Crystal Cove State Park
Crystal Cove State Park is a popular destination located in Newport Beach, California. The park is famous for its stunning coastline, crystal clear waters, and beautiful sandy beaches. Crystal Cove is an over 3 mile stretch of coastline right off of the Pacific Coast Highway between Laguna Beach and Newport Beach. It is a perfect place for enjoying outdoor activities such as swimming, surfing, fishing, and exploring tide pools. Visitors can also take part in educational programs, guided tours, and wildlife viewing opportunities.
The park itself also stretches up a canon inland for some great day hiking. Crystal Cove State Park has over 2,400 acres of rugged wilderness and offers hiking and biking trails to explore the natural surroundings.
The park is also home to the Historic District, which features charming beachfront cottages dating back to the 1920s and ’30s, making it an attractive spot for photography lovers. The Historic District has also been the filming location of many films starting with silent movies in the 1920s to most recently and famously Beaches.
The park was created in 1979 out of land sold to the State of California from the Irvine Company. Now Crystal Cove State Park is a must-visit attraction in Southern California, offering something for everyone to experience and enjoy.
Information
Crystal Cove has four distinct beach areas each with their own parking areas and recreational highlights. In addition to the beach areas, the park offers over 18 miles of hiking trails that stretch inland to the San Joaquin Hills. In addition to the Moro Campground by Moro Beach, there are three campgrounds for backpackers along the backcountry trails.
Addresses:
- Pelican Point entrance: 7385 East Coast Hwy, Newport Beach, CA 92657
- Reef Point: Reef Point Dr, Newport Coast, CA 92657
- Historic District: 6900 Coast Hwy, Newport Beach, CA 92657
- Moro Canyon: 8471 N Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Parking: several paid parking lots at each entrance. If you would like to go to the Historic District, the lot is across PCH and you will shuttle down.
More Information
- California State Park http://www.crystalcovestatepark.org/
- Crystal Cove Conservancy https://crystalcove.org/
- Beaches Map: https://www.crystalcovestatepark.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/BestofCCSP.pdf
- Beachcomber Cafe https://thebeachcombercafe.com/crystalcove/
Crystal Cove Beaches
Moro Beach is popular with day use visitors, body boarders, stand-up paddle boarders, surf fisherman and kayakers. The beach stretches from Abalone Point in the south to Muddy Creek where it meets Reef Point beach. To access beach, walk through the tunnel under PCH from the day use parking lot below the campground.
From the Reef Point parking lots located at the traffic light of Reef Point Dr and PCH (across from the Crystal Cove Shopping Center) you can access Muddy Creek, Scotchman’s Cove, Reef Point, and 3.5 Cove. Muddy Creek and 3.5 Cove are good body surfing spots, Scotchman’s Cove popular for surfing, and Reef Point a diving spot. From the lower parking lot, there’s a short trail on the south end that will lead down to Muddy Creek. Also from the lower lot, there’s a trail and stairway that will lead you down to Scotchman’s Cove. From the upper parking, there’s a quarter mile trail from the north that winds down to the beach at 3.5 Cove.
The Crystal Cove Historic District is an enclave of coastal cottages originally built as a seaside colony in the 1930s and 1940s. The colony was built along side the Los Trancos Creek. Originally part of the Irvine Ranch, a vast ranch of 110,000 acres making up about a third of Orange County, for company workers friends and local artists as remote coastal spot. The spot became a popular vacation destination with the opening of Pacific Coast Highway in 1926. The rustic cottages started to popup as weekend and summer homes numbering over 40 by 1939. Today about 20 restored cottages are available for overnight stays.
There are four bluff top parking lots each with access points to the beach. Next to each parking lot, there are restroom facilities some with outdoor showers. A one mile multi-use trail parallels the coast line that offers a view of the coastal bluff vegetation and wildlife. The northern most parking lot will get you closest to Treasure Cove and Little Treasure Cove. Treasure Cove features a tide pool area and a swimming area. The second parking lot has a trail directly down to Pelican Point. The lower two lots descend to the north end of the Crystal Cove beach connected to the Historic District.
Crystal Cove Park History
The Tongva and Acjachemen occupied this area until the Spanish Colonialization began in the 1700s. The Spanish missionary drew the indigenious people into the missions and incorporated them into the mission system. This dissolved the native villages.
When Mexico gained its independence in 1822, private ranch holdings became the landscape of the territory. In 1837, Rancho San Joaquin, a 47,000-acre ranch, was granted to Juan Jose Sepulveda. This included Crystal Cove as well as most of Orange County. The rancho was then sold and eventually all of it bought by James Irvine to become the Irvine Ranch.
Around the turn of the 20th century, Crystal Cove became a weekend spot for the Irvine family, their workers and friends. People came to camp, fish and relax. As its reputation spread, the Irvines opened it up to the public and charged a fee. In the early 1900s, elaborate tents were set up and camp sites were designated. In the 1920s and 1930s, the camps turned into cottages.
In 1979 the Irvine Company sold the land to the State of California as parkland. Concerned with the potential destruction of the long-standing community, the Crystal Cove Historic District is nominated to, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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