| The extra touches | |
| They may not be the most visible landmarks, they may not even exist any longer, but these locales and entities are part of Newport’s charm just the same.
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FUN ZONE
Set amid the adult-oriented fun of the Balboa Pavilion and Rendezvous Ballroom, the Balboa Fun Zone added a more innocent dimension to late 1930s Newport Beach. Al Andersen first leased the harbor-front land in 1936, slowly building amusements there, year after year. Quickly, the Fun Zone’s Ferris Wheel, a used 1918, 45-footer bought from a Seattle company, became a part of the city’s iconic skyline. A few times, that skyline has almost changed dramatically. In 1972, Anderson – who’d finally bought the land in 1948 – had to sell the Fun Zone because of a lawsuit involving a diving accident. A condo proposal came and went in the aftermath. Then, in 1988, a second proposal for housing came and went, only two years after the area was rebuilt and new shops and restaurants were added. Today the Fun Zone remains much as it has for the past two decades, but change again is on the horizon. The Newport Harbor Nautical Museum may move into the area, taking up space now occupied by the mini golf room and later replacing the spinning ride, Scary Dark Ride and maybe even the bumper cars and the arcade. The Ferris Wheel, though, isn’t going anywhere soon. BALBOA FERRY For its first 10 years, the Balboa Island Ferry was little more than a small boat that could cart a few passengers from the peninsula to the island. Now, certainly someone eventually would have seen the potential in the area – dollar lots growing to multi-million dollar land – but it was one man, Joe Beek, who gets the credit for starting the floating Newport Beach icon. In 1919, residents on the island demanded better service, and it was Beek who was the sole bidder who also happened to own an important asset: a boat. He won a contract for $50 a month. For a year, Beek continued to cart just people in an outboard powered boat. Then he built the first of the ferries now so recognizable and began carrying cars and bikes. Today, the ferries still travel their way across the harbor from the western edge of the island. It’s just $1.50 for a car and driver, 60 cents for a passenger and 30 cents for a child. Kids younger than 5 get to enjoy it for free. FASHION ISLAND Fashion Island has come a long way since opening in 1967. Back then, if it’s believable, the shopping center was just that – a shopping center. In 1989, a $100-million makeover transformed the center into a mix of national chains such as Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus, local favorites like Gary’s and At-Ease and the family-oriented theaters and restaurants that draw crowds into the center’s open-air corridors. Fashion Island sits in the middle of Newport Center, which contains a mix of Fortune 500 companies, investments firms, hotels and medical and legal offices. It hosts such community activities as the Summer Concert Series, the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and the Menorah Lighting Ceremony. CITY HALL Today, most talk about Newport Beach’s City Hall is about its future. The council is deep into plans for a major renovation, the cost – and even need – for which is proving contentious. Perhaps there are lessons that can be learned from the city’s first City Hall, which just happened to be the city’s old school house. The first City Council—then called the Board of Trustees--consisted of John King, who acted as mayor; C.I. Lancaster, A.A. Lester, George Peabody and A.N. Smith. For six years, the council met in different spots before finally purchasing the school house in December 1912. The central buildings in the conglomeration that is the City Hall of today was built in 1948 as the city grew in the post-World War II years. It has been added on to four times over the years. The City Hall also almost has moved. In 1971, there was a $6.9 million bond put to voters to relocate the city’s government center to Newport Center. It failed, though a fire station and police station ended up in the more centrally located spot. The Council Chambers were built in 1975, signaling an end to a possible move. Plenty of the city’s most powerful people have occupied seats in City Hall, of course. Early on, Councilman Lloyd Claire wielded far more pull than his title would suggest. Dora Hill was the city’s first female mayor in 1954, the first in a long line of influential women politicians. And there was the always colorful Phil Sansane, the “Mayor of Corona del Mar,” who served in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. A full list would fill a magazine. CHINA HOUSE It’s only a memory now, but for more than 50 years the China House, the Corona del Mar landmark that gave China Cove its name, served as a colorful piece of the Newport community. William J. Lindsey, a wealthy Pasadena lawyer, built the house during the Great Depression for his wife who loved Oriental architecture. A sloping, green tile roof covered a pink stucco exterior. There were decorative dragons and a red wooden bridge that led through Japanese gardens. Over the years and over several owners, the house fell on hard times, and in 1986, the home was demolished to make way for two more modern homes. IRVINE CO. The Irvine Co.’s headquarters in Newport Center don’t do its influence on Newport Beach justice. The white tower it occupies probably would have to be 100 stories high, and even then it might be hard to see to the ends of the land that the Irvine family once owned. It was James Irvine who, along with a friend and two family members, bought 108,000 acres of Orange County land for $41,000 in the mid-1800s. It was his heir, James Irvine Jr. (who dropped the Jr. in his mid-20s), who began farming the land and selling off those parts untellable – such as Corona del Mar. Still, the younger Irvine held a strong hand in guiding development in the county, including urging the city to keep the harbor non-commercial. His son, Myford Irvine, took an even more hands-on approach, developing parts of Newport that include Irvine Terrace, Bayshores and Cliffhaven. The Irvine Co. has been sold twice