Three Arch Bay, Laguna Beach:
homes, streets and what sells.
Three Arch Bay is a 29-acre guard-gated community in South Laguna, inside the City of Laguna Beach, named for three natural rock arches in its cove. Residents pay an association fee, reported at $3,025 a year in 2026, and share a beach, parks and fire pits. Oceanfront homes on the bluff sell highest.
Greg reviews every request and replies with a written valuation.
Three Arch Bay homes for sale are few, because the whole community fits on 29 acres at the south end of Laguna Beach, behind a guard gate off Coast Highway. It takes its name from three natural arches in the rocks of its cove. Houses sit on the bluff above the water and on the hill behind it, and some oceanfront homes have swimming pools cut into the intertidal rock that the incoming tide refills.
Inside the gate the streets are private, and the association runs a beach, parks and fire pits for residents. Outside it, the community is fully part of the City of Laguna Beach, so city planning and design review apply to every remodel. This guide, under the Laguna Beach guide, covers the homes, the latest figures, the association and how Greg Toussieng would price and sell a Three Arch Bay home.
- Where South Laguna, City of Laguna Beach, 92651 (source)
- Size 29 acres (source)
- Gate guard-gated (source)
- Name three natural arches in the cliffs of the cove (source)
- Association fee $3,025 a year, as reported in May 2026 (source)
- Shared amenities private beach, parks, fire pits (source)
- Development began in 1924; tract office built by 1927 (source)
- Land purchase the 29-acre site bought for $135,000 in 1926 (source)
- Rock pools first tide-filled pool built by film producer Edward H. Griffith in 1929 (source)
- On film Captain Blood (1935) was shot here (source)
- Historic homes four houses on the Laguna Beach historic register, built 1928 to 1936 (source)
What do homes in Three Arch Bay look like?
Homes in Three Arch Bay run from 1920s and 1930s cottages to large rebuilt houses on the bluff. The Laguna Beach historic register lists four of them, including a French Normandy style house built between 1928 and 1936 on Barranca, a 1933 Mediterranean Revival house and two beach cottages on La Senda from 1929 and 1936.
The community divides informally into Lower Three Arch Bay, the streets nearest the ocean, and Upper Three Arch Bay on the hill behind. Oceanfront homes on the bluff command the highest prices. Up the hill, the width of the ocean view and the size of the lot do most of the work. Upper lots are often larger, and an Orange County Business Journal report on a 2026 sale described a lot of about 33,000 square feet as unusually large for the neighbourhood.
Laguna Beach's design review shapes what can be built. Views, height and the scale of a new house are reviewed against the neighbours, so the house a buyer can put on a lot matters as much as the house on it today.
How did Three Arch Bay begin?
Three Arch Bay began in the mid-1920s as a planned beach colony on a cove at the end of South Laguna. Development started in 1924, a tract office was up by 1927, and the actor and developer Hallam Cooley led an improvement programme that local historians describe as one of the largest on the Orange County coast at the time.
The cove drew Hollywood early. Film producer Edward H. Griffith built the first tide-filled rock pool in 1929, his property had a lighthouse that served as a film backdrop, and the 1935 film Captain Blood was shot here. Sales were slow through the Depression: by 1939 the $3,000 lots were still being advertised on easy terms, with warnings about rattlesnakes.
What do Three Arch Bay homes for sale cost?
Three Arch Bay homes for sale cost well above the Laguna Beach median, and the card above shows the latest three-month figures where Redfin publishes them. Few homes trade in a quarter, so a single sale can move the median.
Prices in Three Arch Bay follow the view and the distance to the water. Oceanfront homes on the bluff sell at the top of the range, and the hillside homes of Upper Three Arch Bay sell lower as a group, sorted mainly by how much ocean each house sees and how large its lot is.
Public sales show how far the range reaches. In March 2026 a midcentury house on a three-quarter-acre lot in Upper Three Arch Bay sold for $13.6 million, which the agents involved called a record for that part of the community, according to the Orange County Business Journal.
For an owner, a fair value comes from the few recent Three Arch Bay sales most like the home, matched on bluff or hill, view and lot. Greg puts those in a written analysis, adjusts each for size and condition, and shows how the price was reached.
When the sale-to-list ratio in the card drops under 100 percent, buyers have been negotiating from the asking price. In a community this small, that usually means a few listings came to market priced ahead of recent sales.
Which Three Arch Bay homes are for sale now?
The Three Arch Bay homes listed for sale right now appear below, from the MLS, with each listing brokerage credited.
What is it like to live in Three Arch Bay?
Living in Three Arch Bay revolves around the cove, its beach and the arches at the water's edge. The association keeps the private streets, the beach, the parks and the fire pits, and the tide pools along the rocks are part of daily walks at low tide.
Outside the gate, South Laguna's small beaches and the Coast Highway shops are close by, Dana Point Harbor is a short drive south and the village of Laguna Beach, with its galleries and Main Beach, is a few miles north. Homes on the hill look out to Catalina Island on clear days.
Under the arches
Three Arch Bay's beach sits below the bluffs, reached through the gate and down the community's own paths. Laguna Beach homes guide
How would Greg sell a home in Three Arch Bay?
Greg would sell a Three Arch Bay home by pricing it from the community's own sales and showing buyers the view, the beach and what the lot allows. For an oceanfront house, the photography leads with the bluff, the rocks and the water at low sun. For a home in Upper Three Arch Bay, it leads with the line of sight to the ocean and Catalina, and the listing describes the walk down to the beach in plain terms.
