City Home-Color Code Has Couple Seeing Red : Protest: Denied permission to move into their new house because it was white instead of beige, they host a painting party--and show their true colors. Laguna Beach officials are not amused.

LAGUNA BEACH —  Just 18 days ago, the city told Nick and Denise Karagozian they couldn’t move into their new hillside home because it was painted white instead of beige.

So on Friday, egged on by a radio talk-show host and scores of others outraged over the city’s rules, the Karagozians held a house-painting party--and splashed the walls of their pristine white home with flowing stripes of red, white and blue.

“This is America,” said KFI--AM radio talk-show host Joe Crummey. “If it’s wrong to discriminate against someone because of the color of their skin, it’s wrong to discriminate against the color of their house.”

The idea for the paint protest came from a caller to Crummey’s talk show. Nick Karagozian was a guest on the program after news stories were published about the paint-color controversy, and Karagozian said he was surprised at the “overwhelming support” offered by callers.

Still, he said, he hesitated about whether to permit the new paint job.

“I agonized over it for a couple of days,” he said. “I don’t feel it’s a publicity stunt, because I feel we’re taking a stand against something that’s not right.”

The Karagozians’ house troubles started last summer when, with the home nearly complete, a neighbor complained that it was white instead of the “sandstone” color approved by the city’s Design Review Board, which governs the appearance of all new homes in Laguna Beach.

The couple had already made major changes to please the board, including changing the color of the tile roof from blue to terra cotta, altering the landscaping and the chimneys, lowering the roof and reducing the house’s size by 500 square feet.

They miscalculated, however, when the day came to paint and Nick Karagozian decided “shell white” would be close enough to the board-approved color. It wasn’t, the board ruled.

Unable to obtain utility service without the board’s final approval, the Karagozians appealed the matter to the Laguna Beach City Council, which turned them down.

So on Friday afternoon, before reporters and photographers and visitors sipping wine from plastic cups, the painting protest began. Some supporters of the Karagozians arrived with signs reading “We’re mad as hell, and we ain’t gonna take it anymore.”

By dusk, the crowd had swelled to more than 100 as Crummey prepared to go on the air. The Karagozians opened up their house, and curious visitors trooped through, some stopping for a free rubdown in a spare room where a local masseuse had set up his table.

The majority of those who stopped by the house were supportive of the paint protest.

“They built a beautiful home, and they ought to be able to live in it,” said Laurie Moomjian, who relaxed in a lawn chair while painters brushed splashes of color across the side of the vacant home.

“We support them 100%,” agreed neighbor Terry Kling.

Some people, however, were annoyed by the spectacle.

“I wish it wouldn’t come to this, because the (design review) process has merit,” said Morris Skenderian, a Laguna Beach architect who drove by the house. “But when you get issues like this, it makes the board look foolish.”

City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said Friday that the painting party will not help the Karagozians move into their home any sooner.

“When they paint it the original color, they get their occupancy permit,” Frank said. “Whether it’s white or red, white and blue doesn’t make any difference. It’s not the color they agreed to.”

Nick Karagozian said he’s not sure what he will do with the red, white and blue house. The radio station has offered to arrange for the house to be repainted in a few days, and Karagozian said he might agree to that if only to spare his neighbors the sight of the colorful stripes.

He’s also considering painting the house “sandstone” to obtain utility hookups and move in, then repainting with his preferred color of “shell white.”

“I will not live in the house (painted) ‘sandstone,’ ” Karagozian said. “I can tell you that right now.”