Hey, I had a boat there (Newport Beach). A Cal 29, a fast blue water sloop, I used to sail Catalina a lot and do the Encinada race every year. That was in the late 60’s-early 70’s. Living there must have been great.
Yeah, it was pretty cool.
My elementary school was named Bay View elementary and it was built on a bluff overlooking Back Bay and the old salt flats. In those days there were still old ruins in the flats that brave kids would go and explore during recess.
Orange County was still kinda rural, you could stop and buy avocados and citrus fruits at truck farms and stands all over the place...
My Mom graduated from Newport Harbor High in 1932, her sisters graduated in 1928! My Mom said she used to be able to hear the surf crashing on the ocean from where she lived a mile away, and sometimes the waves would break over the spit that separated the Balboa Peninsula from Newport Harbor!
My Grandmother was the editor of the society pages of the Costa Mesa Daily Pilot during WWII because the men had all gone off to war. She used to tell us of when she was ridden in a rowboat in the early ‘20’s to a series of flags sticking out of the water in Newport Harbor and they told her they were going to build an Island there, and call it Balboa Island. She was offered a chance to buy a lot for $400, and turned it down, because she thought they were crazy!
Man, would my life had turned out differently if Grandma had bought one of those lots!
Ed