Antiquing, Eating in Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach is lined with art galleries, but it is also home to fine antique shops, most of which make for great browsing. Three of the city’s best are just south of downtown on Coast Highway: Warren Imports, which specializes in Asian art; Richard Yeakel Antiques, home to Western period pieces d’un certain age, and Yeakel’s partner store Gurule Antiques, next to it, where high-quality reproductions rule the roost.

Noon to 1: After more than 50 years in the business, Warren Imports is truly an institution. Former merchant marine Harry Lawrence, the proprietor here, has amassed what is said to be the largest Asian art store in the United States. A visit to this store is like a seminar in Asian culture or a visit to a Pacific art museum.

The main entrance leads directly into a Japanese rock garden, a peaceful spot with a bamboo water spout and various rock sculpture. The store is filled with rare and period pieces, mostly from China and Japan, plus occasional pieces from Korea, Thailand and other Asian lands. Objects include porcelain vases, lacquered screens, wooden furniture, jade, pearls, cloisonne, cinnabar, coromandel pieces and even the collectible tiny ivory statuary known as netsuke to Japanese craftsmen.

Browsing is free, but feel free to spend a buck on an ersatz Chinese fan in the upstairs gift shop, or $125,000 on a giant enameled Chinese incense burner traced back to the Summer Palace, which manager Michael May informed me was obtained by the British during the famous Boxer Rebellion.

The glass display case against the store’s right wall has the museum stuff, artifacts from various Chinese dynasties. How about a terra cotta cart and tomb from the Sung Dynasty (206 BC to AD 24), or a Cizhou ceramic pillow, ouch, from the Sung Dynasty (960-1276). You’ll have to look elsewhere for the pillow case.

1 to 2: Splashes, in the Surf and Sand hotel, is the near-perfect lunch spot, a beachfront art gallery/dining room hardly anyone can resist.

This small, cozy restaurant is perched, quite literally, above the pounding surf of Laguna Beach. Designer James Northcutt has done up the room in stylish blond wood, in the form of dozens of little windows exposed to the surf. It all has the look of a rich man’s living room; a ruddy stone floor, tropical flowers in brick red stone pots, off-white fans twirling languidly overhead. I can’t think of a more dramatic dining spot on the entire south coast.

As if that weren’t enough, the food is quite good as well. New chef Michael Waugh recently took over the helm from his talented predecessor, Jack Kenworth, and he’s made a few unobtrusive changes on his lunch menu, lightening it up with more pastas and salads. Start a meal here with hearty beef barley soup or the ethereal carpaccio, then have one of the restaurant’s designer sandwiches.

Try Moroccan spiced chicken with almonds baked in a phyllo pastry crust, or the trendy prawn club sandwich with tobiko (tiny flying fish eggs) mayonnaise.

2 to 3: It’s a pleasant four-block walk to Gurule Antiques and Richard Yeakel Antiques, so why not leave the car at the Surf and Sand and hoof it? Parking can be problematic on this stretch of Coast Highway.

The Yeakel and Gurule shops maintain an extremely high standard of quality for Western antiques, spanning a period from the 14th Century to the 20th. The Yeakel store has frequent exhibitions; the last one displayed Russian icons from Palo Alto collector Andre Ruzhnikov (several of which have been retained for viewing).

Practically everything in the Yeakel shop is more than 200 years old, of museum quality, with descriptive cards adjacent.

The Sheraton writing desk Yeakel is proud of is one of only three extant, and the Gothic piece in the back room was lent to Pope John Paul II during his L.A. visit in 1987. You’ll find luxury items from Chippendale, Hepplewhite and others in this store, which the New York Times has rated among America’s Top 10 antique shops.

The Gurule store specializes in various French pieces, moderately priced crystal and more up-to-date items--in short, things within the budget of the fledgling investment-seeking collector.