9000 BCE – 1769	Tongva, Acjachemen, and other tribes inhabit the area that includes present-day Crystal Cove.
1776	Spanish missionaries found Mission San Juan Capistrano, which includes the area of Crystal Cove.
1842	Rancho Bolsa de San Joaquin, including present-day Crystal Cove, granted to José Andrés Sepúlveda as part of the larger Rancho San Joaquin Mexican land grant.
1864	José Andrés Sepúlveda sells the land to Benjamin and Thomas Flint, Llewellyn Bixby, and James Irvine for $18,000. James Irvine buys out his partners in 1876 and forms Irvine Ranch. In June 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signs the Yosemite Grant Act, which cedes Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to the State of California as the nation’s first state park.
1894	James Irvine II incorporates his holding into the Irvine Company.
Late 1910s	Hollywood film productions begin using the Cove as a stand-in for tropical locations.
1924	State of California finalizes an agreement with the Irvine Company on the route of Pacific Coast Highway, closing the gap between Newport Beach and Dana Point.
1927	Elizabeth Wood — wife of Merrill Wood, who helped build the first manager’s office to oversee camping and film production reservations — coins the name “Crystal Cove” due to the area’s clear blue ocean waters.
Late 1920s	Irvine Company leases coastal bluff land above Crystal Cove to Japanese farmers, who create a small farming community.
1928	State of California establishes Division of Parks, with 17 parks and 15 full-time employees. By 1935, the state-wide system includes 70 state parks and monuments.
1938	Irvine Company formalizes cottage leases at a rate of $50 per year. No new cottages are constructed after 1939, limiting the district to the 46 units built primarily in the 1920s and 1930s.
1962	Orange County Board of Supervisors outlaws tent camping on local beaches due to increased public health and safety concerns.
1969	Major oil spill occurs off the coast of Santa Barbara, at the time ranked the largest in US waters. As a result of national news coverage and public outcry, the Environmental Protection Agency is created by the Nixon Administration in 1970, and the California Environmental Quality Act is adopted into law.
1972	Californians rally around the Save Our Coast movement. Proposition 20 passes to protect coastal resources and public access and to establish the California Coastal Commission.
1976	State Legislature passes the California Coastal Act, which emphasizes the importance of public access to the coast while preserving sensitive marine habitats and biodiversity.
1979	Irvine Company sells nearly 1,900 acres, including Crystal Cove, to the State of California, initiating state efforts to evict more than 100 lease-holding cottage residents. Crystal Cove is placed on the National Register of Historic Places later that year.
1980	Crystal Cove State Park is established.
1982	State Parks and Recreation Commission approves Crystal Cove State Park General Plan that includes the adaptive reuse of Crystal Cove cottages for affordable public use. Because state funds for cottage improvements are not available, resident leases are extended for 20 years.
1997	State of California signs a 60-year contract with a private developer to convert the cottages into a luxury resort.
2001	California Coastal Conservancy provides $2 million to the State Parks to buy out the resort developer’s contract, and public works plans are initiated to develop the Crystal Cove Historic District. The last of the Crystal Cove residents move out in July.
2004	$8 million contract awarded for Crystal Cove rehabilitation, infrastructure upgrades, and cottage restoration.
2006	State of California awards a contract to the Crystal Cove Alliance (later renamed Crystal Cove Conservancy) to operate the Crystal Cove Historic District’s overnight rentals and food services. In June, the first overnight guests stay in restored cottages, and the Beachcomber restaurant opens, marking the return of public use to the Cove.
2017	California Coastal Commission approves permits for the restoration of the final 17 cottages, advancing the last phase of rehabilitation.