Who was the little girl clutching her baby doll, and what was the life she led? Who was the boy with his eyes on the water, and what did he dream of becoming? The years have washed away the answers, and all that is known is what happened to that sleepy little seaside community behind them. Settled in the 1870s, by the time this photo was taken circa 1910, Laguna Beach was already a tourist attraction, particularly appealing to plein air painters from around the globe. After fires and floods and civilization’s constant march forward, today’s bustling coastal town looks much different, but the ocean view is constant. As John F. Kennedy once noted, “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea … we are going back from whence we came.”
