Beloved Balboa Island celebrates 100 years of growth

Billed as fun, food and music, current and past residents of Balboa Island alongside their friends and Newport Beach neighbors celebrated the island’s centennial anniversary Sunday.

A section of Marine Avenue, the island’s main thoroughfare, was closed off for the occasion to make way for a carnival ride, games, picnic tables, live music and a barbecue trailer hosted by the city’s Fire Department.

Crocker’s restaurant owners Victoria Crocker DeFrenza and husband John served up baby back ribs, apple pie and margaritas from an outdoor table.

“We’ve all waited a hundred years for this opportunity,” John said.

Longtime residents reminisced about the earlier days when the island was self-sustaining and everything was within walking distance. Ramona Merle, a 40-year resident, recalled when the island had two drug stores and two gas stations.

“It was an easy way of life to be able to walk downtown and find all of the services and amenities,” she said.

Jim Jennings Jr.’s father owned and operated one of the gas stations, at the corner of Marine and Park avenues, from 1959 to 1989. Jennings, who worked at the station, said people still come up to him with stories about his dad’s kindness and generosity.

“He would do anything for anyone,” Jennings said. “My dad loved Balboa Island to the max and was heartbroken when they tore the station down. There were over 2,000 signatures to keep it, but Union Oil said it didn’t make enough money.”

Balboa Island resident Kathy Roberts grew up spending summers at her family’s vacation cottage on Onyx Avenue. When her parents, Helen and Bert Holland, moved to the island full time in 1970, they bought a hardware store on Marine Avenue.

Roberts and husband relocated to Newport Beach from the South Bay so they could also be involved in the business, which served both residents and vacationers with everything from nails to beach chairs. In 1986, facing competition from big-box stores, the store was converted into the Balboa Beach Co.

Roberts is happy to be on the island, saying it’s “a magical place to be. Once you’ve been here you always want to keep coming back.”

Balboa Island, once a muddy sandbar in Newport Harbor, got its start in 1906. William Collins, a developer, first used dredged sand and silt to make the island what it’s become today. Later, bulkheads were built to keep out high tides.

Former real estate agent Dottie Lewis, 94, owned Beach Time Realty for 37 years and has lived on the island since 1973. She noted how expensive its homes have become.

“When I first came here, the average price of 90% of the houses was $80,000,” she said. “Now the cheapest available home is $1.6 million.”