What's up Laguna! A big south summer swell hits this week! On land it's peak season, with all three art festivals running at once. Below you'll find this week's events, ways to give back, a couple of spots coming soon, the conditions, some local news, and a bit of Laguna lore.
This Week
Friday 7/24
The Surf City All Stars are Beach Boys and Jan and Dean touring alumni playing surf classics at the Festival of Arts. The concert is free with festival admission, which you buy at the gate, and Laguna residents get in free with ID.
Sunday 7/26
Another Festival of Arts concert, this one country, folk and Americana. Same deal as Friday, free with festival admission at the gate.
The Laguna Art Museum brings paint, supplies and an instructor to Heisler Park, and you paint the coastline in front of you, no experience needed. Bring a blanket and snacks, and buy a ticket ahead at
lagunaartmuseum.org.
All week
All three art festivals
All three on Laguna Canyon Rd Daily
All three are running at once, and all three are free for Laguna residents with ID.
Art handmade by Laguna artists, many of them making it right in front of you. Walk the grounds, see the art, listen to live music, grab a drink, tickets at the gate.
An outdoor gallery where 120 Orange County artists show and sell their work all summer. Tickets at the gate, $10 weekdays and $15 weekends.
Same idea as the other two, this time 112 artists from all over the world, plus drop in art classes and a bar with margaritas, all under a shade canopy. Tickets at the gate, $10, or $8 for students and seniors.
The living pictures show, where real people hold still inside frames and turn into famous paintings, nightly all summer. This year's theme is "The Greatest of All Time," and you buy tickets ahead at
foapom.com, which also gets you into the Festival of Arts free for the rest of the summer.
Weekly Favorites
Maybe our favorite thing all week. Come grab local food and goods at the best little farmers market around. It's free and a great community hang.
Live music out on the patio every night by the fire pits. Grab a seat, order drinks and snacks, enjoy the spot.
Music on the ocean view patio over dinner. Get there before sunset if you can.
Give Back to Laguna
Sunday 7/26
Bring food staples to Sunday worship and they go to Neighborhood Congregational Church for distribution. No signup, just bring a bag.
Weekday mornings
You'll sort donated food, bag groceries, and hand them out to neighbors who need them. Ages 14 and up, and you fill out an application first.
Coming Soon to Laguna
Truly Bagels
The team behind Truly Pizza is working on a bagel shop for South Laguna at 31727 Coast Hwy, the old Ti Amo space. Still no open date.
Surfing Heritage & Culture Center
The surf museum is taking over 239 Broadway St, a downtown building that went up in 1941 as a Sprouse Reitz store. Still no opening date.
Orange Door Studio Lounge at KXFM
Our local station is building a live performance room at the studio. Touring musicians and Laguna artists will record sets there, and they'll go out on the air, on YouTube, and on social. No public sessions announced yet.
Local Conditions
Surf
South swells stack up starting Tuesday and keep filling in all week, with more behind them. Brooks and the rest of the south facing spots get the most of it. Big afternoon high tides will swamp it, so work the morning windows. A lot of water moving, rips running everywhere, and the guards were making rescues on day one. Water is low to mid 70s, trunkable.
Weather
Warm and steady. Gray mornings burning off to low 80s most days, with Sunday the warmest at 85. Classic late July.
TUE 7/21  83° 67° | WED 7/22  78° 69° | THU 7/23 83° 65° | FRI 7/24 80° 67° | SAT 7/25 81° 67° | SUN 7/26 85° 64° | MON 7/27 82° 68° |
Crowds
| Peak summer. Three festivals, warm water, and a swell that brings every surfer in the county down the canyon. Park early or take the free trolley. | Tourist-O-Meter  |
In Season
Stone fruit is the move right now. Peaches, nectarines and berries at the Saturday market, plus sweet corn and the first good melons.
Local Wildlife
Dolphins are the easy sighting, often in big pods just past the surf line off Heisler. Up in the canyon the Cooper's hawks are active if you look up on a hike. And a coyote has been hanging around Alta Laguna, so keep pets in at night and early morning.
(facts only) Laguna News (facts only)
• Three council seats are up in November The first candidate forum is set for August 31 at Council Chambers, hosted by Village Laguna. Questions for the candidates can go to VillageLagunainfo@gmail.com.
Laguna Lore
| Hotel Laguna is the oldest hotel in town. The first hotel was built there in 1888 and burned down 66 days later. It was quickly rebuilt. Then in 1898 the owner wanted more rooms, so he bought an abandoned hotel a mile south, cut it into three pieces, hauled the pieces up the coast, and attached them. That building was torn down in 1928, and the white bell tower hotel you see today opened in its place in 1930. |  |
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