Balboa Island celebrates 100 years of ‘pure charm’

For residents and loyal visitors who know Balboa Island best, pinpointing the root of its charm is nearly impossible.

When people leave Balboa Island, they want to come back, and those who have stayed can’t imagine living anywhere else.

“There’s something about it that when you go over the bridge, you’re here, you’re satisfied,” said Romona Merle, who has owned property on the island since 1956 and moved there full-time in 1985.

The island, which was incorporated into the city of Newport Beach in 1916, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year with a series of projects and parties.

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On Saturday, residents, business owners and visitors will celebrate the island’s history at a centennial party at the Harborside Pavilion and Grand Ballroom presented by the Balboa Island Merchants Assn. in conjunction with the Balboa Island Improvement Assn.

The Hodads, a local band specializing in music from every era, will start the evening with sleepy surfer tunes during the cocktail hour and ramp up to dance music later.

Members of the Balboa Island Historical Society will share little-known facts about the island as guests dine and visit the Balboa Bar station to add crunchy toppings to the chocolate-dipped ice cream treat.

Alexandra Robinson, who sells real estate on Balboa Island, is one of several merchants who helped plan the party. About 200 tickets have already been sold, she said.

Proceeds from ticket sales and the party’s auction will help fund a larger “all-island” party planned for September, as well as various neighborhood improvements.

“This is the party for the party,” Robinson said. “It’s not going to be a fine gala, because that’s not Balboa Island.”

Robinson’s affinity for the island began when she was a young girl visiting her family’s business, Amelia’s Seafood & Italian Restaurant, which her grandmother opened in 1961. Robinson sold the restaurant in April and decided to focus on selling local real estate.

“It was sad to see something that’s such a landmark go away,” she said. “You see it often — shops come and go. It’s always changing, but the people that are loyal stay loyal to the island. It’s a community unlike anything else in Orange County.”

Balboa Island, once an uninhabited muddy sandbar in Newport Harbor, has come a long way in the past century.

It got its start in 1906, when developer William Collins decided to dredge a channel along the north side of Newport Bay across from the Balboa Pavilion on the peninsula. He piled the dredged sand and silt on a mud flat until an island was formed.

In the years that followed, wooden and then concrete bulkheads were built to keep out the high tide, according to historical accounts.

Collins and his real estate agents began selling lots for $300 to $600. Most of the first lots were sold for vacation homes to residents of Pasadena, who traveled to the area on the Pacific Electric Red Car line.

Resident Seymour Beek’s parents, Joe and Carroll Beek, first visited Newport Beach independently on the Red Car line in 1907.

In 1914, Joe Beek moved to Newport full-time and worked for a company that was helping Collins build up Balboa Island. However, Collins was struggling to add improvements to the island — such as sewers, power, water and finished streets and sidewalks — on the income from the sold lots.

By 1916, Collins had abandoned the project and the island was incorporated into Newport Beach.

However, Joe Beek never left.

“It was mostly open space,” Seymour Beek said of the island’s beginnings. “There were just a few shacks on the island. People were not building grandiose structures.”

In 1919, Joe Beek obtained rights from the city to provide a ferry service across Newport Harbor between Balboa Island and the Balboa Peninsula.

In those days, the ferry was a giant rowboat with small engine that took passengers across the water for a nickel apiece. Since then, the fleet has grown to three double-ended wooden boats and has transported millions of people across the glassy harbor.

The Beek family still runs the ferry, and Seymour Beek lives in the South Bayfront home where he grew up. Memories of swimming in the bay, pulling his boat onto the sand for a lunch break and building beach bonfires are among his favorites.

“Growing up here was just neat because we had total freedom,” he said. “It’s a nice lifestyle.”

Like the ferry service, the island continued to grow.

The houses popping up in recent years aren’t beach shacks that sell for a few hundred dollars, and more people on the streets have meant increasing traffic and less parking.

But some aspects of the island have endured, like the shops that line Marine Avenue, children building sandcastles on the beach and couples holding hands as they stroll on the bayfront.

They all serve as a reminder of the island’s humble roots, residents say.

“It’s just pure charm,” Merle said. “It’s a great, comfortable place to live.”

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What: Balboa Island centennial celebration

When: 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday

Where: Harborside Pavilion and Grand Ballroom, 400 Main St., Newport Beach

Cost: $125 per person. Tickets are available at the door and at eventbrite.com (search for “Balboa Island”).

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Hannah Fry, [email protected]

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN