Steven Udar-Hazy purchased the Coast Inn establishment from Carey Glen, Main Beach Realty. He also purchased the liquor store from Nabil Rayes. Nabil Rayes continued on to manage his store till he retired in 2015.
I was invited to meet with the architect, Morris Skenderian, and the new owner, Steven Udar-Hazy, which began our 5 year journey together. Morris was very eager and up for the challenge to remodel my family’s old but faithful hotel, keeping true to the historic structure. What took my grandfather about 6 months after he purchased the land to construct a finish building took all of 5 years for Hazy to finally get full approval in order to even begin construction. I don’t even know how to compare the costs to get to this point. Permits, plans, meetings, decisions. And then to build. It cost my grandfather $20,000 in 1929 to build the original structure. And the potential cost just to remodel? This 5 year process wasn’t easy and met with objections, etc. Hazy met with and satisfied the neighbors, the city process as well as the coastal commission. I was also happy with his plans.
The city and Steven Udar-Hazy had noted the significance of the gay community and decided on honoring their time at the Coast Inn with a plaque along with the Smith ownership. At the last city council meeting, it was agreed upon by the owner Hazy and the city to include building a wine bar instead of an area designated as commercial. The article below tells how the meeting went as some people attending this meeting wanted to honor the period of time of the gay community as the “oldest longest continuous gay bar in the Western United States”. Kelly Boyd, our current Mayor for the year 2018, is quoted and gives a good look at Laguna’s gay history. The next article supports what Kelly says at this meeting.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Steven Udar-Hazy had to sell. He sold to Chris & Marcella Dornin in 2013.
Below are the architect plans Hazy settled on through his process that took 5 years to reach approval.