LAGUNA'S RICH CANVAS.

Byline: Story and photos by Eric Noland Travel Editor

LAGUNA BEACH - Sometimes it's difficult to determine where the art leaves off and the everyday world begins in this coastal village at the south end of Orange County.

Walk along Gallery Row on the inland side of Coast Highway and you'll likely find paintings exhibited in the sunlight on the narrow walkway leading to Studio 7 Gallery. Poke your head into the Quorum Gallery and you might hear Bach's ``Sleepers, Awake!'' playing on the sound system - and hear eccentric proprietor Douglas Miller, a classical violinist and prolific painter, playing along note for note.

Then head across the street and toward the bluffs that soar above a rocky coastline. Throw a mental frame around the seascape and you'll be contemplating a work worthy of any master.

Laguna Beach has been blurring the line between art and reality for some time now. Artists began making their way here in the mid-1910s, lured not only by the stunning natural beauty of the setting but also by the - brace yourself - dirt-cheap real estate. At that time, a trip to Los Angeles might require an entire day, and the idea of a summer hideaway at the beach had considerable appeal.

They built tiny cottages and bungalows, many of which still stand, and began setting up their easels out of doors.

Droves of urban refugees followed, especially as freeways made permanent residence feasible. Property values shot up. But the ambience of an art colony never really subsided.

Some 96 art galleries are listed in the local yellow pages, and it's enjoyable to browse them even if many of the prices buckle the knees of midmarket buyers.

The Laguna Art Museum is a rich repository of local works, and in fact currently is exhibiting the paintings of California impressionists from the early 20th century.

Sometimes in this community you also stumble over art where you least expect to: More than two dozen public sculptures adorn parks and street corners.

Against this backdrop, you might assume that Laguna Beach's snob quotient runs high, and that interloping tourists are tolerated on good days and sneered at on bad ones, but this is not the case.

The verdant expanse of Heisler Park sweeps along the coastline at the north end of town, providing a welcoming place for visitors to stroll along the bluffs; restrooms are immaculate, and benches and picnic-table nooks plentiful. Main Beach, at the center of town, has everything you need for a quintessential California coast experience. Laguna Beach's village is friendly. And the gallery owners will welcome you through the doors even if you don't appear to be dripping money.

Begin your exploration atop the bluffs at Heisler Park, wandering up the coast as the pathway describes a series of coves and crescent-shaped beaches.

If you're so inclined, stop in at the Laguna Beach Shuffleboard Club Inc. (Inc.?!), which is open to the public. You can try your hand at a game for hourly rates of $1 for adults and 50 cents for children. Right next door is the Laguna Beach Lawn Bowling Club, which isn't incorporated and isn't open to the public, but you can watch the members play on Saturdays.

You'll notice that the landscaping of the park is appropriate to the climate and pleasantly haphazard. No color-coded petunias here. The vegetation atop the bluff - succulents, palms, cactus, bougainvillea, birds of paradise - tumbles together with no discernible sense of order.

The pathway is popular with dog-walkers, moms pushing strollers, fitness freaks on the run and elderly folks taking their time.

You can descend a staircase or pathway to the shoreline at a half-dozen places: Monument Point, Picnic Beach, Diver's Cove, Fisherman's Cove, Rockpile and the north end of Main Beach. Consult a tide table in advance and be sure to head to the water's edge at low tide.

We perused the tide pools at Rockpile, which is a marine preserve, and were astonished by the vibrancy of nature's display: whole colonies of hermit crabs, urchins of bright lavender, anemones so encrusted with shell fragments that they looked like doughnuts with sprinkles.

At the south end of Heisler Park, the bluff tumbles away to Main Beach, where Highway 133 (the primary link with the 405 and 5 freeways) spills onto the Coast Highway.

Here you'll find a broad sweep of sand, a short boardwalk, another grassy park and probably the most scenic pickup basketball court you'll find in the West.

Before heading into the heart of the village, take a moment to duck into the Hotel Laguna, a boxy, Spanish-derivative monstrosity whose cupola is one of Laguna's enduring landmarks. Hung in the corridor leading to the restaurant are some fascinating historical photos of the area.

