ON THE BEACHES : Coastal Snapshots

Orange County’s coast has not always been the center of commerce and recreation it is today. There were developments along the way that, in retrospect, seem unbelievable--Huntington Beach lots given away as incentives to buy a set of Encyclopedia Americana, for example.

Today, Clipboard begins a week at the beach with a set of snapshots highlighting historical goings-on and the sundry rogues, tycoons and visionaries who helped make our coast a most important asset.

Friday we’ll show you the fastest bus routes to the beaches from inland. And Saturday we’ll show you what facilities and activities are available from Seal Beach to San Clemente.

1888

Brothers James and Robert McFadden, who in 1873 founded the town of Newport and established the Newport Wharf and Lumber Co., build a 1,200-foot pier extending from the wharf. By 1889, local farmers will be able to export and import products via large cargo ships.

1889

The Newport Wharf and Lumber Co. is such a success that the McFaddens buy 1,000 acres of swamp and overflow lands from the state for $1 an acre and make plans to build a railroad. They will acquire half of the peninsula by 1892 and will divide it into lots that lease for $12 to $18 a year.

1892

A storm tears 600 feet off the pier at Newport, washing away a warehouse and sending three railway cars into the ocean. Although two rail cars wash ashore a few miles away, the third car doesn’t drift ashore until April 15, 1915. The car is salvaged by the Santa Fe Railroad and displayed as a “believe-it-or-not” exhibit.

1899

The McFadden brothers sell the Newport Wharf and Lumber Co. and the Santa Ana & Newport Railway to J. Ross Clark. Within months, both businesses are in the hands of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which had been pressuring the brothers to sell the property. Many claim the railroad used Clark as a front man to obtain the properties.

1901

Philip A. Stanton forms a local syndicate in what will later become Huntington Beach and buys 1,500 acres of Rancho las Bolsas from R. J. Northam for $100,000. The syndicate organizes the West Coast Land and Water Co. and lays out streets and lots in a 40-acre tract on high ground above what was then called Shell Beach. Lots in the new development, named Pacific City in the hope of rivaling the East Coast’s successful Atlantic City summer resort, are priced at $100 and $200. Some lots are given away to those who agree to build a structure immediately.

A 23-foot-long oarfish washes ashore a mile west of Newport Pier. Area residents dress in their finest to have their pictures taken with the sea serpent.

1902

The McFadden brothers, disillusioned because the Newport Wharf and Lumber Co. and the Santa Ana & Newport Railway ended up in the hands of the Southern Pacific, sell to W. S. Collins their remaining land holdings in Newport and leave the area. The land is subdivided a year later, and east Newport lots are put on the market.

1903

The Pacific Electric Railroad reaches the town of Bayside, which eventually will become Seal Beach, the Red Cars’ first stop in the county. Railroad owner Henry E. Huntington shows interest in bringing the Red Cars to Pacific City, and the town is renamed Huntington Beach.

1904

On July 4, the Red Cars arrive in Huntington Beach, and the community celebrates with patriotic speeches, a barbecue and fireworks. The arrival of the railroad, coupled with an extensive advertising campaign, sets off a real estate boom, and lots worth $200 a year earlier triple in value.

A 1,000-foot wooden pier is built at the site of today’s concrete Huntington Beach Pier.

The Newport Bay Investment Co. buys 40 acres at the east end of a sandy peninsula. The area is named Balboa in honor of Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the Spanish explorer who first glimpsed the Pacific Ocean. Streets are laid out, and the 800-foot Balboa Pier is built.

1906

Philip A. Stanton petitions for a post office named Bayside, but the name already is in use in California, so the town of Bay City is formed.

An 1,800-foot pier, considered to be the second longest on the West Coast, is built in the Bay City area. It will be torn down in 1916, and the present-day Seal Beach Pier, measuring 1,865 feet, will be built at the same location.

The Balboa Pavilion opens. It is built at a cost of $15,000 along 210 feet of the peninsula’s waterfront by promoters who hope to use the pavilion’s restaurants, shops and ballroom to lure tourists.

