Saving Laguna’s ‘artistic soul and heritage’: Land trust acquires 50 art studios in the canyon
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On a desk in her office, Riggie Horvath keeps a picture of the flames burning atop a hillside during the Laguna fire of 1993.
Horvath and her late husband, Mike, at that time were in the process of acquiring two buildings in the canyon.
Things could have turned out differently had the fire destroyed those structures, but the couple bought the properties and she has been a guardian angel for Laguna Beach’s artists since, endeavoring to keep rents down for the community’s creatives.
Horvath continued to make those decisions when it came time to sell the Laguna Canyon Art Studios, a collection of 50 units and 25,000 square feet of workspace.
Longtime Laguna Beach resident and business owner Mark Christy entered escrow for the buildings, located at 3251 and 3275 Laguna Canyon Road for $9.5 million on Jan. 2. He planned to hold onto the properties until the Laguna Beach Community Land Trust, a nonprofit formed to acquire and preserve property for community benefit, was ready to step in.
As it turned out, Christy was able to assign his interest in the properties to the land trust, which closed escrow on the properties this month, providing a path for the units to remain affordable.
In seven months, the land trust has acquired a total of 75 units to assist the town’s artists in need of affordable accommodations.
While awaiting the formation of the land trust, the city purchased two separate parcels for $8.65 million from George R. Burkhardt Trusts in January 2025. Last December, the trust purchased the 25 artist live-work units — at 2307 and 2535 Laguna Canyon Road — for $8 million.
Horvath, revered in the arts community for keeping rents below market value, received the Arts Patron of the Year award at the Laguna Beach Arts Alliance’s Art Star Awards in 2019.
“All of these [tenants] think of her like their grandmother,” Christy said of Horvath, who will retain space at the property.
Upon his initial meeting with Horvath, Christy felt that they were aligned in wanting the “protection of her tenants and preservation of Laguna’s artistic soul and heritage.” That, he said, is her legacy.
“From the beginning, there were artists that had to sell a picture before they could pay the rent,” Horvath said. “It wasn’t a sure income, but gradually, we upgraded. We put [in] new doors and new windows, all kinds of expenses … Little by little as we could afford it, and it turned out to be just like it is today.”
Horvath called her tenants “very good people,” adding, “I’m satisfied that I could help so many artists.”
A range of feelings — from gratitude to relief — has spread quickly among the artists that have long worked out of the Laguna Canyon Art Studios.
Michael Obermeyer, who has had a unit for more than 20 years, thanked Horvath for her role in his career.
“I wish Riggie could live forever,” said Obermeyer, now in his 27th season as an exhibitor at the Festival of Arts. “She’s done so much for the artists here in keeping it affordable. This little enclave of studios [has been] such a secret for so long, and the pricing is affordable for artists to continue to work in Laguna Beach.”
Obermeyer said the space has always been important to him because art is his full-time career.
“Riggie and her husband, Michael, transforming it into art studios has been great,” he said. “I knew the time would eventually come, if you last long enough, that it was going to change ownership, but when I found out that the land trust took over, ‘greatly relieved’ would be a good expression [of how I feel].”
Mike Tauber, a fine artist whose work includes ceramic tiles and paint, has worked out of his unit since 2004.
When he heard of the land trust’s plan to secure the properties, he said he also felt relief, adding, “I’m aware of what goes on in this town’s real estate.”
A familiar refrain came from those who have managed the properties, financial backers in their acquisition, and public officials.
Securing the future of the properties as affordable workspace for artists has brought “peace of mind,” said Mayor Mark Orgill, who along with Councilman Bob Whalen appointed the volunteer board of the community land trust on Nov. 7.
“We all hear the rumors of the real estate investors sniffing around the canyon,” Orgill continued. “They want to do this, that, convert these properties into other things, and it puts these artists on edge, and it’s unfortunate, so when they find out that the spaces are now preserved, now they can go about their lives creating and focus on what they did.”
Asked if others had shown interest in the properties, Horvath answered in the affirmative.
“I did have another offer,” she said. “I had a feeling they might have been in to make big money on the place, and I didn’t want that, so I held back.”
Local philanthropist Patrick Quilter, who has privately financed the remaining balance for the acquisition with a loan he figures may last five years until the property can sustain itself, surmised that “looming uncertainty” likely extends to mom-and-pop aspects of town, such as small shops and restaurants.
“Those are ongoing concerns,” he said. “Property prices, and consequently rents, everybody knows they’re kind of ridiculous here in Laguna. It’s a nice place. Everyone wants to come here, so it drives prices up, but art is the soul of the town. If we don’t chip in and do something to keep artists here in town, we’re going to lose a lot of what makes Laguna special.”
The Quilter family, including Patrick’s brothers Charlie and Chris, also donated a total of $3 million to the community land trust to assist with the purchase.
The housing and human services committee would provide oversight on a proposal to facilitate the establishment of a community land trust to address artist live-work space demand in town.
“Like any real estate transaction, we had to approach it with a lot of due diligence,” said Jeff Randolph, vice president of the Laguna Beach Community Land Trust. “Doing the environmental studies, doing the construction inspection, doing appraisal, reviewing of the leases, reviewing of all the contracts, so we understood how the property operates, so that we could be good stewards of the property.
“We had to approach it both from a mission statement standpoint, and also, just from a pragmatic real estate standpoint. We have a responsibility to do that, because of our donors and because of our supporters, to make sure that we have the property underwritten properly and then managed.
The REMM Group, based in Santa Ana, has been brought in by the land trust to manage the four properties it has acquired, Randolph said.
“With the trust now in place, we have the opportunity to have people that maybe age out of their homes that can contribute the homes to the trust, and we can have those homes available for workforce here in the city,” Randolph added. “... What we see is the ability to have homes come into the trust and stay as homes for living, and that would be, also, an area of emphasis for the trust.”
The Laguna Canyon Art Studios could be seen as an extension of the town’s renowned art festivals. Tauber places importance on artists working together, noting there is a discernible difference between that and having “just a bunch of galleries in a city.”
“I work with every art organization in this town, and I’ve worked with so many artists in this town,” Tauber said. “That’s what you need, when you have an industry in the town, not just a retail shop …
“I’ve been in the business for 30 or 40 years, maybe longer, so that we can be part of the hub in Laguna is important. It’s part of the history. If we were to break up and spread apart, I don’t know what would happen to so many people, and what kind of industry would move into Laguna? What would our town look like?”
Kristine Thalman, the president of the land trust, marveled at what the board has been able to accomplish in a short period of time.
“I feel like we’re repairing the plane while it’s flying, or as [fellow land trust board member] Ed Sauls said, ‘We’re drinking from a fire hose.’” Thalman said. “It’s just so much at once in seven months that has happened … We got a website together. We bought four properties, and now we’ve got to start thinking about, someday, hiring part-time staff to run it on a day-to-day basis. That will be the next hurdle we need to get through.”
