Historic Lanterns

In the mid-1920s, a Laguna Beach realtor named Anna Walters headed up a syndicate that had acquired 900 acres in the Lantern Village. This syndicate began developing our neighborhoods, naming streets after colorful ship’s lanterns: green, blue, ruby, and the rest. Anna also built the Blue Lantern Gazebo and the Blue Lantern Fountain Lunch and Service Station, still standing as the Bella Bazaar.

After a short time, Walters’ venture faced bankruptcy, and Sidney Woodruff, the man who had earlier developed Hollywood, came to town and purchased that plus another 1,400 adjacent southeast acres. Anna joined his company, and he continued to develop the rest of the Lantern Village, installing the colorful ship’s lanterns along Roosevelt Highway (now PCH) and throughout the Village, complete with underground electrical wiring. He also installed sidewalks, sewers, telephone lines, and paved streets.

Woodruff’s grandiose plans for this beautiful seaside village, which included a luxurious hotel resort on the bluff overlooking the harbor (complete with an elevator, which is still there along with partial walls of the unfinished hotel) were sadly halted by the market crash of 1929. Before this, Woodruff built 33 homes on the ocean bluff and on the various lantern streets, plus the Woodruff Sales Office (now UP Sports) and several other commercial buildings in the Lantern Village, such as the Cafe’ Aubert French restaurant (now the Blue Dolphin) and the Home Sales Auditorium/Community Center (now the Renaissance).

As the development sat dormant in a state of depression, the beautiful lanterns began to rust and were eventually taken down by the County and sold for pennies. Several folks saved some of the lanterns. About a half dozen have been re-erected in the front yards of some of our Lantern Village residents. Also, as you are walking around the village, you can see the bases of many of the original lanterns in the sidewalks along with the 1929/1930 sidewalk stamps of Western Construction Company and others. An original rusted lantern still sits on Violet Lantern and will soon be rescued by the Dana Point Historical Society. The Society has a few additional lanterns in its inventory, including one that ended up in the 1940s at the Cottage Restaurant in Laguna Beach and was now destined for their trash bin. Also, many of the “saved” lanterns have been re-erected by the City in La Plaza Dana Point.

And now, the City is in the planning stages of possibly installing new replica, colorful lanterns (i.e. red for Ruby Lantern, etc.) along the new Town Center highways right in the heart of the Lantern Village. PCH and Del Prado would be enhanced by historic lanterns at our downtown business area corners. This exciting project would incorporate important historical heritage into our new Town Center and, if installed, would be a beautiful sight to see.

It appears that Sidney Woodruff’s 1920s plans will finally come to fruition. No doubt he would be proud to see this, as he would also be to see his “Hollywood” sign still standing in the Hollywood Hills. It just keeps getting better, as we in the Lantern Village see more and more beautification in our neighborhoods.

And, by the way, it doesn’t hurt our property investments either.

Quite the contrary!