Laguna Beach public art

How the art gets here

The city’s own account is that the art around town comes from two programs. “Public Art and Murals” is funded by the Arts Commission. “Art in Public Places” is a requirement of the Municipal Code, adopted in 1986. It applies to new commercial and industrial development, to remodels of commercial or industrial property costing more than $225,000, to residential subdivisions of more than four lots or units, and to city parks and public works projects over $225,000. The developer either installs a work of art in a public place, which the code says should as a guide be worth at least 1 percent of the project value, or pays an in-lieu fee of 1.25 percent into the Art in Public Places fund.

That mix explains why the collection is scattered. Some works sit in city parks, and others stand on private property that the code requires to be open to the public and visible from a street, sidewalk or beach.

The Laguna Beach Historical Society says the collection has grown past 80 works.

Heisler Park and Main Beach

Heisler Park, at 375 Cliff Drive, holds the densest group. Visit Laguna Beach describes these works there:

• Breaching Whale by Jon Seeman, 2011. It stands 16 feet tall at a spot in the park where you can watch whales during migration.
• Time Connected by Scott and Naomi Schoenherr, 2012, in a sculpture garden that flows through the park.
• Semper Memento (Always Remember) by Jorg Dubin, 2011, a 9/11 memorial at Monument Point.

On Main Beach, Grace by Terry Thornsley, 2014, stands near the lifeguard headquarters. The same beach has a statue of Eiler Larsen, Laguna’s official greeter, covered on the landmarks page.

Forest Avenue and neighborhood parks

Visit Laguna Beach places North and South Waves by Larry Gill, 2003, on both sides of the entrance to Forest Avenue. In February 2026 the city said public art on Forest Avenue between Coast Highway and Glenneyre Street would be removed for a time while a permanent pedestrian promenade is built, so check the street before you plan a visit around any piece there.

The same source names four works in parks away from the coast:

• Green Man with Red Birds by Julia Klemek, 2006, in Village Green Park, which the city lists at Catalina and Monterey.
• Laguna Tortoise by Michele Taylor, 2003, in Bluebird Park, at 772 Cress Street.
• Sight and Sound by Raymond Persinger, 2002, in Browns’ Park.
• Voyager by Linda Brunker and Repose by Gerard Stripling, both 2003, at Treasure Island Park along South Coast Highway.

An older piece

The Historical Society’s timeline dates the oldest public art in town to 1933, when Boy and Dog was placed in Jahraus Park.

Among newer additions, the Public Art Archive lists The Love That Binds (2016) by Rude Calderón in the Laguna Beach Arts Commission Collection.

Art indoors at City Hall

Not every public piece stands outdoors. City Hall, at 505 Forest Avenue, is also where the city’s Cultural Arts department works, and its first-floor hallway serves as a gallery. The city’s Cultural Arts page invites visitors to see the 30 works chosen for its 2026 Juried Fine Art competition there. These displays change, so check the Cultural Arts page for what is on view.

Find more with the city’s brochure

The city’s Public Art page links a digital brochure of the whole collection, titled Laguna Beach Art Collection 2015. Works added since then are not in it. The city’s Cultural Arts team is the contact for an inventory that is current.

Getting around

Three of the works above stand in Heisler Park, which is in North Laguna, so that park is the most efficient single stop. For parking and trolley, see the parking guide and getting around. The art is free to see, which makes this page a natural companion to the free things to do list and to the galleries a few blocks away.