A Quirky Coastline Enclave Is Reduced to Melted Metal

Long considered a quirky coastline enclave where the rich and the noteworthy eagerly join the mobile-home set, much of El Moro Beach Mobile Home Park was reduced to melted metal Wednesday as fire ripped through its heart.

As many as 60 mobile homes in the south end of the development, located in Crystal Cove State Park above Emerald Bay, were reported burning, while homes in the north end of the park were spared. Mobile homes on the Pacific shore were also spared.

The breathtaking sights and rugged parkland attract about 300 full-time and part-time residents who rarely give up their lots but instead keep them in the family.

Residents include former Irvine Mayor Sally Anne Sheridan and her husband, Donald, whose mobile home was safe from the blaze, and a parcel of doctors, lawyers, teachers, business people and retirees.

“I just wish they would have seen the danger sooner and brought more big guns,” said park resident Seanne Tonkovich, whose home on the inland side of Coast Highway was reported safe from the flames, which were stopped by a creek that runs through the park.

Her husband, Kenny, sidestepped roadblocks and walked four miles from Newport Coast to spray water on the roof of the family’s green and white 1953 Spartan, which is so fancy neighbors have dubbed it “the Taj Mahal.”

“This is a vacation home for us, Tonkovich said. “But there’s so many retired people there. There were people on really tight little budgets. My heart just breaks for them,” she said.

Tonkovich described El Moro as a close community where the rich and the retired live side by side.

“Put them in a bathing suit and you can’t tell the difference,” she said.

Homes throughout the park range from simple aluminum boxes worth about $65,000 to cushy homes with stained glass windows and sun decks worth up to $400,000.

“Everybody knows everybody, and everyone was happy down there, happy to be away from the real world,” Tonkovich said.

Surfers would help pensioners with their marketing and everyone enjoyed the annual pig roast held after the Fourth of July, she said.

“We will rebuild for sure. There’s no way I’m going to give up El Moro,” Tonkovich said.