For the first time in forty-nine years, 3559 Padaro Lane has come to market: a 1953 beach cottage holding fifty feet of sand on one of the most closely held stretches of the Carpinteria coast. Homes here pass between families rather than through listings, which is what gives the lane's name its weight.

The house is a two-story California contemporary in wood shingles, updated without being remade. A gated walk leads past the motor court into light-filled rooms, a remodeled kitchen with a Wolf range, and two upstairs bedrooms that look straight down the coastline. Vaulted ceilings and a living room fireplace keep the cottage scale while the glass takes in ocean, island, and mountain views.

Outside, the lawn runs to the sand behind mature hedges, and a pergola-covered deck holds dinner above the beach. Four bedrooms, two baths, and a three-car garage complete it, ready to live in as it stands or to build on one of Padaro's few true beachfront parcels.