Last of the coastal resorts?

Terranea, which opened last week on the old Marineland site in Rancho Palos Verdes, and the Resort at Pelican Hill near Newport Beach may be the last big resort compounds to be developed on the Southern California shoreline, says former L.A. Times travel writer Valli Herman in the June issue of Orange Coast magazine. It's not just the tanking economy, though that doesn't help.

Building an ocean-view luxury resort is an undertaking so enormous it tests the perseverance of anyone who dares. The fundamentals required for large-scale resorts‹huge chunks of gorgeous, well-located land, deep-pocketed and patient developers, and high numbers of well-funded guests‹are in short supply and shrinking by the day....Oceanfront development is at a virtual standstill.

Rick Caruso may beg to differ: his replacement for the Miramar in Montecito finally has some momentum. Meanwhile, Orange County's St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa filed for bankruptcy last week.