Dimensional Drama : Exacting Dispute Over Distance Around Balboa Island Is Finally Settled

With its views of idle boats, bay-front homes and playful water enthusiasts, Balboa Island has long been a picturesque place to stroll or jog a couple of miles.

Make that 2.6 miles.

Discussion about the exact dimensions of the tiny island--actually, two islands--has pumped up adrenaline along with civic pride, all spurred by a 40-year-old sign tacked up at the ferry service office that offered approximate distances between various points along the bay-front walkway.

But earlier this month, Seymour Beek, whose family has owned Balboa Island Ferry for 77 years, tore down his sign in disgust: He was tired of being bombarded with calls from angry joggers and walkers complaining that his distances were inaccurate, throwing off people’s workouts.

Get a map, he told them.

Now, people have done just that. Pat Beek, Seymour’s wife, took a pedometer and measured the island herself. She took the measurements to City Hall and now the distances are recorded on a map officially approved by city planners.

“It turns out Seymour’s number was off by just a tenth of a mile,” Pat Beek said of the island’s perimeter.

But the tempest over that fraction has spurred plans for more than a map.

Led by local historian and power walker George Grupe and island resident Gay Wassall, a group of residents and merchants plans to print a brochure with a map and post markers across the island citing exact distances between local landmarks and points of interest, a solution that would presumably please everybody.

“Our idea is to provide an accurate map and give a historic background with it,” said Grupe, 75, as he walked along South Bay Front on Balboa Island, pointing out historic sites. “There are so many points of interest around here.”

According to Pat Beek, who worked independently from Grupe and Wassall, Balboa Island’s large island is 1.71 miles around, and the smaller island, Little Island, is 0.79 mile; the bridge connecting them (which must be crossed twice to complete the loop) is half a tenth of a mile.

Joggers, walkers and skaters have long believed the actual mileage was 2.5 miles, citing the the ferry office’s controversial sign.

It’s unclear when all the grumbling about the sign began as the islands have always been a hot spot to exercise and sightsee.

“We’ve just assumed that it was 2.5 miles,” said a woman who was pushing a stroller with her child along the bay-front sidewalk, at a moderately fast pace. “I didn’t know anyone cared. I just quit my workout when I’ve had enough or a baby cries.”

The 2.5-mile figure was on a chalkboard at first, then on a hand-written piece of paper hanging in the office. Finally, it was typed on a white paper that eventually aged to a dull yellow and was posted on the corner window of the J.A. Beek building, at the ferry’s island landing.

“If everybody had known that the numbers were so close, nobody would be so upset,” Pat Beek said.

Grupe and Wassall’s effort has the support of the city’s planning department, which will supervise where markers will be placed; the local chamber of commerce, which will help publish the brochure; and the city’s tourism bureau, which will promote the idea.

Eventually, the residents hope to extend the idea throughout the rest of Newport Beach’s historic and commercial villages, including the Balboa Peninsula and West Newport, Corona del Mar and the Cannery Village.

“We are going to have something for the power walkers, history buffs and visitors,” said Wassall, a self-described stroller whose family has lived on the island for more than 40 years.

For example, Collins Island at the end of Park Avenue was James Cagney’s property before World War II, Grupe said. The first fire station and the first gasoline station near Marine Avenue, the island’s commercial district, will also be highlighted in the brochure.

And, of course, the J. A. Beek building, which marks the point of the first ferry service in 1909, will be marked. Joseph A. Beek began operating the ferry service in 1919.

Until the brochures are printed, the map produced by Pat Beek can be found at businesses throughout Balboa Island. Everywhere, that is, except at J. A. Beek ferry building.

Seymour Beek, who is participating in the brochure planning, declined to comment.