Special Places · Mystic Hills, Laguna Beach
New Construction With Its Own Second Residence
This one is ground-up new construction on a steep Mystic Hills street, high enough above downtown that the ocean shows up in nearly every south-facing window. The build is genuinely two homes in one: an upstairs main residence with an open living and dining room wrapped in glass, plus a completely separate casita below with its own entrance, kitchen, and bath — the kind of flexible second unit that's increasingly rare to find already built rather than added on later. Getting it took more patience than usual — a run of gloomy weather kept rolling back in against a tight listing deadline, so it meant going back more than once: one trip for the clear daylight shots, another once the sky cooperated again for sunset. The best frame of the whole shoot came almost by accident on that second trip, a long-exposure shot down the street at dusk with headlights and taillights streaking past the property while the sky was still doing something spectacular over the water.
