Driving the Pacific Coast Highway between the affluent Southern California beach cities of Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach, there’s a stretch of coastline that remarkably doesn’t have a resort or rows of million-dollar houses blocking the ocean view.

The 3.2 miles of open beach and 2,400 acres of backcountry make up Crystal Cove State Park, and it’s one of the last remaining examples of a natural shoreline in Orange County. 

More than 2 million people visit its white-sand beach, campgrounds or trails every year.

The park is also home to a 12.3-acre historic district that comprises 46 cottages that were built about 100 years ago. “The cottages themselves were built in the ’20s and ’30s by squatters,” said Laura Davick, founder of the nonprofit Crystal Cove Conservancy, which was formed in 1999 to save the historic cottages. “It was basically during the Depression era and also during Prohibition era, where families, as squatters, started constructing these one-room, little cottages down at Crystal Cove and word spread, and so more and more people would come down.” 

Located right on the beach, more than half of the cottages have been carefully restored and are used for overnight accommodations. They provide rentals for 24,000 people per year. Eight additional newly restored rental units are expected to be ready to rent this month.

Frozen in time, the colorful little abodes with oceanfront decks are all unique, surely representative of the original owners who built them. The low rental cost (as low as $49 for a single room or from $222 for an individual cottage) and location make them highly sought after, with a 98% occupancy rate year-round.

The beach’s popularity started in 1917, when it drew silent filmmakers looking for a Polynesian setting. Actors would have parties on the beach “boozing it up,” Davick recalled from an interview with a man who lived there in 1928 at the age of 12. She said there are also stories of rum runners offloading liquor here during Prohibition, because it was so remote back then.

In the summers, beachgoers in tents populated its shoreline. Then, people started constructing more permanent shelters, the origin of some of the current cottages, on the beach.

Three generations of Davick’s family lived at Crystal Cove, from 1921 to 2001. Her parents met there as teenagers as tent campers. After her parents got married, they acquired Cottage No. 2 when Davick was a year old. 

Growing up, Davick said she often found Prohibition-era liquor bottles that had washed ashore. Her favorite bottle in her collection is a brown bottle shaped like a guitar, inscribed: “Federal law prohibits the sale or reuse of this bottle.”

The land was owned by Irvine Company and, in 1940, it sent a letter to all the squatters. “If you wanted to move your cottage, you could, but if you didn’t, it officially became their property, and that’s when the leasing system started,” Davick said. Those who stayed were able to lease the property to continue living there for decades.

Crystal Cove became a state park in 1979, when it was purchased from Irvine Company. “At $32 million, it was, at the time, the most expensive acquisition of state parkland in California history,” Scott Kibbey, a state park superintendent for California State Parks, explained to SFGATE in an email.

In 1997, the state signed a 60-year concession contract with private developers, who wanted to turn the cottages into a luxury resort. However, conservation groups bought out the contract to prevent it from happening. In 2001, all of the tenants were evicted by the state, including Davick. 

Instead of a luxury resort, the cottages were restored in phases, keeping their original style. Work began on the cottages in 2003, and the first overnight guests in the historic district were in 2006. This is also when the park’s Beachcomber restaurant, a renovated cottage, opened.

Ever since, Crystal Cove Conservancy and the state park have been working together to steward the highly coveted coastline. “Crystal Cove State Park’s combination of historical significance, scenic beauty, ecological diversity, educational opportunities, and recreational experiences make it stand out as a truly unique gem among California’s state park,” Kibbey said.