Beach Memories

It’s still a time for sharing stories of Nana. You will have to excuse the disjointed fashion in which I post these stories; without an index and in no apparent order.

When we were growing up, maybe in the early 1950’s? Nana left J.W. Robinson’s and began a short-lived career running a gift shop (The Jade Tree) in Laguna Beach. I remember being disappointed as we wouldn’t be seeing her as often, but also excited because we would be going somewhere different on those weekends when we would drive down the old Pacific Coast Highway to faraway Laguna to visit her. And going to Laguna meant that we would have a chance to wave at the “Greeter” of Laguna Beach. He was an old gentleman with long white hair and beard and he stood near an intersection in downtown Laguna, waving at every car that passed. (That's him in the photo)

Here’s a comment from someone from that era.

Eiler Larsen was known as The Greeter of Laguna Beach, but to us the Laguna youth of the '50s and '60s, he was only Mr. Larsen. He stood at the corner of PCH and Forest Ave, sometimes under the hanging gate, but mostly on the beach side. He heartily waved to every passer by. He called out "Hello there" in his deep voice. He gave people his crooked smile. He was happy when he greeted people, he was happy when he did the light gardening for the north end residents, he was happy almost all the time. He loved people; he loved the outdoor, the sun, the wind, and the beach. One thing he did not love was people who were rude and pointed at him. We never did. We all said “Hi Mr. Larsen” when we passed by him, we all loved him and respected him as our parents said we should.

I remember that we would start talking about waving to him long before we arrived and it was almost anticlimactic when we waved and passed him…but we had another chance to wave on our way home!

Odd, but I can’t remember where Nana lived while she was in Laguna. Perhaps an apartment came with the position? Laguna Beach then, as now, was not a cheap place to live. Only the wealthy and a few artists lived there…

I do remember going to the gift shop and being quite proud that our Nana was in charge of this marvelous place, much nicer than the dusty old lamp department in Robinson’s.

For reasons now unknown to me, the venture was soon over and Nana returned to her position at Robinson’s and life in her old apartment in Glendale.