W. S. Collins dredges the mud flat opposite Balboa Peninsula to form a channel on the north side of the bay across from the Balboa Pavilion. Sand and silt is piled to form Balboa Island a few feet above sea level; 30x85-foot lots are placed on the market, with an asking price of $350 for an inland lot and $750 for a waterfront lot. Collins also builds an island just beyond the western end of Balboa Island that still bears his name.

Regular ferry service to Balboa Island begins. The ferryboat Teal runs from Palm Street on Balboa Peninsula to Pearl Street on the island. About the same time, service starts from the Balboa Pavilion to Corona del Mar on a launch called the Paloma.

1909

Huntington Beach becomes the county’s sixth incorporated city, with 3.57 square miles and a population of 915. Lots are selling for about $250 each, and telephone service begins.

1914

The Huntington Beach Co., which owns most of the land in the city, is forced to hold public land auctions to stay out of debt after a prolonged period of stymied growth. The Brazamon Realty Co. buys 360 25 x 112-foot lots this year and 60 more two years later. The realty company will sell the lots to salesmen of an 18-volume set of Encyclopedia Americana. The lots--about 2 miles from the beach and far from the developed area of the city--are given away by the salesmen as an incentive to buyers of the encyclopedia sets.

1915

Bay City changes its name to Seal Beach to avoid confusion with San Francisco, and the city incorporates with a population of 250 people and an area of 7.67 square miles.

1916

Fifty immense searchlights from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition are installed on the new Seal Beach Pier by Frank Burt, operator of the lights at the exposition in San Francisco. A roller coaster known as The Derby is also brought down from the expo, and the Seal Beach Joy Zone is formed. Gambling is introduced to the amusement area, and aviators begin performing stunts overhead.

1918

The real estate market on Balboa Island deteriorates to such a level that a dozen lots sell for a total of $300. High tides wash over the island, sometimes carrying houses from one lot to another. The flooding problem is alleviated a year later when a wall is built on the island’s southwest shore. The wall will be extended around the island in 1936.

1919

Standard Oil Co. leases 500 acres from the Huntington Beach Co. to begin oil exploration.

Newport Beach promoter Joseph Beek takes over the erratic ferry service between Balboa Island and Balboa Peninsula. His oversized rowboat--the Ark--shuttles passengers twice daily.

1920

Standard Oil brings in its first oil well on leased Huntington Beach land. The Discovery Well No. 1 produces 91 barrels a day at its peak. In November, the Bolsa Chica No. 1 oil well blows out with a roar that can be heard for miles. Five hundred men fight to control the spouting gas and oil, and children are dismissed from school to watch the spectacle. The well produces nearly 2,000 barrels a day at its peak.

1922

The city of Newport Beach redesigns its pier as the public fishing pier it is today. The railroad tracks and landing area once used for cargo ships are dismantled, and a railing is added along the length of the pier.

1923

A group of black Los Angeles businessmen secure about 30 acres between Huntington Beach and Newport Beach to build a summer club at the seashore. The first unit of buildings is nearing completion when the structure is destroyed by fire. The project is abandoned amid rumors that the fire was started by members of the Ku Klux Klan, whose fiery crosses had previously been seen on the hills overlooking Newport Harbor.

Oil millionaire W. K. Parkinson buys what is now Lido Isle from the Pacific Electric Land Co. for $45,000. Silt and sand from the dredged Newport Harbor are piled up on the newly named Parkinson Island, raising it to 11 feet above sea level. The island had previously flooded during high tides.

1924

The state Fish and Game Department stops the practice of “fishing with horses.” Between 23rd and 24th streets in Balboa, men in dories had been fishing for smelt with nets they dropped into deep water. Ropes were attached to the nets and to horses on shore, and the horses hauled in the nets when the latter were filled with the catch.

The San Juan Capistrano Mission port area becomes the community of Dana Point. Thousands come to the grand opening celebration for a free barbecue and a chance to buy a 60x100-foot lot for $1,000.

1925

Entrepreneur Hamilton Henry Cotton buys land in the San Clemente area and forms a business alliance with Ole Hanson, who dreams of building a Spanish village with white stucco houses and red tile roofs. A tract map is filed, and they begin selling lots in a tent on Dec. 6, collecting $125,000 by the end of the day.

