Newport-Costa Mesa area was Kobe Bryant’s personal and business center
The last Saturday of Kobe Bryant’s life came and went like any typical weekend at home for the retired Lakers superstar.
He took one daughter to the mall. Accompanied another to a basketball game. Planned a Sunday morning trip with friends.
And slept with his family at their house in Newport Coast.
Early the next morning, ahead of 7 a.m. Mass, he went to pray at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach, where he and his family were regulars, according to a church official.
It was just hours before Bryant, 41, his daughter Gianna, 13, and seven other local residents boarded a helicopter at John Wayne Airport for a trip to Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, where Gianna and her teammates would be playing in a club basketball game. The copter crashed in Calabasas, killing all aboard.
In a Facebook post Monday, Bishop Timothy Freyer of the Diocese of Orange said “Kobe was an icon who inspired us through his words and actions to set our goals, work hard and achieve our dreams. He was a committed Catholic who loved his family and loved his faith. A longtime Orange County resident and parishioner in our diocese, Kobe would frequently attend Mass and sit in the back of the church so that his presence would not distract people from focusing on Christ’s presence.”
For nearly 20 years, one of the most famous names in sports lived a surprisingly public life locally.
He lived in Pelican Crest, a gated community with multimillion-dollar views of the Pacific Ocean, in a custom-built 15,760-square-foot, four-story home with its own set of gates. The commute from there to the Lakers’ facility in El Segundo and home games at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles was so inconvenient that Bryant famously chartered helicopters as often as possible.
But Orange County was where he wanted to be and where he built a budding business empire.
In 2014, he announced Kobe Inc., based in Newport Beach, with plans to develop brands that would upend the sports industry. The first investment through the company was sports drink BodyArmor. That initial $6-million investment grew to a value of $200 million after Coca-Cola acquired a minority stake in 2018.
He also co-founded a venture capital fund with entrepreneur Jeff Stibel to invest in media and tech companies. By September last year, the firm reportedly managed more than $2 billion in capital.
He partnered with Alibaba, a Chinese online retail giant, to collaborate on a social media platform, Kobe-branded products and the release of his Showtime documentary “Muse.”
He founded Kobe Studios, later renamed Granity Studios, a Costa Mesa-based multimedia production company.
Off the court, basketball legend Kobe Bryant fed his early passion for storytelling. His fifth book, about a young athlete in a magical world who learns life lessons through sports, is due out in March — just two months after his death Sunday in a helicopter crash.
Sunday’s tragedy hit the world hard, but nowhere harder than Newport Beach.
“It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to Newport Beach resident and international sports legend Kobe Bryant,” the city said in a statement Sunday. “Our prayers are with his family, friends, colleagues and neighbors as our community grieves this sudden and devastating loss. Kobe leaves behind an unmatched legacy of excellence, on and off the court, that will not be forgotten.”
“He was always polite with staff and customers,” said Donna Hisey, a former manager of a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Corona del Mar that Bryant visited frequently. “He always giggled when I made jokes with him. I’ll always remember his smile.
“He would come in every Saturday and order two drinks with caffeine. One Saturday I motioned to him, ‘The usual?’ He replied, ‘One decaf.’ I knew his wife was expecting, but I told him I wouldn’t tell anyone. He appreciated it.”
People who knew Kobe Bryant as the father of four who lived up the street, ordered a certain pink drink at the corner Starbucks and trick-or-treated with their children gathered Sunday night in a park not far from his home to share their memories.
Mario Nunes hung his Bryant jersey from one of the tables in front of the Pavilions supermarket in the Newport Coast Shopping Center on Monday morning. The 50-year-old said he used to see Bryant at the store every few weeks.
“He was always cool with me,” he said. “He was always friendly. He signed a couple basketballs here and there.”
Nunes whipped out his phone to show some of the pictures he’d taken with Bryant over the years — including one he said was from shortly after the Lakers won their last NBA championship in 2010.
“That’s him, the one and only,” exclaimed Michael Young, who was standing nearby.
Young, 40, said he also would see Bryant periodically during the three years he worked as a courtesy clerk at Pavilions. When he heard the news about Bryant’s death, his first reaction was “‘No way.’ I was crying,” Young said.
Though Bryant was a common sight, Young and Nunes said the shock of seeing the superstar in the flesh never completely wore off, no matter how many times he went to Pavilions or made a run to the Starbucks in the same shopping complex.
“It’s like he’s still here,” Young said. “His spirit is all around us.”
The coastal communities of Orange County have long drawn athletes attracted to large houses and privacy. But many who bought homes there did so after retirement, as an investment or as a temporary abode while playing for Southern California’s professional sports teams.
Kobe Bryant settled there because of love.
His wife, Vanessa Laine Bryant, was the daughter of a Mexican immigrant who raised her in Anaheim and Garden Grove, older towns far removed in geography and atmosphere from Newport Coast.
Laine began to date Bryant while a junior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, after the two met during the filming of a music video for Bryant’s never-released rap album. The relationship proved so distracting to campus life that school officials asked her to spend her senior year home on independent study.
They were married just before she turned 19.
In 2002, Bryant purchased a $4-million home in Newport Coast. The couple went through ups and downs heavily covered by the national media — a rape allegation filed against Bryant in 2003 by a Colorado hotel worker, a 2009 lawsuit by a former maid who alleged workplace abuse at the Bryant household (the case was settled and dismissed), a divorce filing that was eventually dropped.
But locally, tales of Bryant’s personal kindness reigned.
On Monday morning, Maria Paun, 81, used her walker to deliver an assortment of pink flowers to the front of Harbor Day School in Corona del Mar, where Gianna attended. Years ago, she said, she sat with Bryant on a bench at the school when he was waiting to pick up one of his daughters. She was waiting for her granddaughter.
“He gave me a hug and he said, ‘I like your accent, Grandma,’” she said. “He was tall, and he was somebody and I’m nobody, but he bent down to give me a hug. And I never forget this hug.”
Paun said it was no accident that she wore a purple sweater Monday morning. She did so because “he liked the color.”
“It’s hard for me, and it’s hard for everyone,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.
Daily Pilot City Editor Rob Vardon contributed to this report.
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