Cottage Life

This summer in Orange County, California, the first 13 of Crystal Cove’s restored cottages will offer the public a taste of life in decades past on a historic strip of coastline.

The Crystal Cove Historic District is a 12.3-acre coastal portion of the 2,791-acre Crystal Cove State Park. The cottages are considered historic because of the vernacular architecture, which means they were built without design or plan, in an eclectic style.

During prohibition, rum smugglers used the cove to smuggle their booty ashore. For years, bottles could still be found buried in the sand. Historic artifacts - including bottles - will be on display. A number of movies have even been filmed at the cove, including “Treasure Island,” “Herbie Rides Again,” and “Beaches.”

Cottage No. 34 - now the cultural center - was used as a language school, mostly for the Japanese farming community in ’30s and ’40s. In World War II, the military used it as a coastal lookout for enemy ships.

On hot summer nights, Laura Davick would fall asleep on the porch of her Crystal Cove cottage listening to the sound of lapping waves. For about 40 years, her front yard was the Pacific Ocean. The cottages - tucked between bluffs and away from the rest of the world - have been vacant for five years.

For the first time this summer, visitors will be able to get a glimpse of what Davick’s life was like as the restored cottages open to public.

In a place that draws visitors to luxury resorts lining the coast, there will now be another option - vintage, eclectic cottages that offer a trip back to California beach life decades ago.

It’s the type of place where people stop while strolling on the sand to ask: What’s the story behind those?

That’s just what Arizona resident Carla Crain did a few weeks ago when her curiosity drew her toward the cottage where the movie “Beaches” was filmed in the ’80s.

“They’re adorable,” said Crain, as she scanned the old, funky homes – some in shambles, others looking better than ever. “You can tell they have a lot of history.”

Easily passed as motorists fly by on Coast Highway, Crystal Cove is a place like no other on the California coastline, rich with history and quirky tales. It started out in 1918 as a setting for films - the Hollywood folks would build huts with palm fronds - and it became an ideal location to shoot for that tropical, secluded-beach feel.

The film crews would sometimes leave their sets behind, and families started staying in them. Then in the ’30s, tents bloomed around them, soon giving birth to a community. The cottages rest on a slice of 3,000 acres of oceanfront the state bought in 1979 from the Irvine Co. for $32.6 million.

The cottages were occupied by families - referred to as “coveites” - until 2001, when the state evicted them to make way for the public lodging plan. The closing of the community was emotional and difficult for many who lived here.

Davick said goodbye to the former Crystal Cove at a memorial paddle-out held before residents moved out.

She then set out to educate people about Crystal Cove. She wrote a book and became founder and president of Crystal Cove Alliance, a nonprofit committed to raising money for cottage restoration. The group this month was awarded a 20-year contract to manage concessions.

She laughed while looking at old photos set up in the “exhibit” cottage and repeated an old, familiar saying: “Every night was Saturday night, and Saturday night was New Year’s Eve.”

She pointed at a picture capturing that free-spirited, party mentality, which showed people saluting the “martini flag,” which was raised at 4 p.m. every Saturday during the summer. That tradition will continue at the new Beachcomber Cafe, where hosts will be adorned in ’30s- to ’50s-era clothing.

Extensive research went into capturing and re-creating a place where people “feel like they stepped back in time,” Davick said. They collected more than 800 photographs from former residents who lived here in that period, looking at details such as what kind of curtains they had.

Furniture in the homes will reflect that era, as does the color of the homes - blues, purples, greens and reds. Photos taken back in the day will hang on the walls of each of the cottages. In Davick’s former home, the “Shell Shack,” sea-shell collages will line the walls.

The state has paid about $13million to install infrastructure and restore 22 of the cottages. Funding is still needed for the remaining 24 cottages. Ultimately, about 30 of the cottages are planned for overnight stays.

“This project will never be over,” said State Parks Superintendent Ken Kramer. “It will always be a work in progress. There will always be something to add to it.”

Also new is a 1,000-foot-long nature trail, a passenger drop-off area and picnic benches on the sand.

The makeover is a new venture for California State Parks, which controls campgrounds and offers cabins along the coast. No other project has sought to restore historic cottages for public stay, Kramer said.

“We want people to be able to step back in time to a more romantic time period, and leave their troubles behind,” he said.

And if you can’t leave all your troubles behind, Wi-Fi access is available.

The current plans are a far cry from the high-end resort proposal that hundreds of people defeated five years ago.

Laguna Beach resident Jeannette Merrilees remembers being outraged at the prospect of rooms going for about $500 a night.

“What this means is that somebody wants this park to be only for the elite and not for the ordinary families of California,” Merrilees recalled thinking. “And since I was ordinary … I thought that was outrageous.”

Merrilees got together with others to protest the plan. They held meetings, passed out fliers and raised money for the fight.

The battle culminated in 2001 when more than 600 people packed a Corona del Mar elementary school to protest during a meeting put on by the state.

“They say that was the night everything changed,” Davick said.

The state abandoned the resort plan and took two years gaining public input to re-evaluate and develop the current plans.

“It was a great example about how the public process worked,” said Kramer.

Paula Christie, who found herself wandering into one of the homes about two weeks ago while enjoying a day at the beach, was intrigued by the history. She lives in Irvine, but never knew the story behind the cottages.

“I’m just glad they’re not torn down,” she said.

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