The Region - News from Oct. 2, 1985

Homes and businesses along an almost three-mile stretch of Coast Highway in Orange County were blacked out, some for more than an hour, due to an equipment failure. The 8:15 p.m. power outage, involving an estimated 1,600 customers from downtown Laguna Beach south to Aliso Canyon, was caused by a defective lightning arrester, according to Gene Carter of Southern California Edison Co. Carter said that service was restored to all but 300 customers by 8:52 p.m., and by 9:33 p.m. all but one were back on line. Downtown businesses were without power for only a few minutes, Carter said.