since the family ran it, and long has been owned by Harbor Island resident and developer Don Bren. It still owns Newport Center and Fashion Island and recently has begun turning its attention away from development and to running hotels and resorts. NEWPORT’S ISLANDS Newport Beach wouldn’t be anything without its islands. And neither would its harbor. All but one of the eight islands--the tiny, car-free Bay Island just off the peninsula--are man-made, the Realtor-pleasing result of the harbor’s being dredged and the islands packed together. Balboa Island is the granddaddy of them all – or granddaddies, if you include both the big island and Little Balboa (not to mention private Collins Island at its tip). It was the first to exist following the earliest dredging to make the harbor safe. Originally called Snipe Island, after a bird, it briefly carried the name Caruso Island after Daniel Defoe’s island inhabitant. Finally, city father William S. Collins (who’d bought Newport’s land from James McFadden in 1902) fixed upon the Balboa moniker. Harbor Island followed, just after the city incorporated, in 1907. It was created from sand dredged from the West Newport canals. Lido Isle and Harbor Island were formed in the 1920s and Linda Isle in the early 1930s. Today, each island has very distinctive characters. Balboa hosts an annual parade, considered the shortest in the world. Harbor and Linda are exclusive spots in an already exclusive town. Lido is a step back into a different harbor vibe. BACK BAY Today, the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Preserve plays host to thousands of migrating birds, several endangered animals and plenty of bikers, runners and kayakers. It nearly wasn’t so. Beginning in 1963, Dover Shores residents Frank and Frances Robinson fought the county to keep it from turning the Back Bay over to the Irvine Co., which planned to build homes on the marshland. The battle got heated, but in 1973, a judge backed the Robinson’s claim that the land should be kept open for public use. That ruling led to the state buying the 527 acres and designating it a protected ecological preserve. The state eventually bought another 140 acres from the Irvine Co. for $3.5 million. Today, the preserve stretches across 752 acres. Over the years, the Back Bay has been dredged several times to keep water flowing easily from 150 miles of inland area, including the San Diego Creek, into the harbor. Visitors can learn more about the Back Bay at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Cente or the Back Bay Science Center. Or even just by walking along its edges. BALBOA BAY CLUB There are no guidelines to say what constitutes a local landmark. But certainly, being the subject of a 250-page book puts you in that category. Author James Felton chronicled the history of the Balboa Bay Club in “Host of the Coast,” which reads like a who’s who of Newport Beach. So does a $65-million upgrade, which was finished in May 2003. Since its opening in 1948, the club has been a playground for Newport Beach movers and shakers, and has played host to some of the country’s biggest celebrities. Richard Nixon. Dinah Shore. Yogi Berra. The names and faces have changed over the decades, but the routine has remained the same. On a sparkling morning, members unleash their yachts and go for a sail. Some play tennis or dance. They return at night to host social events or attend charity functions or welcome prominent guests. The Balboa Bay Club’s owners and governors are local celebrities themselves. Inside their venue, both black ties and Hawaiin shirts are the norm for the roughly 3,000 members. For more than 55 years, the club has been a place to see the stars and be seen in Newport Beach. HOAG HOSPITAL Many people who grew up in Newport Beach have one thing in common – odds are, they were both at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. The hospital, which recently unveiled a new seven-story wing devoted primarily to women’s health, is a recognizable site to motorists who travel down Newport Boulevard or West Coast Highway. Those who were treated at Hoag in the early days – the hospital opened in 1952 – would hardly recognize the structure today. The 511-bed facility now offers a range of health care services, including a prominent heart and vascular institute. Hoag makes news with its medical research, attracts patients with its diverse medical staff and pampers their clientele with sweeping ocean views. THE WEDGE It’s gnarly. It’s radical. It’s the toughest bodysurfing spot in the U.S., or so said Sports Illustrated in 2004. The Wedge, that quirky bit of engineering at the end of the Balboa Peninsula, has long been a magnet for bodysurfers (and, more recently, crazy surfers). Here’s the scoop, if you don’t know: On an especially south swell (one that even has a bit of east push to it), the waves come crashing into the harbor mouth jetty, jack up – way up, say 20 feet at times – and then break into as little water as you can imagine. It’s such a rush that it draws bodysurfers back again and again. There’s even a Wedge Crew, about 30 or so men who are the waves’ best. It was them and others who fought with City Hall to keep the spot bodysurfing only during the summer. Originally, The Wedge was known as The Point. But if you once get the chance to see The Wedge in its glory, you’ll understand the name change. RENDEZVOUS BALLROOM It was the place to see and be seen through the first half of Newport’s history, the cross-the-peninsular rival to the Balboa Pavilion. The Rendezvous Ballroom, where musical legends such as Les Brown, Nat King Cole, Benny Goodman and Johnny Mercer all played, survived one fire and then succumbed to a second before all was said and done. The ballroom was built in 1928, and it soon became the hotter of the two venues. Literally. In 1935, the ballroom burned down, but builders were quick to rebuild it and it enjoyed a grand run through the 1940s and ‘50s. Eventually, surf musicians and other acts replaced the big bands in the block-long building. It was hot again. This time, too hot. In 1966, a second fire swept through the Rendezvous. This time is wasn’t rebuilt. | |
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