Countdown to 2000: Politics

Amy R. Spurgeon

During the late 1920s, the Newport-Mesa area -- and the country as a

whole -- was suffering economically from the Depression. But that didn’t

stop residents from getting involved in their community.

Foremost on people’s minds was the increasing number of drownings at the

harbor’s entrance, which spurred residents into political action.

The townspeople in Newport Beach knew after a major flood in 1916 that

drastic action was needed to improve and protect Newport Bay, and the

Harbor Boosters fought hard to improve it and build jetties.

In 1916, Newport Beach voted to build the west jetty with $125,000. The

city of Newport Beach and private donations paid for harbor improvements

and related projects up until this point.

By the end of the decade, the county issued a $500,000 bond to improve

the jetty. But it wasn’t enough. By 1926, a second bond measure was

placed on the ballot, but it also lost at the polls.

The bond’s defeat would later prove to be a disastrous mistake. One month

after the bond was struck down, a motor boat carrying five boys capsized

at the harbor’s entrance. The one boy who died was the polio-stricken son

of a Harbor Booster.As a result, the city granted more than $700,000 for

improvements on the west and east jetties in 1927-28.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mesa, Harper was undergoing some

major changes of its own. The area was rapidly growing and by the end of

the 1920s, the population had reached 300.

Santa Ana wanted to annex the areas that make up present-day Costa Mesa

in 1928, but city leaders voted against it. The people running the show

envisioned a city of their own.

Sources:”The Story of Costa Mesa: The Estancia,” by Thomas A. Barr,

1981.

“Newport Beach 75: 1906-1981,” by James P. Felton, 1981.