History of Newport Beach, California
In 1769, Newport was a small portion of the land grant of Don José Antonio Yorba I, first under Spanish and then Mexican rule.
A small settlement was built around McFaddens’ Wharf (at the location where the Newport Pier is today) and it became the largest business of Orange County, California.
Following the opening of the San Pedro Harbor in Los Angeles in 1899, the commercial shipping industry in Newport declined.
For his service, Yorba was awarded with an enormous land grant from the Spanish Empire in 1801 that comprised a significant portion of today's Orange County in Southern California.
Covering some 62,512 acres (252.98 km2), Yorba's great rancho included the lands where the cities of Olive, Orange, Villa Park, Santa Ana, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach stand today.
From this Spanish period, the Ranchos began trading hides with US merchants in Boston for goods from New England, sailing around South America.
When Mexico gained independence from Spain and took ownership of California in 1821, it was soon evident that the era of mission-domination of virtually all land was over.
Combined, his ownership extended almost 47,000 acres, including north to the Santa Ana Mountains, east to today's 55 Freeway, and south to Laguna Beach.
Comfortable on horseback, he probably never even ventured near the water, a fact noted by a bemused Richard Henry Dana in his recounting of this era in Two Years Before the Mast: "These people have no boats of their own.
[3] In 1852, six years after the United States took possession of California, a law was passed requiring each ranchero to prove ownership to retain his land.
Requiring expensive surveys and court appearances, Sepulveda's lavish lifestyle left him short of cash.
[6] James McFadden, one of 11 children of Scottish ranchers, journeyed to California in 1868 and immediately saw the potential of the Newport area.
Before long, he had constructed a small wharf and warehouse near the west end of today's Newport Bay Bridge.
[9] In 1875, James McFadden and his younger brother Robert acquired the landing and for the next nineteen years operated a thriving commercial trade and shipping business.
[10] In 1888, the McFaddens decided their shipping business would be more successful if they moved it from the inner shores of the bay to the oceanfront, where it was connected by rail to Santa Ana.
It lasted for eight years, the McFadden Wharf area was a booming commercial and shipping center and a company town began to grow.
Collins began dredging a channel on the north side of the bay and deposited the sand and silt on tidelands that would become Balboa Island.
In 1908, John Scarpa, an Italian gondolier, put together the first Christmas lights boat parade in Newport Harbor.
[12] In 1908 and 1909, with permission of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, William Collins moved his small dredge to the eastern part of the Newport bay, a mud flat called "Snipe Island", and begin cutting a channel along the north side of the bay across from the Pavilion, piling the sand and silt up on the mud flat and thus Balboa Island was born.
Joe Beek played a crucial role in the development of Balboa Island, and spent a lifetime devoted to it.
Other celebrities residing and/or keeping boats in Newport Beach included James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Shirley Temple, and Errol Flynn.
Other notables included television star Buddy Ebsen (Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones), as well as Johnny Carson’s most frequent guest host, Joey Bishop.
Arizona Senator and 1964 Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater spent many summers living at the Balboa Bay Club.
Australian professionals Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Syd Ball and Phil Dent all lived in Newport Beach at various stages in their careers.
This in turn spawned a new generation of tennis stars from Newport Beach, Taylor Dent, Carsten Ball and Antony Emerson.
In 1953, the third international jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America held its event where Newport Center and Fashion Island now sit.
It was the first jamboree held west of the Mississippi River and had 50,000 scouts from all 48 states, Alaska, Hawaii and 16 foreign countries.
[13] Thousands of tents were pitched in the area reachable only by a two-lane muddy trail called Palisades Road.
In 1972, architect William Pereira's famous "flying saucer" building, as well as Skidmore, Owings and Merrill's 18-story high-rise (the city's tallest to date), are both completed at Newport Center.
Destined originally to be a landfill, Newport Beach real estate broker Marion Buie was an early advocate of the development.
