THE TIMES ORANGE COUNTY POLL : Newport State of Mind Attracts the Wealthy : Affluence: 63% of the city’s homes are worth $500,000 or more, compared to 8% in the county as a whole.

With the rapid patter of a carnival barker, Mike Velasco narrates as he navigates his cruise boat along Newport Harbor, picking out points of interest as heads spin to catch up.

On the right is the home with the glass elevator. On the left is the house with three Jacuzzis that can be activated by cellular telephone.

Offshore harbor moorings cost $15,000 to $20,000 each, but there’s a catch: you need a boat to get to your yacht and there’s a five-year waiting list for the moorings. The powerboat that once belonged to Liz Taylor can be rented for $700 an hour but there’s a two-hour minimum.

On Lido Isle, the home with the bowling alley is occupied most of the year by the housekeeper, said to have a pretty high average on the lanes. On Bay Island, the 18 or so homeowners still have to vote unanimously to let a new homeowner come aboard, per the rules originally proposed by Madame Modjeska, the Polish actress.

As Velasco’s 90-minute lecture on the Showboat makes clear, Newport Beach is driven by its staggering amount of wealth. But where the focus in Beverly Hills is on entertainment and show business, Newport draws captains of industry who made it big and then made it to Newport Beach.

Newport Harbor certainly has its links to famous show business names: Liz’s former boat; the two-story house with the blue shutters was once George and Gracie’s summer home; the girlhood homes of Shirley Temple and Candice Bergen are there. And the ghost of John Wayne, dead for 14 years, still tends to remain the greatest celebrity of all.

But more than just a Hollywood South, this is home to Donald Bren, chairman of the Irvine Co., who is estimated to be worth $1 billion, and George Argyros, the former owner of the Seattle Mariners, whose net worth is $250 million. Developer Henry Segerstrom, worth about $135 million, lives on Balboa as does Donald Koll, with a net worth of $100 million.

Money speaks for Newport. Where the median household income in Orange County is $45,000, Newport Beach is closer to $60,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In Newport, 63% of the homes are worth $500,000 or more and the median value is well above that amount. In the county as a whole, only 8% are worth more than $500,000. The median value is $250,000.

Of all of the homes in the county that are worth $500,000 or more, more than one-quarter are located in Newport Beach.

“The name Newport does have an allure, but there is substance to that allure,” said Zack Wright, who buys and sells property in Newport Beach for Dalebout Real Estate. “It’s a lifestyle you buy into. It’s not so much that people are drawn to wealth. It’s that wealth gravitates to the best place.”

So enticing is that allure that the current telephone book has 650 entries with Newport as part of the name, even though many of the businesses are in Tustin, Costa Mesa, Anaheim and Santa Ana. The name Anaheim has 480 entries in the phone book.

Current real estate listings paint a wealthy portrait of Newport. As of last week, there were 659 active listings, the highest for $10.5 million and the average price at $1 million, the Newport-Mesa Assn. of Realtors reported.

Since last August, 443 homes had been sold. The highest was for $4.7 million and the average was $725,000.

The city’s assessed property valuation was $12 billion, about the same as Huntington Beach, which has nearly three times the population and twice the number of businesses and homes. Newport’s assessed property value overshadows that of Santa Ana, the county’s largest city, with nearly four times the population of Newport.

Al Auer calls it “quiet wealth,” held by those who made money in places like Pasadena and San Marino, had always vacationed in Newport Beach, and vowed to return here to live. But nobody ever discusses their money.

Auer, who headed the Irvine Co.’s commercial development division for 15 years and helped the company build Fashion Island, lives in Big Canyon and holds memberships to the Balboa Bay Club, the Centre Club and Big Canyon Country Club, which is offered by invitation only.

Living, working and socializing in Newport, as Auer does, means little exposure to the reality of the outside world for him or his family.

“Obviously, there’s not a lot of hunger,” he said. “And I know there are homeless, because I see them, but not to the extent you see them in other places.”

One of his sons went through “a ‘60s period, where he was against all material things,” Auer recalled, but eventually came around “and he realized that it was nice to have material things.”

Newport Beach Mayor Clarence J. Turner does not apologize for his city’s riches.

“There’s certainly a lot of wealth here, there’s no question about that. . . . It’s a citadel of capitalism. There are a lot of entrepreneurs here; there are a lot of self-made people here,” he said. “When you have a magnet, then you push property values up. You bring people in who have funds to push up those property values, and they build nice houses. There is that competitive spirit.”

