‘Laguna’ cast as the villain in Laguna

On election eve when much of the country was transfixed by the nation’s political races, a hastily assembled panel of school board candidates sat uneasily on stage at the Laguna Beach Women’s Club.

Facing them was an audience of parents looking for answers. Not answers about academic standards, curriculum or school funding, but answers on where candidates stood on something far more divisive: MTV.

One after another, the candidates savaged the television network and its gauzy reality show “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,” blaming it for everything from presenting local youths as rich brats to making the city a potential target for sex predators.

Laguna Beach High School, where many of the students on the series attend class, recently ranked No. 1 for alcohol and drug abuse in Orange County, according to the California Healthy Kids Survey.

Why?

“It seems obvious to me that this ranking is the direct result of the image MTV has set for some of our kids,” said candidate Jeff Elghanayan.

Ketta Brown, a former PTA president, said that allowing MTV to film students was “stupid.”

“It was a boneheaded move. I would never let my child participate,” she said. “Hopefully this show will die a natural death.”

The politics of “Laguna Beach” and residents’ race to condemn and distance themselves from the series, which is filmed off campus, reflects the depth of resentment the series has engendered here. At the same time, its defenders say, the series is being blamed for anything and everything that goes wrong -- even the city’s ongoing transformation from bohemian art colony to enclave of the fabulously rich.

The show, which premiered two years ago, follows a clique of attractive teenagers as they navigate a minefield of romance and serial “hookups” while engaging in bitter, often banal feuds. And it’s all shot against a backdrop of sweeping ocean vistas, plunging cliffs and shimmering sunsets in one of the nation’s most beautiful cities.

Some parents, once mostly annoyed at how their city appeared on television, say they now worry for the safety of their children.

“What are the security implications of this?” asked David Vanderveen, who organized the candidates forum. “We are probably one of the best-known high schools in the country, and not for the right reasons.”

MTV spokeswoman Marnie Black said many of the accusations were “completely preposterous.”

“This is a vocal minority, but we have good relations with the majority of the town,” she said.

Howard Hills, a local lawyer and opponent of the series, said he recently attended a meeting between the PTA and several city police detectives about Internet predators. He said one detective warned that the increased visibility of Laguna Beach could make it a target.

But Det. Danell Adams, a police spokeswoman, said there was no evidence to make that judgment. “I suppose it’s always a possibility, but predators are very low key,” she said. “Is it a problem? Have we made any arrests? Not once. We have no criminal statistics that would draw a nexus between MTV and sexual predators.”

Not that there haven’t been issues. People have gone to the high school looking for “Laguna Beach” characters. Out-of-town teens have tried to enroll in the hope of being discovered. There have been minor traffic accidents as motorists gawked at the filming around the city. And in one case, Adams said, an MTV crew filmed a fight and would not release the tape to police.

“We asked for it as evidence and they refused, which is legal for them to do,” she said.

Hills, whose daughter attends the high school, said he planned to ask the school board to approach MTV and request the network not use the name of Laguna Beach High School, footage of school events or the school’s image in the series.

“It’s not about coercion; it’s about moral responsibility,” he said. “We want to eliminate the strong identification between the school and the show. We would like to lower our profile.”

MTV said that after the school board barred it from filming on school property, the network refrained from shots of the school or school events.

A graduation was featured on “Laguna Beach,” but school officials said it was videotaped by a parent who gave it to MTV.

While acknowledging that they live in a wealthy and beautiful city, some students say much of what appears in the reality show is unreal.

“It creates this rich, rock-star, beach lifestyle that just isn’t true,” said Matt Ininns, 17.

At Laguna Surf & Sport, Ryah Arthur still deals with girls who show up to meet his former co-worker, Stephen Colletti, who starred in the first two seasons.

Arthur, 19, who hopes to become a pro surfer, said he has been asked to appear on the series but refused. “I wouldn’t sell out my town for MTV,” he said. “I don’t want to be famous. That’s not what I’m about.”

Kara Scartaccini, who went to the prom with Colletti, doesn’t watch. “I went through high school,” she said. “I don’t need to see it again.”

Yet some say MTV has become a scapegoat for a city with an identity crisis. Laguna Beach, once an eclectic arts community that held its own Woodstock and was home to LSD guru Timothy Leary, has become a place for the ostentatiously rich. Traffic has increased, high rents are driving out mom-and-pop businesses and even the well-established gay community is shrinking.

“When it was so hot this summer and people asked why, I said, ‘It must be MTV.’ That’s how ridiculous it has become,” said Candace Hurley, whose two sons have appeared on “Laguna Beach.” “People now blame MTV for everything. They blame the crowds on MTV. It’s not like there are bands of kids coming in. It’s families taking photos in front of the Laguna Beach High School sign. Why is that such a negative?”

Hurley said disdain for MTV was approaching hysteria.

“I painted my house this summer and the rumor in the neighborhood was that MTV sent a stylist to pick out the colors. Some parents have called me a bad mother and no longer speak to me,” she said. “Anywhere else, people seem to think of it as a show about high school kids for high school kids.”

Her son Kelan became a cast member to promote his band. He now has a record contract with Sony, she said. “My son set out to not embarrass our family and show off his band,” she said. “We feel lucky the show did what we hoped for.”

Jim Conrad’s daughter Lauren starred in the first season and later got her own spin-off series, “The Hills.” His younger daughter, Breanna, is a cast member of this season’s “Laguna Beach.”

He said the school board’s decision to bar MTV from the high school campus backfired.

“We wanted them to show school activities and present our kids in the best light. So without that, what is left? Parties, going out,” he said. “I would say 80% of people here couldn’t care less. They don’t watch the show, they don’t like it or hate it. I’m no rah-rah cheerleader for MTV, but it hasn’t ruined our town.”

Quite the contrary, says Charles Ahlers.

“It’s not that we are in love with the storyline, but those of us who market the area love the publicity,” said Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau. “This is publicity you can’t afford to buy. People all over the world know us now.”

That’s exactly what many residents don’t want to hear.

“People don’t think real families live here,” said Marshall Ininns, whose son attends the high school. “MTV is pimping out our kids and presenting a lifestyle across the country that is largely unattainable.”

Yet, despite the anger, Howard Hills is optimistic.

“I think the MTV effect has been an opportunity for the community to rediscover itself,” he said. “MTV was a threat to our identity, but I think it has become a chance for us to see who we really are.”

david.kelly@latimes.com