PRINCELY SUM: What a difference a season...

PRINCELY SUM: What a difference a season makes. If you’re thinking of renting a waterfront home that normally goes for $2,500 a month, expect to pay $2,500 a week during the summer. Rule of thumb: If it’s on the water, you pay more. In Laguna Beach, a two-bedroom in an oceanfront triplex may go for $1,800 a week; two blocks inland, a two-bedroom cottage goes for $900 a week. . . . Don’t dawdle. Many summer beach rentals have been booked since February.

PARTY HOUSES: They’re noisy, overcrowded and prone to getting “out of hand.” Newport Beach police responded to 2,300 “party calls” last year, half in just the summer months. “Noise is probably the single largest reason we get complaints about vacation rentals,” says a city official. . . . But a new, short-term lodging permit--holding property owners accountable for repeated offenses--kicks into full swing this summer, after police issued only warnings last year. Penalties will now range from fines up to $1,000 to the loss of the privilege to operate vacation rentals.

BYGONE DAYS: The completion of the first Newport Beach pier in 1889 spurred Santa Ana gunsmith Albert E. Hawley to lease a stretch of beach frontage. Historian Jim Sleeper says Hawley rented out the choicest sites for “bring your own tenting” at $8 a month. A year later, Hawley erected four large platform tents, which became known as “Hawley’s Big Four.” By 1905, in time for the arrival of the first Pacific Electric Red Car, Hawley had built a dozen vacation homes for rent, with his wife, Elizabeth, serving as resident manager and chaperon.

HOT PROP: The owner calls it Sea Castle and it may be the priciest summer rental in Orange County. . . . It’s a turreted, English-style home in South Laguna that not only has its own private beach but a black-bottomed pool and spa. The elegant, four-bedroom (plus sleeping loft) home boasts high ceilings, a winding staircase and hardwood floors. The listing agent says the owner lives there year-round but plans to be gone for the summer. The price? $18,000 a month, she says, “but he’s negotiable.”