The pricing comes from a written analysis of the nearest comparable sales inside the gate, adjusted for view, lot, bluff exposure and condition. Greg also gathers the documents a careful buyer wants early: the association's budget and rules, the city permit history, any geological reports on the bluff and the flood zone. A record house can still sit on the market if buyers find a problem late, so the preparation is part of the price.
Greg Toussieng is a California real estate broker, DRE #01495415, first licensed in California in 2005, who prepares and runs each listing himself.
Greg prepares a written valuation from recent sales near you. Start with the address.
What should a buyer check before an offer in Three Arch Bay?
A Three Arch Bay buyer should check the association documents, the bluff and the permits, then the insurance. The association's CC&Rs, budget and reserve study set the dues and rules, and they show whether any assessments are coming.
For a bluff-top or oceanfront house, ask for geological and soils reports and the history of any seawall or slope repairs, and have a geotechnical engineer review them. Pull the City of Laguna Beach permit history, since unpermitted work is hard to fix after closing and design review governs any rebuild. Look up the lot on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, get an insurance quote in the first days of escrow, and confirm the school district assignment with Laguna Beach Unified.
Which communities near Three Arch Bay should you compare?
Buyers who consider Three Arch Bay often compare it with Emerald Bay at the north end of Laguna Beach and with Pelican Hill in Newport Coast.
Emerald Bay is larger, with about 538 homes on both sides of Coast Highway, and is unincorporated county land rather than part of the city. Pelican Hill is a guard-gated hillside community beside the Pelican Hill golf courses, built from the 1990s. See the Laguna Beach homes guide for the rest of the city and the luxury homes guide for the gated and coastal tier across Orange County.
Own a home in Three Arch Bay?
Get a value built from Three Arch Bay's own sales, bluff and hill. Get a written home value
Selling in Three Arch Bay? Ask Greg for the community's recent sales.
Who can finance a home in Three Arch Bay?
Esther Buede at Choice Home Mortgage can arrange the loan, timed to Greg's work on the purchase.
Financing a home in Three Arch Bay? Esther Buede at Choice Home Mortgage
Esther works with Greg on the loan side of a purchase, from conforming loans to jumbo loans on the coast. Choice Home Mortgage, NMLS #2629064, has a page on buying and financing in Orange County.
Orange County home loans with Esther Buede
Gregory James Group and Choice Home Mortgage are trade names of the same California company, Montana Real Estate Inc (CA DRE #01822046, NMLS #2629064), which Greg Toussieng owns. If we represent you in a purchase or sale and you also arrange your loan through Choice Home Mortgage, the company is paid for both services. You are not required to use Choice Home Mortgage to work with Gregory James Group, and you are free to compare loans from any other lender. When we refer you, we give you a written disclosure of this relationship and the estimated charges, and when we act as both your agent and your loan broker we confirm both roles in writing within 24 hours.
Common questions
Is Three Arch Bay gated?
Three Arch Bay is a guard-gated community of 29 acres in South Laguna. The gate controls the private streets and the way down to the community's beach. Guest rules, contractor access and beach use are set by the community association, so a buyer should read the current rules and CC&Rs during escrow.
Can the public go to the beach at Three Arch Bay?
Three Arch Bay's beach is reached by land only through the gated community, so in practice the sand below the bluffs is used by residents and their guests. California's constitution protects public access to navigable waters, and the shore below the mean high tide line is generally public trust land, so the private part is the land route and the area above that line.
How did Three Arch Bay get its name?
Three Arch Bay is named for a formation of three natural arches in the rocky cliffs at its cove. The arches give the community its shape: homes sit on the bluffs and the hill above the rocks, and some oceanfront houses have pools cut into the intertidal rock that the incoming tide refills.
What are the HOA dues in Three Arch Bay?
Three Arch Bay residents paid an annual association fee of $3,025, according to an Orange County Business Journal report from May 2026. Fees can change each budget year and special assessments are possible, so ask for the association's current budget, reserve study and any planned assessments before removing contingencies on a purchase.
Is Three Arch Bay in Laguna Beach or Dana Point?
Three Arch Bay is in the City of Laguna Beach, at the south end of the South Laguna area near the Dana Point line. South Laguna joined the city through an annexation whose shoreline boundaries the State Lands Commission reviewed in 1987. Homes use Laguna Beach 92651 addresses, and planning and permits go through the city.
How much is a Three Arch Bay home worth?
A Three Arch Bay home's value turns on whether it is oceanfront, the width of the view, the lot and the condition of the house. Greg Toussieng, a California real estate broker, prepares a written comparative market analysis from Three Arch Bay's own recent sales, with every adjustment shown.
- Three Arch Bay: 29-acre private gated community in South Laguna, three arches, tide-filled rock pools, 1926 purchase, Griffith, Captain Blood (1935), 1939 lot sales · checked 2026-10-28
- Orange County Business Journal (May 18, 2026): Upper Three Arch Bay record sale, guard-gated 29 acres, private beach, $3,025 annual association fee · checked 2026-10-28
- Historic Laguna: Three Arch Bay development from 1924, tract office 1927, Hallam Cooley, historic register homes · checked 2026-10-28
- California State Lands Commission (1987): boundaries for the proposed South Laguna annexation to Laguna Beach · checked 2026-10-28
- California Constitution, Article X, Section 4: access to navigable waters · checked 2026-10-28
- City of Laguna Beach: residential design guidelines · checked 2026-10-28
- Laguna Beach Unified School District · checked 2026-10-28
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center · checked 2026-10-28
- California DRE licence lookup · checked 2026-10-28
Start with the address. Greg does the rest.
A written valuation from recent sales near you, prepared by a licensed broker. Or call (949) 868-8820.