1926

Coast Highway reaches Laguna Beach. Silent film actress Mary Pickford and her actor husband, Douglas Fairbanks, attend the dedication, and Pickford snips the ribbon.

1928

The 1,200-foot San Clemente Pier is built. The pier’s construction is financed by Ole Hanson, who also donates to the city 3,000 feet of adjoining beach property.

Swiss architect Franz Herding designs a village on Parkinson Island modeled after the Lido, an Italian island resort, and the island is renamed Lido Isle.

1932

Laguna Beach, which has developed a reputation as an artists’ colony, hosts the first annual Festival of the Arts. The following year, the festival will present its first “living picture” tableaux.

1934

The Western Salt Co. leases from the Irvine Co. 250 acres of marshy tidelands in Upper Newport Bay to mine salt. The factory, which uses solar evaporation to mine the substance for industrial uses, produces 5,000 to 9,000 tons of salt a year. Its tin-roofed buildings and tall trestle become a picturesque landmark for painters and photographers until flood damage in 1968 and impending development of the area cause the plant to close in 1969.

1936

Newport Harbor is dedicated, and President Franklin Roosevelt sends a telegraph signal to a harbor Coast Guard cutter to begin the celebration.

The Balboa Fun Zone is founded by entrepreneur Al Anderson.

1937

The Seal Beach Joy Zone is dismantled.

Seal Beach residents vote by a 3-1 margin to prohibit oil drilling within city limits.

1941

Fearing a Japanese invasion of California after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army occupies Huntington Beach Pier for the duration of World War II. An Army radio station, radar and searchlight are installed, and machine guns are positioned on the outer end of the pier.

1944

About 150 homeowners at Anaheim Bay in Seal Beach are advised that the U.S. Navy is going to move them out to make way for a 3,500-acre U.S. Naval Ammunition and Net Depot, which will become the 5,000-acre U.S. Naval Weapons Station.

1947

An explosion on a yacht in Newport Harbor kills Walter and Beulah Overell, a wealthy Los Angeles couple. Their daughter, Beulah Louise, and her boyfriend, George (Bud) Gollum, are arrested and charged with murder. The ensuing four-month criminal trial is the longest to date in the nation’s history. The two defendants are acquitted.

1948

The first Newport-to-Ensenada International Yacht Race is held.

1952

Dogs are banned from Balboa Island beaches by a Newport Beach ordinance still in effect today.

1953

Seal Beach passes strict ordinances to send gamblers packing, putting a damper on its “fun” reputation. Gambling has been popular in the city since the Joy Zone opened in 1916.

1958

Hobie Alter, who in the early ‘50s opened in his Dana Point garage one of the world’s first surfboard shops, introduces a surfboard made of molded foam that makes the heavy wood surfboard a thing of the past. He will create the Hobie Cat in 1968.

1972

The California Coastal Commission is established with the passage of Proposition 20. The commission has the final say in the issuance of permits to build and develop property along and near the California coast. It also has jurisdiction over the plans of local governments to develop land within coastal zones.

1973

The Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is established on 557 acres of county property off Pacific Coast Highway south of Warner Avenue between Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach.

1974

Laguna Beach’s 5-acre Main Beach Park is dedicated. The $4.5-million project includes a Malayan mahogany boardwalk and volleyball and basketball courts. To celebrate, Laguna Beach Mayor Roy Holm sky-dives onto the beach from a plane piloted by astronaut Gordon Cooper.

1975

In response to reports of nude bathing on South Laguna beaches, the county Board of Supervisors adopts an ordinance prohibiting public nudity for anyone older than 10. Top fine for the misdemeanor is set at $500 with a maximum sentence of six months in jail.

1986

More than 40 people are injured and five police and lifeguard vehicles are burned during a Labor Day weekend riot in Huntington Beach during the Ocean Pacific Pro Surfing Championship attended by more than 100,000 people. The incident reportedly starts when several young men tried to remove women’s bathing suit tops.

1988

The Huntington Beach Pier, damaged by years of exposure to sea air and yet another winter storm, is closed in July by city officials, who call it a danger to the public. A new pier is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 1991.

Source: Historical societies, museums, public libraries and history buffs