How to infuse fun back into Laguna’s downtown

It was the intoxicating allure of Spain that slowly changed his life.

Bill Hoffman, a retired teacher, urban planning expert and 40-year Laguna Beach resident, remembers sitting at an outdoor cafe with his wife, Maria, in the historic city of Segovia outside of Madrid several years ago. It was still warm at 11:30 p.m., and Hoffman likened it to Laguna’s Mediterranean climate.

As is common in Europe even late at night, the central plaza was bustling with families, street vendors, bric-a-brac and joy. He recalls admiring the dimpled cobblestones and thinking they would work beautifully on Forest Avenue.

But why, he thought, is it so hard to create something similar in Laguna? Why can’t the city age gracefully, allowing itself the village charm of pedestrian-friendly zones?

“I think that trip to Spain really changed me,” said Hoffman, who has a master’s in urban planning and a doctorate in social ecology. “We all love our town and we all want to make it even nicer, but it hasn’t had any nice changes for decades. It’s definitely old-fashioned and it needs a facelift and we all agree. Well, why can’t we agree to just try these things?”

Hoffman has been presenting his ideas to various civic groups, including Transition Laguna last week. He’s met with the city’s current planning consultant, MIG, which is working on an update to the Downtown Specific Plan.

“Our downtown is OK, but it would be much more fun if we had outdoor seating and it was more beautiful,” he said. “My wife said that Laguna is worse for wear, and she’s right. It’s got rough edges now.”

Hoffman isn’t comparing Laguna to some idyllic European village in isolation. He’s doing it with cities all across the country. In his newfound “retirement,” Hoffman combined all the things he loved — travel, education and passion — into a new career: tour guide educator.

He has collected an impressive, first-hand account of the best practices that make downtowns exceptional in places like Savannah, Boulder, Pasadena, Claremont and others.

“Cities are getting better,” he said. “You don’t have to drive to Disneyland to have fun.”

There are consistent patterns to what works and what doesn’t. In Laguna, many of the components are here, but they are not being utilized, Hoffman said.

“I think Laguna has become so wealthy it has lost some of its heterogeneity and it’s become more of a defensive community,” he said. “We don’t want this, we don’t want that. Laguna Beach is the city of ‘no.’”

The city can make immediate, simple changes to start moving in the right direction. It doesn’t need major overhauls to be successful.

“Number one, we start with the physical improvements. You start small,” he said. “Forest Avenue at night looks like a cave. So I suggest we enhance Forest by enhancing the entrance. We improve the nighttime illumination, so we create a gateway on both sides.”

Anyone who has been downtown at night knows it’s dark — and sometimes dangerous. If you need to walk to the public restrooms in the alley behind Forest, it’s not a pleasant adventure.

“I think downtown Laguna has become a little creepy at night for some people,” Hoffman said. “It’s so dark at night around Laguna. I don’t think it’s very welcoming. When you have an area where there’s lots of pedestrians it’s less likely that something will happen because there’s always somebody watching.”

Hoffman feels so strongly about the need to improve downtown Laguna that he’s started a petition called “Walk Forest, Shop Forest” at ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-create-pedestrian-street-on-forest.

He said it’s an attempt to be constructive and proactive. He provides practical tips that are supported with proven design and planning principles. He also tries to assuage those who may be afraid of change or fearful of the possible impacts to business.

Despite overwhelming statistical support that downtown improvements help local businesses, Hoffman acknowledges that parking and related circulation issues need to be addressed, but they don’t have to happen immediately.

For example, close Forest only on certain nights, he said, like art walk or popular summer nights. Hoffman said the proposed two-week closure earlier this year, which was voted down, ignored the fact that midweek business activity in Laguna is already slow. Rather than add to that problem, be more strategic.

“You’d be surprised how small physical improvements get people thinking,” he said. “I think dealing with the merchants is very important. That street could become Laguna’s heart.”

Eventually, Laguna needs to address parking if some spaces are ultimately lost on Forest. Hoffman believes it’s doable, if only people would soften their entrenched positions.

“I think it’s a wonderful community but in the sense of physical design it’s become very conservative. We seem to be afraid of change, and I’m sort of disappointed in our town in that regard.”

The possibilities for improvement are so exciting, Hoffman said, that he can’t explain why we don’t take the initiative — and not just for downtown.

“I think if we do these things Forest becomes a fun, pedestrian focal point, but it’s only a small part of the downtown. The bottom line, in all my love of cities and all my tours, it boils down to: Are downtowns fun? Do people have fun? Does it give them a sense of joy when they walk around?”

In Laguna, the answers are up to us.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at hansen.dave@gmail.com.