Overview
About Club Laguna
Club Laguna covers the far north of Laguna Canyon where the city reaches toward Aliso Viejo, and its streets are named for birds: Hummingbird, Songbird, Woodswallow, Royal Tern, Sanderling, Blue Heron, Starling, White Pelican, Willet and Falcon Crest. The city draws it as evacuation zone 8. At 1,001 acres it is the largest of the twenty-two named areas, and the assessor counts 535 parcels on twenty-two named streets. Most of the acreage carries no lot at all: half the boundary is wilderness park.
Five hundred and seven of the 1,001 acres are Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and 316 acres in all are open space preserve. The housing that exists is attached rather than detached: of the 105 parcels the city zones inside the boundary, 99 are R3, the highest density residential category, which makes this the only named area in Laguna Beach with no R1 ground at all. Laguna Beach Unified serves it 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 Club LagunaHistory
How Club Laguna was built
The water here gave the whole south end of Laguna its name and its shape. Aliso means alder in Spanish, for the riparian trees that once lined the creek, and the word was also used locally for the California sycamore. Aliso Creek runs 19.8 miles from the Santa Ana Mountains to the sea at Laguna Beach and cut Aliso Canyon nearly a thousand feet deep through the San Joaquin Hills as they rose about 1.22 million years ago. For a long time the creek was taken as the line between the Tongva to the north and the Acjachemen to the south.
The club in the name is the one in that canyon, the only golf course in Laguna Beach. George and Sarah Thurston homesteaded 152 acres of this ground in 1871, and the Laguna Beach Country Club opened a nine hole course here in 1950. Ben Brown gave the place his name, it ran for years as the Aliso Creek Inn and Golf Course, and it is The Ranch at Laguna Beach today. The fairways still run between canyon walls with the creek down the middle.
By the Numbers
Club Laguna by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Club Laguna 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 Club Laguna
Laguna Beach Unified serves Club Laguna 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 Club Laguna
Where is Club Laguna and how big is it?
It is the far north of Laguna Canyon where the city reaches toward Aliso Viejo, drawn by the city as evacuation zone 8. At 1,001 acres it is the largest of the twenty-two named areas, with 535 parcels on twenty-two named streets, all of them named for birds. More than half the ground is wilderness park rather than lots.
What kind of housing is here?
Attached rather than detached. Of the 105 parcels the city zones inside the boundary, 99 sit in R3, the highest density residential category, and none is R1, which makes this the only one of the twenty-two named areas with no single-family zoning at all. Confirm the zone and any association obligations on a specific address before making assumptions about what may be built or altered.
Which schools serve Club Laguna?
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.
When was Club Laguna built?
Almost entirely in the 1980s, which makes it the newest part of Laguna Beach. Twenty-two tracts were recorded between 1972 and 1988 and none before or since, and 237 of the roughly 245 dated structures inside the boundary went up in the 1980s. Nothing here predates 1950.
How much of it is open space?
Five hundred and seven of the 1,001 acres are Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and 316 acres in all are open space preserve. The wider park covers 7,000 acres with forty miles of trails, opened on April 10, 1993 and is managed by OC Parks. Day use runs 7:00 a.m. to sunset, parking is three dollars daily, dogs are not permitted, and trails may close for three days or more after rain.