Return to Crystal Cove

Paul Clinton

Stella Hiatt returns to Crystal Cove State Park nearly every weekend

to keep up a tradition she started years ago. As the clock hits 7:15 a.m.

almost every Saturday morning, Hiatt heads into the waters off the state

beach and paddles to the buoy.

It was the 78-year-old Hiatt’s routine for many years, while she was

still a resident of one of the 46 historic state-owned cottages. This

spring, she began that routine again.

Hiatt and the other residents of the cove were evicted a year ago last

Monday. The cove’s former matron now lives in Palos Verdes. And as

painful as it was for Hiatt to lose her little slice of heaven, she has

tried to retain a positive attitude.

She returns to the cove because she doesn’t want to lose a connection

to a place she called home for more than two decades.

“I thought I would be very bitter and emotional,” Hiatt said about her

return to the cove to swim. “But Crystal Cove continues to recharge [me]

every time I go there. . . . It’s a very special place.”

Indeed. The state bought the beach and cottages in 1979 for $32

million and launched several failed efforts to restore and develop the

area for commercial use. In the late 1990s, the state signed an agreement

with a San Francisco developer for a “luxury resort,” an idea that ran

into a firestorm of opposition from local residents.

Now, a year after successfully evicting Hiatt and the other cottage

residents, California State Parks officials have moved into the final

stages of development on a new plan.

That plan, scheduled for public review in September, would offer a

handful of cottages to the public as overnight rentals, and a handful for

education and interpretive exhibits chronicling the cove’s colorful

history. Several cottages would also be used for parks personnel, and two

would be used for a concession stand and visitors center.

State officials have put a price tag of between $12 million and $20

million on the restoration of the dwellings. More than $13 million has

already been set aside, via a statewide bond initiative and a funding

commitment of $9.2 million from Gov. Gray Davis.

To maintain her presence in the cove, Hiatt has also volunteered to

lead tours of the cottages and volunteer in the visitors center. Other

residents, including Rhea Saxs, have done the same.

However, many have still chosen to stay away. The wounds of the

eviction are still fresh.

“Some of them aren’t quite ready to go down there and see how

different it is,” said Laura Davick, a former resident and activist.

Davick founded the Alliance to Rescue Crystal Cove and co-founded the

Crystal Cove Conservancy with heiress Joan Irvine Smith to mobilize

grass-roots efforts to preserve the cottages.

Jim Thobe, who left the cove for an Eastbluff condominium with his

girlfriend of 21 years, said he also returns to the cove, a place he

called home for 31 years.

“I’d said goodbye to Crystal Cove and let go of the anger,” Thobe

said. “I’d rather see it used than see it rotting.”

Several former residents, including Balboa Island resident Doug

Falzetti, didn’t return phone calls to speak about the state of the cove

a year after they left.

In that time period, state parks officials have moved forward with a

$1.1-million interim protection plan to mothball the cottages until the

final plan can be implemented.

Five of the 46 cottages have been fully restored for lifeguards,

rangers and other parks personnel. The others have all been given

plexiglass coverings for windows and needed repairs to leaking roofs,

ancient plumbing and other deterioration.

Davick, who leads monthly tours of the cove, has also kept a close eye

on the state’s efforts.

“They’re showing a certain attention to detail,” Davick said. “It’s

one thing to bring in guys to mow and blow. . . . They’re in much better

shape than I thought they would be.”

However, Hiatt said walking into the historic district -- once home to

lively parties and beach celebrations -- now feels like “going into a

ghost town.”

* Paul Clinton covers politics and the environment. He may be reached

at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7 [email protected] .