specific Plan?

The plan itself – the result of public input and scoping – carves the downtown area into ten separate areas. Three of them encompass what I truly consider downtown: Forest Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and Broadway.

The purpose of the plan (Municipal Code, Chapter 25.40) “… is to establish a specific plan for the downtown area … to address the unique issues associated with the community’s downtown area and that this need is best served through the establishment of a specific plan for the downtown.”

The plan further “… contains goals and policies, downtown design guidelines, land use districts and development standards all of which form the development regulations for the specific plan area. … Existing land use is characterized by a broad range of businesses, including retail shops, resident services, offices, restaurants, and specialty food stores.”

The words seem to make sense, and I think a plan is a great foundation. We certainly don’t want Laguna to look like a strip mall or lose our sense of intimate shopping and character. What I don’t quite understand is the capricious nature of the business type interpretation.


Co-columnist, Cherril and I finished up one of our ritual morning walks last week. We carried steaming chai teas from Starbuck’s in our hands as we walked up Ocean Avenue. We perused the magazine wrack of the resurrected Newstand, smiled at the early cleaning staff at the Marine Room and stopped in our tracks in front of the rug shop.

Don’t get me wrong. I like rugs – and I know my gripe is not new. But why did the City decide to put a rug shop in middle of a restaurant and shopping zone? Next door to the Marine Room? Across the street, Henneseys, Sushi, and the Ocean Avenue Brewery? Down the street from Katherine Story and the Little Bohemian.

I was struck by the empty feeling, a kind of dead space in the former retail center of Big Dog Apparel.

Where was the proposed Jack’s surf shop? Why didn’t I see a vibrant retail store that would cater to the type of clientele of the neighboring eateries. We had the chance to add a dimension to the end of the block that would create synergy and cross-financial pollination.

I’m sure I could get into trouble here, but how many Marine Room bikers are out shopping for vintage rugs?

The surf apparel shop went down in flames from opposition by competing stores already ensconced in the downtown area. They were afraid of losing business and took their whiney concerns to City. And the City had pity on them. And we got a rug shop.

The upcoming Tommy Bahamas almost shared the same fate. Yes, there are other shops that carry the recognizable TB label. In fact, On Board, right across the street, will immediately feel the affect once the store opens. Hopefully the breadth of their product line and faithful clientele (like me) will fuel their continued success.

If the competitive argument is allowed to hold sway, then we need to immediately remove several gas stations from town. I mean, they sell EXACTLY the same product. And there are several of them.

And if we continue the argument, then we certainly don’t want to offer our residents options, but rather, keep them restricted to non-competitive pricing. What our forward looking planners continue to do is to force residents ‘over the hill’ and keep our charming quaint stores unaffordable to those who live here.

We do have a great downtown, but we can do better. If we take fear out of our planning process and dare to look at a bigger picture – how businesses work together to create a vibrant community – then we can uptake our tax base, get rid of empty store fronts, and serve the needs of those who live in our wonderful town.


Catharine Cooper loves wild places. She can be reached at cooper@catharinecooper.com