Laguna Beach Digester
The structures on the east side of Laguna Canyon Road as you approach/leave the business district of Laguna Beach are identified on Google maps as the Water Treatment Tower and the Water Co. Lighthouse. These are remnants of the first major public works project for the city, a sewage treatment plant built in 1935 with New Deal funding assistance, that was demolished in 1989. The ground level tower housed the digester of the plant; the “lighthouse” covered the digester air vent. As late as September 2019, demolition of the digester seemed likely. Laguna Beach residents Barbara and Greg MacGillivray stepped forward with an offer to donate $200,000 toward renovating the building and in February 2020, the city council voted to fund the project. Subsequent actions have coupled its refurbishment with the Village Entrance Parking Structure project.
Laguna Beach, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt