Things to Do in Ladera Ranch

The meaning of art may be subjective, but Mission: Renaissance Fine Art Classes believes that the basic, technical skills needed to create art are learnable, regardless of a student’s age or experience. The instructors at the studio, which was originally founded in 1975, illuminate the Gluck Method, which focuses on the classic rendering techniques that the great masters used on their first computers. The classes can accommodate students as young as 5, and they explore a number of different mediums—including charcoal, watercolors, and oils—while giving attendees the experience they need to appreciate art, as well as create it. Spread across 19 studio locations in southern California, attendance is capped at around six students per instructor, which allows them to offer artists more personalized feedback and more fitting nicknames.

Modest Spot Salon is a full-service salon that hosts an atmosphere framed by vintage chic decor. Stylists offer a variety of services that include cuts, color treatments, highlights, and conditioning. The salon also hosts a makeup and styling bar where groups can enjoy blow-drying and makeup application in the evening.

Before yoga was a household activity and people meditated to guard their minds from computers' thought-control beams, Yoga Center of California was already teaching students a rigidly traditional yet relaxed approach to yoga. Within the center—established more than four decades ago—instructors who have all trained for at least five years under internationally renowned guru Ramakrishna Ananda demonstrate time-honored poses and emphasize meditation techniques from each yogic style to help students find the technique that suits them best. These professors of flexibility also guard pupils against strain as they find each group's comfort zone, showing them how to relax a pose and modify positions to match skill levels. In each class, such as Hatha, Chinese, or prenatal yoga, two instructors introduce the philosophy of yoga while training participants in asanas and meditation. Yoga Center of California also teaches children in specialized classes.

Updated merchant profile to read: From its beach-adjacent headquarters at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, OC Helicopters whisks clients away on aerial tours that deliver a rare vantage point for familiar southern California places and Los Angeles and Orange County beaches. Owner and head pilot Ric Webb mans air-conditioned and reliable Robinson R44 helicopters and other aircraft that can comfortably seat three to six passengers in chairs that provide a 180-degree view. Customers choose from a number of aerial tour routes, sending Ric veering south over Laguna Beach's luxury golf courses and sprawling houses or hovering near Crystal Cove and Huntington Beach. Helicopters can also head northwest and take the Surf City Tour, which traces the shoreline while supplying an aviator's eyeful of Huntington Beach's population of surfers as they come ashore to lay their bronze eggs.

A shiny fleet of fuel-efficient Sea-Doo GTI watercraft lines the dock of Balboa Water Sports, ready to conquer the California coastline anytime of the year. Savvy staffers help customers become aqueous explorers, renting out gleaming white jet skis, stand-up paddleboards, and other modes of transport. On popular guided rides, sea lions romp on the shore as watercraft skim along past Corona del Mar, Crystal Cove, and Emerald Bay. Tours also stretch as far south as Laguna Beach, where sea riders often spot adolescent dolphins playing mischievous games such as Marco Polo and spin the bottlenose.