Victoria Beach Waves

Victoria Beach Tower

The La Tour Tower in Laguna Beach is the most public thing on an otherwise fairly- private public beach. The beach is accessible by a long narrow meandering staircase squeezed tightly between affluent cliff-perched homes. It was originally built in 1926 by California State Senator William E. Brown. The tower was a way for the Senator and his wife to access the beach from high atop the embankment of their summer house. This was their summer place because Mrs. Brown despised the "blistering" heat of their Beverly Hills home during the summer months. Despite the house having changed hands several times over the years including once having been owned by Bette Midler and her husband, the tower remains pretty much the way it was built despite the battering from the Pacific Ocean surf and salt air. It is made of poured-in-place reinforced concrete, coated with cement plaster, a rubble ocean-stone concrete base, a conical shaped shingled roof with an internal metal frame and wood spiral staircase. In February 2012, the City of Laguna Beach condemned the tower from further human use due to its faltering condition. It still remains for photographers such as myself and for the late evening romantics who enjoy the beach at sunset.