NEWPORT BEACH : The ‘Country Club’ for Kids’ Free Time

Every weekday afternoon as the final bell rings at Harbor View Elementary School, scores of children race across the playground to the Community Youth Center at Grant Howald Park. There they romp in the grass, play pool, swoop down slides, make crafts or watch movies with youth center staffers until parents arrive to pick them up.

And it’s free.

“We are very fortunate to have this here,” said Susan Grignano, recreation leader. “A lot of kids with working parents have to go home alone or to a baby-sitter. Even kids who don’t go to Harbor View come here to get a chance to play.”

The Corona del Mar facility at Iris and 5th Avenues is just one of three after-school and school-holiday programs offered by the city. Others, primarily outdoor recreational programs, are at Mariners Park and the recently opened West Newport Center at 833 W. 15th St. But Corona del Mar is the oldest, most successful and extensive program, and it is the only one with indoor activities.

“Other cities have free programs, but they don’t have facilities like this,” Grignano said of the contemporary, 3,600-square-foot Corona del Mar center, which features a game room, meeting room, dance floor and kitchen. “It’s like a country club for children.”

On Wednesdays, it’s crafts; on Fridays, it’s movies. And on holidays, special programs such as Easter egg hunts and a Halloween haunted house keep children occupied while their parents have to work, or even if they don’t.

In addition to the free activities, the city holds after-school classes for children such as gymnastics and jazz.

Most of the 50 to 120 childen who visit the center each day are from Harbor View.

“We have our regular group of 25 to 30 that come here all the time after school and know each other,” said Bonnie Hagan, recreation leader at the center for two years.

Added Grignano: “In Corona del Mar, kids don’t have big yards to play croquet and there aren’t a lot of kids next door. It’s sort of a DINK (dual income, no kids) place with no playmates. Here they can bring their croquet sets.”

The program, funded by the city, is seeking additional support from parents and other sponsors. A volunteer Boosters Club of parents and other residents is now forming to explore methods of fund-raising for special events and additional services such as tutorial programs.

Open to all ages from the hours of 2 to 6:30 p.m. on school days and 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays when school is closed, the youth center--although always staffed with two or three adults--is not intended to be day care, officials stressed.

“We are trying to educate parents that it’s not a place where children are signed in and signed out,” said Recreation Supervisor Dan Iwata. “If the city committed to that kind of day care, we could not offer this for free.”