Laguna Beach Art Colony Visited

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30110, 19 April 1963, Page 2

Laguna Beach Art Colony Visited

Life in the art colony at Laguna Beach, in Orange County, about 50 miles south of Los Angeles, was described yesterday by Miss Dorothy Holloway in Timaru.

The colony has a population of approximately 20,000 and owed its popularity to the 1000-mile coastal highway between San Diego and San Francisco.

Miss Holloway was a member of the Foreign Office from 1944 to 1953 and until recently was employed in public relations work in Los Angeles. The first artist to settle in Laguna was the water colourist, Norman St. Clair.

The colony is the home of hand potters, designers in copper and brass, architects, writers, actors and actresses. They have their own community playhouse, where Hollywood stars appear on stage, and pottery “shacks" and studios.

Each year there is an art festival at Laguna, which is set amid palm trees, exotic flowers, eucalyptus trees, and orange groves. “Out Of Vogue”

Miss Holloway visited another colony at MOrro Beach, Newport harbour with its 5000 pleasure craft, and the luxurious housing area at Huntingdon harbour, where each house has its own harbour, landing jetty, and boat harbour.

She said that Santa Monica was now “out of vogue” as a colony for film stars. One pf the biggest homes was occu-

pied by drug addicts, she said.

She visited Spanish mission houses, and San Simeon (Hearst Castle), built on the Enchanted Hill as a monument to William Randolph Hearst, who founded a newspaper empire. Miss Holloway joined the Foreign Office in 1944. After the war she worked with the visa section in Germany, assisting parents of foreignborn men who had fought in the British Army, soldiers of Polish nationality, and Ger-man-Jews.

“Our job was to help these people—most of whom had been in Nazi concentration camps—to get to England. At the same time, the British Tommy was being demobilised. and British soldiers serving in Germany, who wished to marry German girls, were applying for visas. We were suddenly swamped with 7000 applications.” Miss Holloway said. Famous Cat She did the same work in Spain, where she contracted typhoid fever. She was in Hungary when the Communists took over, and when the legation was “whittled down,” she returned to Germany,

Miss Holloway obtained a white angora male kitten Kismet. It was later admitted to the State Hospital for Animals in Budapest. When Miss Holloway lef Hungary in 1950, Kismet ac-

companied her on the Orien Express. However, Kisme was quarantined at Dove: and Miss Holloway went or to Frankfurt. A few day; later, the kitten was sent t< Germany by Pan-Americar Airways. Kismet travelled t( America, and was lost for i month in Los; Angeles. He now has his own fron door and cushion, his photograph has been sent on card' throughout the United States and his exploits as a Britisl Foreign Office “representative” have been mentioned by many American writers. Slides illustrating Lagunt Beach, and the Californian coastline were shown by Mis? Holloway at the annual meeting of the South Canterbury Arts Society.