From her living room window overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Naia Stevens has a panoramic view to fight for.
And that's what she's been doing, to protect her home from state officials who went to court last week to evict her and other residents of El Morro Village.
Thus opens the next -- and maybe last -- chapter in the legal tug of war between the state Department of Parks and Recreation and the residents of the 75-year-old, 295-space mobile home park between Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar.
This is no ordinary trailer park. Its residents include not just blue collar retirees and the grandchildren of its founders, but also the retired president of the Irvine Co. and the man who once headed the state's lottery commission.
Tenants have long been on notice that their leases expired Dec. 31, in order for the state to convert the aging oceanfront development into part of Crystal Cove State Park. Citing various arguments -- including that the state hasn't followed proper eviction procedures -- 270 tenants have refused to leave.
On Thursday, the state attorney general's office filed "unlawful detainers" in Superior Court, opening the way for a process server to deliver eviction notices.
With the coming showdown, residents are deciding whether to give up the fight and move on, or dig in their heels for yet another courtroom confrontation.
"We're brokenhearted," said Kelly Heflin, whose husband, Gabriel, has lived at El Morro for 21 years. "We have not decided what to do. We just take it one day at a time."
But Stevens, 74, is standing firm. "My husband and I have been here 35 years," she said. "We've got four generations of our family living here."
State officials say there's no room for sentimentality.
"This is a classic landlord-tenant dispute that shouldn't drag on forever," said Ken Kramer, superintendent of Crystal Cove State Park.
The tenants' leases have expired, and "the people of the state of California should not be left with the burden of being locked out of their park," he said. With the mobile home residents having enjoyed decades of oceanfront pleasure, "it's now the public's turn."
The state plans this year to begin converting El Morro into a $13-million recreation facility with campgrounds, day-use picnic grounds, amphitheater and parking.
The evictions are the latest chapter for El Morro Village, which sits on 32 prime acres on the beach and along the edge of El Moro Canyon across Coast Highway.
