Memories at Crystal Cove looks back in time at a boy’s childhood summer adventures at the seashore, beginning just before World War II was on the horizon.

I was five years old in 1940 when we began house sitting for a retired teacher friend of my mom’s. For the next nine years, the Lee family spent our summers in cottage #17, along with four to six relatives, friends, or friends of friends, who changed every few days.

In those bygone years, I spent my time with my constant companion, Angus MaGillicutty Lee, my Scottie dog. My play pal Dusty and I spent our idyllic days exploring tide pools, bluffs, and long beaches that stretched for miles in each direction.

It had been many years since I thought about Crystal Cove or the nine summers the Lee family resided there in cottage #17. Then one day while shopping, I happened to pick up the book Crystal Cove Cottages, and all the fond memories came flooding back.

Californian R. Denzil Lee, AIA, is an architect, land planner, and preservationist by day. By night, he produces club dates and concerts for jazz musicians. About writing this book, In 1992, on Valentine’s Day I suffered a heart attack and was clinically dead when I reached the hospital. I woke up in the ICU and was told what had happened. My dad’s birthday was on Valentine’s Day. He died at 57 years old and I was now 57. My dad never got to know his grandkids. While recovering, I thought I had better document who I had met and where my career had taken me, so my grandkids and their kids would know who I was.