Ever wish you could go back in time to the 1950s where summer cottages literally sat on the sandy beach and Gidget frolicked nearby in the surf?
We’ll now you’ve got the chance to recapture some of that quintessential California, summer lovin’ thanks to the recent opening of Crystal Cove Start Park in Orange County (yes, that OC)
The cove was originally a collection of private cottages constructed in the first half of the 20th century beneath a 40-foot bluff. In 1979 the state purchased the land and the private lessees were given until 2001 to clear out. The state of California then spent the next few years refurbishing the wooden cottages and has just recently opened them up for rentals. The cottages go for $165-175 a night–a virtual steal for such prime beachfront property. And, what fine property it is.
To quote Robin Rauzi of the LA Times who recently spent a few nights in the cove….
To approach it walking up or down the coast is to stumble head-on into a 70-year time warp, into what the National Register of Historic Places recognized as “the last intact California beach vernacular architecture.”
As a sign of the modern times, however, demand is high and reservations extremely difficult to come by. But nobody ever said that time travel is easy.