Cleo Street Beach

What it’s like

The city describes the beach below the Cleo Street stairs as rocky outcrops and open sand that the tide covers and uncovers, less than half a mile south of Main Beach. The Coastal Commission describes the stretch from Sleepy Hollow Lane to Thalia Street as sandy beach and rocky shore below a bluff, with tide pools and wildlife viewing. Cleo’s stairs are the northernmost of the three the Coastal Commission names south of Sleepy Hollow Lane. St. Ann’s Drive and then Thalia Street follow to the south.

Divers come for the barge. The Foss 125 sank in a storm off Laguna Beach on November 17, 1958. A local dive shop’s site guide gives the rest of its history: built in 1919 as the Navy’s YC-470, it ended up with the Foss company of Seattle and worked in Laguna Beach carrying a deck of gravel for a construction company. A violent windstorm swamped it on its mooring, and it sank right off Cleo Street. The guide puts it in about 50 feet of water and says the wreck is mostly fallen apart or covered in sand.

Getting there and parking

The access is a set of stairs at the end of Cleo Street, where the street meets Ocean Front and South Coast Highway. OpenStreetMap maps the stairs at the end of the street.

The city has a project to rebuild them. Its environmental filing for the Cleo Street Beach Access Rehabilitation Project, received in April 2024, describes new stairs with wider landings, boulder-like benches in places and a lower flight keyed into bedrock so it keeps working as the sand level changes. A small section of barrier would come out to make a new upper viewing area with accessible entry. The filing also proposes removing part of the sidewalk on Ocean Front Drive and adding a no-parking zone beside a wider walkway. The city approved the project on August 7, 2024, and expected construction from late 2024 to summer 2025, with the beach access closed until the work is done. Its project page still described the work as proposed in mid-2026. Check with the city for the current state of the stairs and the curb before you go.

There is no beach lot. The Coastal Commission lists street parking and no fee for the stretch, and the city’s 2024 study notes a metered parking area on the north side of Cleo Street beside Coast Highway. The city mentions three-hour meters in some areas and very limited neighborhood parking in others. The parking guide covers permits, enforcement hours and the summer lots.

The Coastal Commission lists no restrooms at these stairs, and the city’s 2024 study found no lifeguard tower at this access. Main Beach is the closest of the beaches the city recommends for restrooms and outdoor showers.

Tide pools and reserve rules

The tide pools show at low tide. The city advises checking a tide chart and wearing waterproof shoes, because the rocks are sharp and hard to walk on in flip flops. Its Good Tide Pooler Rules ask you to take nothing, to leave animals where they are, to walk gently and to leave rocks unturned.

Cleo is part of the Laguna Beach State Marine Reserve, which covers the coast from Abalone Point south to Goff Island. Inside it, nothing living, geological or cultural may be taken or possessed, and fishing is not allowed. The dive-shop guide notes that the barge site is a no-take area, so divers may look but not hunt.

Good to know

City beaches close from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., and alcohol, smoking and fires are banned on them. Lifeguard coverage varies from beach to beach, the city says. Dogs must be leashed, and from June 15 to September 10 they may be on the beach only before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m.

The nearest named neighbors are Sleepy Hollow to the north, then St. Ann’s Street and Thalia Street to the south. The Village covers the housing and figures nearest to Cleo.