Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Processing History
Historical Background
Biography
Biographical/Historical note
Collection Scope and Content Summary
Collection Arrangement
Related Collections
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine
Libraries
Title: Christine F. Shirley files on Crystal Cove Historic District
Creator:
Shirley, Christine F.,
1926-2012
Identifier/Call Number: MS.R.113
Physical Description:
7.3 Linear Feet
(8 boxes and 1 oversized folder)
Date (inclusive): 1923-2002
Date (bulk): 1977-2001
Abstract: This collection comprises the personal
papers of Christine Shirley, a former resident of Crystal Cove, California and member of the
Crystal Cove Residents' Association Executive Committee. The collection includes records
from the Crystal Cove Residents' Association. Materials reflect Shirley's involvement in the
association's efforts to add Crystal Cove to the National Register of Historic Places and
its legal struggles with the State of California over tenancy of the Crystal Cove
cottages.
Language of Material:
English .
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by
the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish,
please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Preferred Citation
Christine F. Shirley Files on Crystal Cove Historic District. MS-R113. Special Collections
and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information
about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder
descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Mahlon Vail, 2004.
Processing History
Processed by Audrey Pearson, 2008.
Historical Background
No Subnote Content
Biography
Christine F. Shirley was a resident of Crystal Cove, California from 1967 until 2001 and a
long-time activist for preserving its 46 rustic cottages and the surrounding natural
environment. Shirley first began to visit Crystal Cove in the 1930s with her cousin and
fellow Cove resident Ruthie Van Wyck. She purchased the lease to cottage 23 in 1967 and
spent most weekends thereafter at Crystal Cove with her children. At the time, she lived
with her family in the Hollywood Hills and taught at Los Angeles High School. She married
Jack Shirley in 1970 after they met at Crystal Cove.
Shirley was a member of the Executive Council of the Crystal Cove Residents' Association.
Worried that the Irvine Company would sell Crystal Cove to a developer who would destroy the
cottages and natural ecology of the surrounding area, Shirley worked with fellow resident
Martha Padve to add Crystal Cove to the National Register of Historic Places. Shirley was
deeply interested in Crystal Cove's history and gathered much information about it for an
unrealized book.
Crystal Cove lies on the Pacific Coast between the Southern California cities of Newport
Beach and Laguna Beach. The area was purchased by James Irvine in 1864 and retained by the
Irvine Company until 1979. Early in the twentieth century, squatters began to live in the
area, first erecting tents, then one-room cottages. More rooms were added to these
structures as needed over time, often assembled from driftwood gathered along the beach. The
cottages are one of the only remaining examples of California vernacular beach architecture,
otherwise known as architecture without architects.
Beginning in the 1920s, silent film productions used Crystal Cove as a set for movies set
in the South Seas because all of the cottages had palm-thatched roofs during this era. Such
movies included
Treasure Island (1920),
Storm Tossed (1921),
Sadie Thompson
(1928),
Half a Bride (1928),
White
Shadows in the South Seas
(1928), and, much later,
Beaches (1988). Road traffic increased with the construction of Pacific Coast
Highway in 1926, and Crystal Cove became easily accessible to the public. In the late 1930s
the Irvine Company informed cottage owners that they must either move their cottages or
agree to lease the property from the company. Many owners chose to remain.
After the Irvine Company sold Crystal Cove to the State of California in 1979, Shirley
remained involved in the Crystal Cove Residents' Association as it filed lawsuits against
the State to allow residents to remain in the cottages. The association won several lease
extensions for its residents until 2001, when all residents were evicted.
The last of the cottages was built in the late 1940s. The exteriors of the structures have
remained nearly unchanged since the 1950s, although many interiors have been remodeled.
Between 2001 and 2006, the State of California restored 22 of the 46 cottages to their
vintage 1935-1955 interior and exterior condition.
Biographical/Historical note
Chronology
1967 |
Christine Vail purchases the lease to cottage 23. |
1970 |
Christine Vail marries Jack Shirley. |
1979 June 16 |
Crystal Cove Historic District placed on National Register of Historic
Places.
|
1979 December |
State of California purchases 1,898 acres of Crystal Cove State Park from the
Irvine Company for $32,600,000.
|
1981-1983 |
Development and Public Use Plan |
1982 April 14 |
Crystal Cove residents given notice to vacate by 1982 July 31. |
1983 |
Crystal Cove lease period extended by ten years. |
1991-1994 |
Development and Public Use Plan |
1993-1995 |
Tenant leases extended for two years. |
1994-2001 |
Development and Public Use Plan |
1995 December 29 |
Crystal Cove Residents' Association file lawsuit against the State of California,
Parks and Recreation to prevent eviction.
|
1996 |
Crystal Cove Preservation Partners selected as concessionaire of the Historic
District.
|
1996-2001 |
Tenant leases extended month-to-month. |
1999 |
Crystal Cove Alliance formed to resist the State of California's plans to build a
luxury hotel and modify the Crystal Cove cottages.
|
2001 |
Crystal Cove Preservation Partners' contract cancelled. |
2001 February 9 |
The California Department of Parks and Recreation issues 30-day eviction notice
to residents. Residents file lawsuit claiming non-compliance of agreement.
|
2001 July 8 |
Crystal Cove residents vacate their properties. |
2001-2006 |
Plan for Public Use and Preservation |
2006 June |
Crystal Cove cottages made available for public use. |
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection comprises the personal papers of Christine Shirley, a former resident of
Crystal Cove, California and member of the Crystal Cove Residents' Association Executive
Committee. The collection also includes records from the Crystal Cove Residents' Association
and reflects Shirley's involvement in the association's efforts to add Crystal Cove to the
National Register of Historic Places and its legal struggles with the State of California
over tenancy of the Crystal Cove cottages.
Collection Arrangement
This collection is arranged in three series.
- Series 1. Crystal Cove Residents' Association records, 1967-2001. 2.0 linear
feet
- Series 2. Subject files, 1923-2002. 3.2 linear feet
- Series 3. Clippings, 1959-2002. 2.0 linear feet
Related Collections
Related Crystal Cove materials can be found in the following collection:
- Martha Padve papers on the Crystal Cove Historic District. MS-R091. Special
Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographic prints -- California -- Orange County -- 20th
century.
Historic buildings -- California -- Crystal Cove State Park.
Cottages -- California -- Crystal Cove State Park.
Shirley, Christine F., 1926-2012 --
Archives