Laguna Beach landmarks

How to use this list

Each landmark below is a place you can see from a public sidewalk or beach. Some, such as hotels and restaurants, are businesses, and a few buildings are private property, so look from the street and do not go past gates or signs. The dates come from the Laguna Beach Historical Society’s timeline.

The Greeter, near Main Beach

Eiler Larsen was born in Denmark in 1890. The Historical Society says he spent much of his time waving at passersby from a spot across from The White House, near Main Beach, and that the Laguna Beach City Council named him Official Greeter, the only person to hold the title. He died in 1975. A statue of him stands near the south end of Main Beach, with his footprints set into the sidewalk. Visit Laguna Beach’s history page also points to the statue as a place for a photo.

A second Larsen statue stands at the old Pottery Shack site at Coast Highway and Brooks Street, now The Old Pottery Place, according to both the Society and Visit Laguna Beach.

Main Beach lifeguard tower

The city calls the white lifeguard tower in the middle of Main Beach the beach’s best-known landmark. The Society says it was not built there. In 1937 it moved from a Union Oil gas station at Broadway and Coast Highway, across the street from where it stands now.

Hotel Laguna and the buildings around it

Hotel Laguna, at 425 S. Coast Highway, is a 70-room building from 1930 that replaced a hotel built on the same site in 1895, according to the Society. It adds that a neon sign on top of the hotel came down after a 1996 ordinance, and that Marine officers from El Toro lived there during World War II.

Across the street, the Society records the Heisler Building of 1931, built by the real estate developer Howard Heisler.

The White House at 340 S Coast Highway is the building where a restaurant opened in 1918. The Society says a remodel reopened it as Finneys Craft House at The White House.

The Gate

A gate hung in 1915 at Forest Avenue and Coast Highway is still there, according to the Historical Society. A sign on it invites travelers to rest before moving on.

The Old Pottery Place

The Society’s timeline says the Pottery Shack began in 1936 in two old log cabins and moved in 1937 to Coast Highway and Brooks Street, where the Historical Society says the site is now called The Pottery Place. Visit Laguna Beach calls it The Old Pottery Place, describes the 1936 Yum Yum Tea Room that grew into the Pottery Shack for 66 years, and says it reopened in 2006 after a restoration. Visit Laguna Beach also places Hotel La Casa del Camino, which opened on January 26, 1929, about a block down the street and across Coast Highway. For the nearby beach access, see the Brooks Street page.

Victoria Beach tower

The Society dates the tower to 1926 and describes it as a 60-foot Norman-style tower built at a Victoria Beach home as a staircase down the cliff. It is also called the Pirate Tower. The Victoria Beach page covers the stairs, parking and reserve rules, and it places the tower on the sand at the foot of the cliff. Follow the beach page for access, and stay on public sand.

St. Francis by-the-Sea

St. Francis by-the-Sea American Catholic Church, at 430 Park Avenue, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since June 30, 1988, according to the National Park Service record. The 1988 nomination says the Rev. Percy Wise Clarkson and his followers built it in 1933 from the rubble of the Long Beach earthquake, using brick and colored tile from the damaged buildings. It sits on a lot of 25 by 60 feet with an interior of only 1,008 square feet, yet the nomination says it has all the traditional features of a cathedral. The record lists it for architecture, religion and social history. The nomination describes the church as privately owned, so view it from the street, about a block from downtown.

More ways to see the town’s story

The history page tells the longer story, with the Historical Society’s bungalow museum, and public art covers sculptures. Most landmarks above cost nothing, which also puts them on the free things to do list.