CLIPBOARD

This part of Costa Mesa doesn’t make the news very often, but lately Jan Sherburn has been there every time a drama has unfolded.

From her roadside flower stand on Newport Boulevard, Sherburn witnessed the completion of the first portion of the Costa Mesa Freeway extension, an event city officials awaited for decades. Next, a den of foxes was discovered along the recently opened freeway directly opposite her shop. Suddenly, the neighborhood was crawling with news teams, hoping to catch a glimpse of the now-famous foxes being captured and relocated.

After the Freeway Foxes left, things have settled down a bit. But Sherburn wasn’t without things to watch outside her window. The Orange County Fair was going on just a few hundred yards away, across Newport Boulevard, and Sherburn got to watch the crews build the carnival rides. “I like the Ferris wheel,” she said. “It makes the atmosphere around here kind of festive.”

But just a few weeks ago, the neighborhood wasn’t festive at all. Anyone unlucky enough to turn onto Newport Boulevard endured a seemingly endless stretch of construction noise and traffic jams. Shoppers and restaurant-goers avoided the area entirely and business along the boulevard suffered. “I was lucky,” said Sherburn. “I bought this stand after the worst was over.”

Even with a portion of the new freeway completed, the relief from traffic congestion is short-lived. Just up the freeway, westbound traffic slows to a crawl as it approaches 19th Street and cars are diverted back onto Newport Boulevard. Construction is scheduled for completion in 1992. For now, residents will have to keep finding alternative routes to their homes and hope the rest of the neighborhood doesn’t find out about their favorite shortcuts.

Things are much quieter along the neighborhood’s opposite side, along Irvine Avenue. Homes here overlook Upper Newport Bay, which adds to the area’s tranquil atmosphere.

The neighborhood includes small islands of unincorporated areas, including the portion of Irvine Avenue where Harbor Christian Church is located. The church shares its facility with Temple Isaiah, a conservative Jewish congregation of about 100 families.

“We’ve had this arrangement for over 17 years and it’s worked out well,” said Rev. Gene Swanson. Rabbi Marc Rubenstein has an office at the church and conducts lectures and religion courses during the week while Harbor Christian members attend choir practice and Bible studies.

“The Harbor Christian people are great,” said Flory van Beek, a Temple Isaiah member. “Whenever our High Holy Days have fallen on a Sunday, they have volunteered to meet in the park so we could have the sanctuary,” she said.

Since the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival is approaching, Rubenstein is giving a yearlong series of lectures on Jewish involvement in the discovery of the New World and how, during the Spanish Inquisition, Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism or be executed. “Many of them, including the philosopher Spinoza, fled to Holland, where I am from,” Van Beek said.

“Columbus’ navigator was Jewish and so was his map maker. There is also evidence that Columbus was a Jew, too” said Rubenstein.

Not far from Temple Isaiah and the Harbor Christian Church is a former elementary school that now serves as the Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s Alternative Education Center. The facility includes two independent high schools designed for students requiring a less-structured learning environment.

“Back Bay High School is a continuation high school for district students who function better outside the typical high school environment,” said administrator Dale Wooley. “They still go to school every day, but the work is done on a contractual basis, and there are no extracurricular activities.”

The second, Monte Vista High School, is for students who must support themselves by working full time and need flexible school hours. Students meet individually with instructors for tutoring on an appointment basis. “These arrangements have allowed us to hold onto a lot of students who would have ordinarily dropped out,” said Wooley.

The schools stand empty for now. It’s summer vacation, but students have a little more than a month left before returning to their studies, leaving their favorite weekday beach spots to the tourists.

Population Total: (1990 est.) 5,923 1980-90 change: +12.5% Median Age: 30.9

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 85% Latino: 11% Black: 1% Other: 3%

By sex and age: MALES Median age: 30.6 years FEMALES Median age: 31.3 years

Income Per capita: $19,695 Median household: $44,000 Average household: $47,583

Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 23% $25,000-49,999: 37% $50,000-74,999: 23% $75,000-$99,999: 9% $100,000 and more: 8%