Driving into Laguna Beach on Pacific Coast Highway from the South, you are likely to see the amazingly animated Laguna Beach Greeter, Michael Minutoli, welcoming guests into Laguna Beach in a way only he can. Michael is one of the nicest and most caring people you will ever meet.
"If I can make people happy when they're heading to work, give them just a little spark of happiness, then that makes my day," Minutoli says in a heavy accent befitting his New England upbringing. "It's fun to see their reactions. I'm going to do this until the day I die, or as long as I can wave." - from an article in the OC Weekly
Michael is one of the many greeters that have welcomed people to Laguna Beach. There has been a greeter here since the late 1800's and the most well known greeter besides our current one was Eiler Larsen. There is a great documentary on the whole story that Sarah and I went to watch about the history of the Greeter. Here's a 5 minute teaser of that documentary:
The great thing about Michael is that he just wants to see people happy. It's why he does what he does. The other day, he was walking through town and every kid that saw him got excited and came up to say hello. It was very sweet.
The crazy thing is Michael is known for crashing huge Hollywood parties and getting photos with tons of celebrities. Check out this video of all the people he's met and gotten photos with:
And you can click here to see a bunch of the photos from Google.
The story behind all this is fascinating. So much so, that someone in Hollywood made a documentary about his party crashing called, Crash Artist: Beyond the Red Carpet.
Even though Michael is homeless, he doesn't let it bother him. He has one focus these days and that's making the people of Laguna Beach and its visitors happy. I'll leave you with some final words from Michael himself:
"I don't have a home to go to, but I don't really look at myself as homeless," Minutoli says. "I've never been hassled by the cops. I don't really worry about my safety. I fall asleep comfortably, even though I don't like to go to sleep, but I've been that way all my life. I don't panhandle, and there are a lot of people in Laguna Beach who really care about me. I probably cry about once a day when I'm waving to people because of the joy that the city gives me. I don't take that for granted." - from an article in the OC Weekly