The Times Orange County Poll, which surveyed 600 Newport Beach residents last month, supports the notion that money matters in Newport Beach.

Nearly six in 10 say they vacation outside the country with some frequency. Of those who make $100,000 or more per year, nearly eight in 10 say they travel outside the United States. About half said they go boating or sailing frequently or sometimes, and about one-third say they play tennis at least sometimes. About 30% said they play golf with some frequency.

More than four in 10 say they have a private club membership and one in 10 say they have a personal exercise trainer. About 8% own a yacht and 6% have a live-in housekeeper.

One in 10 has had cosmetic surgery, such as a nose job, face lift, breast implant or liposuction. But that number was much greater among women (18%) than among men (only 1%). Of those making less than $50,000 per year, only 3% reported having cosmetic surgery. Of those making more than $100,000 annually, 15% have had such medical work.

There are many indicators of wealth. The city has 82 financial institutions, the second-highest number of any city in the county. Only Santa Ana has more financial institutions, with 92. While Newport claims only 3% of the county’s population, its banks boast nearly $6 billion in deposits--13% of the county’s total.

Eight of the county’s 20 largest stock brokerage firms are in Newport Beach. So are five of the top 16 venture capital firms.

The city’s building department estimates that one in three Newport households have either a swimming pool or spa.

And in Newport Beach, there are Mercedes-Benzes galore. The Fletcher Jones Mercedes dealership in Newport Beach--one of about 460 sales outlets nationwide--sold 1.8% of the new Mercedes-Benzes sold in the country in 1992.

“If you walk across Balboa Boulevard and get run over, it’s likely going to be by a highly polished Porsche, Mercedes or Rolls-Royce,” said Jane Elliott, who lives and works on Balboa Peninsula.

Elliott, 63, who runs a flower shop and has lived in Newport for 20 years, says it is important to distinguish among old money, new money and little money.

“Some people are here because they’ve been here forever and they’ve raised their kids here and taught in schools,” she said. “Others are here because of the address and opportunities for growth.”

With an annual income of less than $25,000 per year, Elliott is in the minority. More than 80% of the households in Newport Beach have a household income higher than $25,000 per year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

But Elliott said she is far from intimidated over the wealth she sees around her.

“Some people have boats and charter them because they can’t afford to keep them,” she said. “I see lots of people who live beyond their means. There’s quite a division from where I live and the country club scene.”

Far from the country club scene and living well within her means is Melinda Starkweather, who rents a home her parents own on the Balboa Peninsula.

Starkweather, 40, a grocery store clerk, drives a Ford Taurus station wagon back and forth to work at the Hughes market in Eastbluff. At work, she sees some of the same faces that appear on the society page.

“It’s an intimidating kind of place,” she says of Newport, with a laugh. “It’s where the beautiful people live.”

She has seen the million-dollar yachts and the mansions. But it is not often that she dreams of living that kind of life that is so close by.

“It would be a big deal if I was one of those people but since I’m not, there’s nothing I can do about it and that’s OK,” she says.

And then she hesitates.

“But if they want to invite me along, that would be better.”

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Orange County Poll was conducted by Mark Baldassare & Associates. The telephone survey of 600 Newport Beach adult residents was conducted Jan. 27 to 30 on weekday nights and weekend days. A computer-generated random sample of telephone numbers was used. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish as needed. The margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 4% at the 95% confidence level. That means it is 95% certain that the results are within 4 percentage points of what they would be if every Newport Beach resident were interviewed. For subgroups, such as upper-income Newport Beach residents, the margin of error would be larger.

Signs of the Good Life

Almost half of Newport Beach residents say they belong to a private club, and one in 10 has undergone a surgical make-over.

Personal luxuries that Newport Beach residents have: Private club membership: 43% Personal exercise trainer: 11% Yacht: 8% Live-in housekeeper: 6% *

How many have undergone cosmetic surgery to improve appearance: Total: 9% By sex Men: 1% Women: 18% By household income Less than $50,000: 3% $50-000-$99,999: 7% $100,000 and more: 15% *

Personal luxuries, by household income:

Less than $50-000- $100,000 $50,000 $99,999 and more Private club membership 22% 40% 58% Personal exercise trainer 4 8 18 Yacht 4 2 14 Live-in housekeeper Less than 1% 5 7

Source: Times Orange County Poll