NEWPORT BEACH : Event Marks Rebirth of McFadden Square

A new monument that tells the history of Newport Beach will be dedicated this evening at a ribbon-cutting and a proclamation ceremony declaring June 18 as McFadden Square at Newport Pier Day.

Live entertainment, Nautical Museum exhibits and a fish barbecue are among the activities scheduled for the two-hour celebration, which will begin at 5 p.m.

About 30 McFadden Square property owners picked up some of the $3-million tab for the project, which includes new decorative lighting along Oceanfront Boulevard, new sidewalks and a plaza area with picnic tables and lawn areas near the base of Newport Pier.

“This project has started the ball rolling with other merchants and property owners upgrading,” said Bill Shonlau, president of the McFadden Square Improvement Assn., which shared the cost of project with the city.

McFadden Square, a mix of shops, restaurants and hotels, was named for the brothers who built a quarter-mile-long wharf in 1889 and later connected it with Pacific Electric Red Car tracks to form a “port” between San Diego and San Pedro. Construction crews unearthed railroad ties, spikes and coins during the project--the first renovation since the pier was built.

Last September, the City Council created an assessment district in McFadden Square, allowing property owners to share the cost of cosmetic improvements, and ending nearly three years of negotiations between city officials and property owners.

Shonlau circulated petitions for support and met with city engineers and planners dozens of times before the project began. He said negotiations dragged on because property owners and city officials couldn’t agree on how to divide the costs of the project, a problem that had for decades thwarted attempts to renovate the area.

“This area, being that it was the founding site to the city, and yet probably the biggest embarrassment to the city, was in greatest need of renovation. . . . It had lost its glory,” Shonlau said.