FIRST PERSO N CROWN OF THE SEA: GROWING UP IN 1970S CDM By Alyssa Swanson Hamilton Corona del Mar’s signature scent is sea salt. As a child growing up in the 70s, I remember the smell coating everything I owned in the summer. That and Coppertone sun lotion, with the advertisement featuring a toddler-aged Jodie Foster losing her bikini bottom to an overzealous dog. The Crown of the Sea. The wind teased us with beach stories. Seals barked and foghorns blew, warning boats away from the jetties. The folks on the fancier east side of Pacific Coast Highway got the previews; first dibs on the ocean. Those of us west of the highway —many the children of teachers, mechanics, single mothers —lived for that breeze.
Photos courtesy of Alyssa Swanson Hamilton
31
