Overview
About Spyglass Hill
Spyglass Hill sits on the inland ridge above Corona del Mar and covers 112.3 acres, with 350 addresses on 355 parcels and not a single unit designator among them. Every one of its 22 streets carries a California coastal name, from Montecito Drive and Cambria Drive through Drakes Bay Drive, Point Loma Drive, Goleta Point Drive, Mission Bay Drive, Morro Bay Drive and Bodega Bay Drive. The whole boundary is zoned Planned Community under the Harbor View Hills text, and the median parcel measures 0.282 acres, the largest of the twenty-four boundaries in this district.
The city street layer runs 4.99 miles inside the footprint and records none of it as private, so the roads are public even though the association is a large one. Spyglass Hill Reservoir Park adjoins the boundary at 0.96 acres and Spyglass Hill Park sits 64 feet from it at 1.32 acres, with the 299.84 acre Upper Buck Gully open space 119 feet away. Elevation and canyon exposure show up in the fire record: the 2025 state map rates 60.6 of the 112.3 acres Very High. Children here go to Abraham Lincoln Elementary, which enrolled 336 students on the 2024-25 federal count. For the city's own administration the city places it in evacuation zone 52, park service area 11, census tract 626.45.
View available homes in Spyglass HillHistory
How Spyglass Hill was built
Spyglass Hill was established in 1972 and built by Lusk, the Orange County builder, on lots most of which run over a quarter of an acre. Construction was fast: of the homes the county carries a year for inside this boundary, 336 of 344 fall in the 1970s and 124 read 1972 alone. Roughly 350 homes were finished.
The street names are the neighborhood's signature and they are nearly all one idea. Almost every road inside the boundary is named for somewhere on the California coast, running from Montecito, Cambria and Point Sur through Morro Bay, Half Moon Bay, Bodega Bay, Drakes Bay and Muir Beach to Point Loma and Mission Bay in the south. Two small city parks sit on the ridge, and Buck Gully drops away below the eastern edge.
By the Numbers
Spyglass Hill by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Spyglass Hill lifestyle
Schools
Schools serving Spyglass Hill
The Newport-Mesa Unified locator was queried at 78 real addresses inside this boundary and returned Abraham Lincoln Elementary at every one of them. That campus teaches kindergarten through sixth grade at 3101 Pacific View Drive and enrolled 336 students on the 2024-25 federal count. The secondary grades are taught at 2101 Eastbluff Drive, which the district names as both Corona del Mar Middle School and Corona del Mar High School and which the federal directory records as one campus of 2,106 students across grades 7 to 12.
7-12 · 2,106 students
K-6 · 336 students
FAQs
Common questions about Spyglass Hill
Which elementary school serves Spyglass Hill?
Abraham Lincoln Elementary. That was the answer at all 78 addresses tested inside the boundary, and it differs from the village grid below, which feeds Harbor View Elementary.
Are the streets private?
No. The city street centerline layer runs 4.99 miles inside the footprint and the private streets layer records none of it, so the roads are public and the association is not gated. The register draws the association as thirteen lot polygons covering 112.3 acres. Closing the street rights of way between them gives a footprint of 146.2 acres, which is the shape drawn on the district map.
Who built Spyglass Hill?
John D. Lusk and Son, whose ownership certificate is signed on the recorded sheet for Tract 7844. The surveyor on all four principal tracts was William J. Frost of Raub, Bein, Frost and Associates.
What is the fire hazard rating here?
The 2025 state fire hazard severity map rates 60.6 acres of the 112.3 Very High, 20.4 acres High and 18.9 acres Moderate. That matters for insurance and for the defensible space rules the city applies.
Is Spyglass Hill in the Coastal Zone?
No. None of the 112.3 acres sits inside the Coastal Zone, so a coastal development permit is not part of the approval path here. The city bikeway layer runs 0.84 miles inside the footprint, on , Spyglass Hill Rd.