A hotel first stood on this spot in 1898 - there were 30 guest rooms but only two bathrooms. Photos from the 1920s show the beach community starting to burgeon but the coastal hillsides empty; no one knew that those view lots would someday command a king's ransom. The current Hotel Laguna went up in 1930, and required only two months to build - it certainly wasn't difficult finding eager laborers during the Great Depression.

One of the favorite pursuits of today's visitor is the gallery crawl - through the village and along the Coast Highway. You might encounter the occasional hard-sell pitch from a proprietor, but the quality of the art will probably mitigate the annoyance.

A few highlights:

-- At the Laguna North Gallery (376 N. Coast Highway), Paula Dickson, who studied art at Pomona College, exhibits her vivid watercolors of the north shore of Kauai - landscapes, dwellings, etc. The work is very reasonably priced.

-- Step back in time at the California Art Gallery (305 N. Coast Highway, Suite A), if you can endure the full-court press of the staff. On display here are Joseph Weisman's scenes of California from the 1930s and '40s - Los Angeles, the Salinas Valley, the Raymond Street train depot in Pasadena (no longer in operation). A staffer here actually implored us to buy with the words, ``Get 'em while you can.''

-- The Redfern Gallery (1540 S. Coast Highway) also has an outstanding collection from the California impressionist school: Alson Clark, Edgar Alwin Payne, Joseph Kleitsch, among others. Although many of the town's galleries favor bare, white walls and let the art carry the space, the Redfern has opted for dark green carpet on floors and walls, and that certainly causes the painters' bright daubs of color to pop out at you.

-- If you have young kids in tow, enter the Chuck Jones Studio Gallery (225 Forest Ave.) advisedly. The late animation legend has some memorable works on display, but you might find your 4-year-old clamoring for an original production cel of Jones' Wile E. Coyote ($1,400) or Dick Duerrstein's ``Pooh's Hunny Treat'' ($2,400).

-- Douglas Miller, the violinist who presides over the Quorum Gallery (374 N. Coast Highway), studied art and music simultaneously at Long Beach City College and boasts of having produced a painting per day since 1994.

-- For a lark, duck into The Vintage Poster (1432 S. Coast Highway). It sells original advertising posters, many of them antique. Your eye might be caught by an advertisement for LuLu Biscuits or a French movie poster for Paul Newman and Robert Redford starring in ``Butch Cassidy et le Kid.''

For a lunch break in Laguna Beach, you can't go wrong with 230 Forest Avenue (its name matching its address), or, for something a little more casual, Madison Square (320 N. Coast Highway).

The latter establishment is a combination cafe and home-and-garden adornment shop. In a serene patio dining area out back, you'll find colorful glass sculptures hanging from the limbs of an ancient pepper tree, garden sculptures displayed here and there, and an array of cleverly designed fountains gurgling away.

The community just can't help itself. Even at lunch, art infuses the setting - much as it has always coursed through life in Laguna Beach.

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE: Laguna Beach is 50 miles from downtown Los Angeles via Interstate 5 and Laguna Canyon Road (Highway 133).

PARKING: Bring quarters. An entire roll of them. Meters govern virtually every parking spot in this town, and they are ravenous - gulping down 25 cents per 10 minutes. The meters are in effect from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. In prime areas, such as the village and the bluffs, you'll find parking limits of two or four hours. Move a little inland and you can find 10-hour limits.

INFORMATION: The Laguna Beach Visitors Bureau has an office at 252 Broadway. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Closed Sundays. [phone], [phone]; www.lagunabeachinfo.com.

CAPTION(S):

7 photos, 2 boxes, map

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) The view from Heisler Park, on the bluffs above Laguna Beach, inspires contemplations, top. In the village, above, murals, sculptures and other forms of art greet visitors at every turn.

(3 -- color) On nice days in Laguna, paintings are displayed outdoors on a walkway to the Studio 7 Gallery.

(4) A walkway winds along the top of coastal bluffs at Laguna Beach's Heisler Park, which boasts plenty of benches and picnic spots, as well as proximity to the ocean.

(5 -- 6) Main Beach offers a quintessential California coast experience, with a boardwalk (above), plenty of sand, a basketball court and the distinctive dome of the Hotel Laguna in the distance.

(7) Outdoor sculpture lurks everywhere in Laguna Beach, including this take on the tortoise and the hare at the Redfern Gallery.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor

Box:

(1) Point of Interest

(2) IF YOU GO (see text)

Map:

Laguna Beach

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist