Heisler Park and Laguna Beach Tidepools

Author's Comments

Heisler is a park that asks you to slow your pace. The bluff path runs the length of it, gardens on one side and the Pacific dropping away on the other, and the temptation is to walk it once and move on. I have done that and regretted it. The park reveals itself in returns - the same cove at different tides, the same bench at different hours, the way the agave throws shadow against the lawn in late afternoon when the sun starts to go warm. Winter mornings at Diver's Cove are what I keep coming back for. Low tide pulls the water back from the rocks and the pools fill with the kind of small life that rewards a slow eye - anemones, hermit crabs, the occasional sea star tucked into a crevice. The stairs down are steep and the rocks are slick and you should not be in a hurry. Bring a polarizer if you have one. The glare off shallow water will eat your photographs otherwise. Above, the park itself is more landscaped than wild, and that is not a flaw so much as a different proposition. The public art reads better at golden hour when the bronze catches warm light. The gardens hold up year round in a way that only Southern California gardens do. From the bluff you can see north toward Crescent Bay and south toward Main Beach, and on a clear winter afternoon when the offshore wind has scrubbed the air, the horizon is sharp enough to make you reach for a longer lens. It is not a dramatic park. It is a generous one.

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