Overview
About Mar Vista
Mar Vista is the South Laguna village grid above Coast Highway, laid out on numbered streets from Second to Tenth crossing Scenic Drive, Mar Vista, Jewel, Virginia Way, Wildwood Road, Fairview Road and Eagle Rock Way. The city draws it as evacuation zone 14 and records 504 households inside it. At 95 acres it is one of the smaller named areas and one of the most closely built: the assessor counts 492 parcels on thirty-eight named streets, better than five parcels to the acre.
The zoning matches the village pattern, with 329 parcels in the city's village commercial category and 94 in R1, so shops, apartments and houses sit on the same blocks. Fire Station 4 stands at 31646 Second Avenue inside the boundary and three bus stops serve the highway frontage. Nyes Place, a little to the north, is where South Coast Highway becomes simply Coast Highway on the city's signs. Laguna Beach Unified serves the village from four campuses and 2,291 students, with El Morro and Top of the World elementaries feeding Thurston Middle and then Laguna Beach High.
View available homes in Mar VistaHistory
How Mar Vista was built
Mar vista is Spanish for sea view, and on this side of Laguna Beach that is a description rather than a marketing idea: the hillsides here were platted for the view down the coast and the streets bench across the slope to keep it. The Spanish in the name is inherited. An 1841 Mexican map called the canyon country behind the town Cañada de las Lagunas, the glen of the lagoons, and Laguna itself is simply the Spanish for lagoon.
Almost none of this ground was ever a rancho. Rancho San Joaquin took in the north end of town and Rancho Niguel, granted to Juan Avila in 1842, covered the country south of Aliso Creek, but most of what became Laguna Beach was one of the very few stretches of coastal Southern California left outside any Mexican land grant. It went instead to homesteaders under the 1862 Homestead Act, and more than forty homestead patents were granted in the Laguna, Arch Beach and Aliso areas between 1871 and 1916. That is why Laguna is a town of small irregular lots rather than long straight ranch roads.
By the Numbers
Mar Vista by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Mar Vista lifestyle
Laguna Beach occupies 8.84 square miles with a population of about 23,000 and roughly six million visitors a year on the city's own count, and provides its own police, fire and marine safety protection.
Beaches north of Aliso Creek close between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.; beaches south of the creek close between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.; Thousand Steps Beach closes between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
The city permits surfing at Agate, Brooks, Rockpile and Thalia Street beaches. Smoking fines on city beaches, parks and trails run $100, then $200, then $500 within twelve months.
Schools
Schools serving Mar Vista
Laguna Beach Unified serves Mar Vista along with the rest of the city, from four campuses and 2,291 students on the 2024-25 federal count: El Morro Elementary 404, Top of the World Elementary 536, Thurston Middle 524 and Laguna Beach High 815. Attendance is set by the district and can change, so confirm the current assignment for a specific address with the district before relying on it.
K-5 · 404 students
K-5 · 536 students
6-8 · 524 students
9-12 · 815 students
FAQs
Common questions about Mar Vista
How big is Mar Vista and how is it laid out?
The city's published boundary encloses 95 acres, drawn as evacuation zone 14, with 504 households on the city record. The assessor counts 492 parcels on thirty-eight named streets, a village grid of numbered streets from Second to Tenth crossing Scenic Drive, Mar Vista, Jewel and Virginia Way. At better than five parcels to the acre it is among the most closely built parts of the city.
Which schools serve Mar Vista?
Laguna Beach Unified serves the whole city from four campuses and 2,291 students on the 2024-25 federal count: El Morro Elementary 404, Top of the World Elementary 536, Thurston Middle 524 and Laguna Beach High 815. Elementary assignment is set by the district and can change, so confirm the current one for a specific address with the district office.
Is Mar Vista residential or commercial?
Mixed, by design. Of the 474 parcels the city zones inside the boundary, 329 sit in the village commercial category and 94 in R1, with 36 more in a coastal village category, so shops, apartments and houses share the same blocks. Confirm the zone on a specific parcel with the city before assuming what may be built or operated there.
How old is Mar Vista?
Older than most of the city. Six tracts were recorded between 1906 and 1937, starting with Coast Royal in 1906, and nothing has been recorded since. Sixty percent of the structures inside the boundary predate 1950 and the 1930s produced more of them than any other decade.
When did South Laguna become part of Laguna Beach?
In 1987, when Laguna Beach annexed South Laguna and Laguna Niguel lost its competing attempt. The Historical Society records that the city's population increase over the following years came mainly from that annexation. It is also worth knowing that there is no Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach: south of Nyes Place, which is just north of here, the road is signed simply Coast Highway.