Overview
About North Coast
North Coast is the stretch of city between Emerald Bay and the village, where Cliff Drive, Cypress Drive, Crescent Bay Drive, Hillcrest Drive, La Brea, Chiquita and Ledroit come down to North Coast Highway. The city draws it as evacuation zone 9a. Across 306 acres the assessor counts 1,133 parcels on sixty-two named streets, and the zoning is unusually mixed for Laguna Beach: 363 parcels sit in R1 against 357 in R2 and 119 in R3, so multi-family ground very nearly matches single-family.
A hundred and twenty-nine of the 306 acres fall inside the mapped coastal zone and six bus stops serve the highway frontage. The city's Historic Resources Inventory lists 131 resources here across six named vicinities, more than anywhere in the city except the two coastal zones to the south. Laguna Beach Unified serves it from four campuses and 2,291 students, with El Morro Elementary just north of the boundary feeding Thurston Middle and then Laguna Beach High.
View available homes in North CoastHistory
How North Coast was built
North Laguna is the one part of town that was planned. Howard G. Heisler bought the bluff land from the Irvine Company in 1905 with L. C. McKnight and the Thumb brothers as partners, and subdivided it in 1906 under the name Laguna Cliffs. It was the first neighborhood in Laguna to offer water piped to every lot, at a time when the rest of the town was hauling it in barrels from the canyons, and by 1912 it was still advertising itself simply as the tract with water.
It is also the reason this is the only part of Laguna Beach where the streets meet at right angles. Everywhere else the roads follow the canyons and the contours; here a grid was laid over a coastal bluff on purpose. The bluff itself became Heisler Park and carries his name, and the neighborhood behind it filled in with Craftsman bungalows, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Mediterranean Revival and Pueblo Revival houses through the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s.
By the Numbers
North Coast by the numbers
Lifestyle
The North Coast 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 North Coast
Laguna Beach Unified serves North Coast 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 North Coast
What area does North Coast cover?
The city's published boundary encloses 306 acres, drawn as evacuation zone 9a, running between Emerald Bay and the village along North Coast Highway. The assessor counts 1,133 parcels on sixty-two named streets, among them Cliff Drive, Cypress Drive, Crescent Bay Drive, Hillcrest Drive and La Brea. A hundred and twenty-nine acres fall inside the mapped coastal zone.
Is North Coast single-family or multi-family?
Both, in near-equal measure, which is unusual for Laguna Beach. The city zones 363 parcels R1, 357 R2 and 119 R3 inside the boundary, with a further 99 in commercial categories along the highway. Confirm the zone on a specific parcel with the city before assuming what can be built or how many units a lot may carry.
Which schools serve North Coast?
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. El Morro sits just north of this boundary. Elementary assignment is set by the district and can change, so confirm the current one for a specific address with the district office.
When was North Coast built?
Over a full century. Thirty-two tracts were recorded between 1906 and 2001, beginning with Alfred H. Barnes's Laguna Cliffs map and S. H. Finley's two sections of McKnight's Addition in 1912. Roughly half the structures predate 1950, the 1950s were the heaviest single decade, and subdivision carried on into the 2000s.
Are there historic properties on the North Coast?
A great many. The city's Historic Resources Inventory lists 131 resources inside the boundary, divided between the Laguna North neighborhood, the Cliff Drive vicinity, North Coast Highway, Hillcrest Street, La Brea Street and Crescent Bay. Listing carries review obligations and can open preservation incentives, so check a specific address against the inventory with the city before planning exterior work.