For anyone wondering where the Laguna Housing Faire came from, it was dreamed up in early 2026 by the Laguna Board of REALTORS (LBOR) Directors & staff to engage the public – local Lagunans & visitors alike – in housing-related dialog. LBOR has been driving housing conversations since 1924 – 3 years before the city of Laguna Beach was incorporated – and we take pride in being one of the town’s Centennial institutions.
2026 marks the last year I am serving as a Director on the Laguna Board of REALTORS® and while I am going to miss it tremendously, there is still plenty to do before they give me the boot!
As the unofficial in-house creative for the Board, I volunteered to create the ads for the event. Since were creating the event from whole cloth – the goals, the exhibitors, the partners, the place – the everything – there was no prior creative direction to work with – no logo, no past photos, no nada, so I had free reign. I’m a big fan of hand-drawn type and thought I might give that go, but that direction didn’t end up where I wanted it, but it did lead me to a more Matisse/Calder-oriented cut-paper kind of idea for some illustrative ideas which I incorporated into the ads. And – since it was going to be at the Cobblestones on Main Beach, I decided to pull in a painting of a map of downtown Laguna Beach I did a few years ago, too.
The turnout for the event was better that I had hoped for – maybe it was the weekend, maybe it was people coming by for a free ice cream or maybe maybe they really wanted to talk real estate, meet city reps who were giving great advice on home safety tips or to mingle with our other awesome presenters! Whatever it was, the event was a hit and I hope we get to do it again next year.
Here’s a few photos; hope you enjoy!
Jesse Brossa
2025 LBOR Past President
I went through a couple of iterations of the ad and finally settled on the simple cutout shapes + the Laguna map as base elements… I liked how it came out.
Silly, I know, but I get excited when I see something I created living out in the public. The Laguna Housing Faire ad in the Indy.
An oil painting on watercolor paper I did a few years ago… I thought I’d try painting a map and the downtown area of Laguna Beach felt like a good subject – it has some interesting dynamics with the retail section, residential and coastline… it’s been in a drawer for years and as I was designing the ad I thought I might be able to put it to work somehow…
Me and Geoff Dunlevie at the Cobblestones at Main Beach for the first Laguna Housing Faire, in front of the sign I designed 🙂 So fun to see stuff like that go from your computer screen to a public venue.
That’s not all of the LBOR Directors, but it is a few; was great hanging with them all. From left to right – Gilda Duhs, Bob Chapman, Geoff Dunlevie, Dana Wall, Greyson Benson, Bobbie Jordan, Kristine Torrance, Jesse Brossa
The Board’s first building in 1928. The Laguna Board of REALTORS was chartered in 1924; pretty neat to stand in a bit of history and continue to shape the direction it will take. Long may it live!
Bob showing Greyson a bit of history; I think that photo they are holding is of the corner of PCH & Ocean Blvd.
Bob Chapman giving a young buck who hailed from the land development sector a bit of story… when those guys walked away I asked them what they thought of Bob and they said “That guy? He’s amazing! He knows, like, everything! I’m in development and that guy was citing Senate Bill numbers and policy positions that happened a decade ago.” I laughed and said they’d never forget meeting him.
Couldn’t be happier hanging out with two legends – LB City Manager, Dave Kiff & Bob Chapman; anytime you can hang out with Bob is a good time.
The Laguna Housing Faire! Woohoo!
We had Home Depot come down and set up a nifty kids building station where they built little sailboats… the kids were putting them together and then marching around so proud of their work. Kudos to Bobbie Jordan for the idea to get Home Depot down there and HUGE thanks to their people who set up, manned the table and made a lot of families smile that day!
Ice cream man saw me takin’ pictures – he was great; got to have him back again next year!
Who doesn’t love free ice cream?? This guy had the best muy mas mas macho-est raging-bull-over-cactus ink and took his little adorable groms wandering through the spaces to talk story and then get them some ice creams; nice work, dad!
CERT volunteers and the Laguna PD gals holding court
The volunteer crew from the Laguna Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) were probably the busiest table of the day; they had good intel on emergency preparedness and were selling an emergency backpack kit for $53 that is a must-have – can’t believe I hadn’t seen that before – so much value in that kit. Note to self – perfect client closing gift in the future.
Volunteers from the Laguna PD came down to share some pro tips on home safety. Did you know they will come and check on your vacant vacation home for free? How cool is that?
Greyson Benson & Dana Wall holding court as one of our guests throws her name down on a lucky raffle ticket; hope ya won it!
Brisk business at one of our real estate Q&A tables with Geoff Dunlevie & Gilda Duhs on deck; nice work, guys!
The Why We Love Laguna board getting filled up with love notes
The Why We Love Laguna board getting filled up with love notes
The Why We Love Laguna board getting filled up with love notes