COUNTDOWN TO 2000 -- Making progress

Jenifer Ragland

Although it may seem impossible to find a single word that can adequately

describe a single decade, for Newport-Mesa in the 1950s it’s simple:

progress.

Progress caused thousands of people to begin the mass migration from

booming Los Angeles to the quiet seaside suburbs of Newport Beach and

Costa Mesa.

Progress enabled entrepreneurs to prosper in the flourishing housing

market and subsequent need for commercial center developments.

And progress prompted leadership-minded residents in both communities to

start thinking about changing the way they were governed to prepare

themselves for the rapid growth they knew was ahead.

With the war over and the Depression a thing of the past, Newport-Mesa

began to focus its attention on improving the quality of life.

A major portion of the decade was spent building public facilities. The

1950s saw the development of the first Costa Mesa City Hall, Fairview

State Hospital, the Costa Mesa post office on East 18th Street, a new

fire station on Fairview Road and Adams Avenue, Hoag Memorial Hospital

Presbyterian in Newport Beach and the now-famous Balboa Bay Club on

city-owned land.

With industry came more and more houses, and with more houses came more

and more commercial development. The once-vacant land was filling in, but

no one would have imagined just how crowded the area would get.

“You had lots of open space that today is hard to visualize,” longtime

resident Bill Grundy said.

It was also a time when residents were taking hold of their own destinies

and becoming the active community that still exists today.

Here are 10 events that helped shape the 1950s in Newport-Mesa:

* 1952 -- Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, with 75 beds, is completed

and dedicated after years of work to raise the $1 million needed for

construction. Hospital backers, including the widow of JCPenny co-founder

George Grant Hoag, put up $20,000 for the 20-acre site and spearheaded

the fund-raising campaign. By 1956, the hospital was already preparing

for a major expansion.

* 1953 -- Costa Mesa’s incorporation, which was passed by a vote of 1,808

to 1,446. The Home Rule Group, initiated by the Costa Mesa Chamber of

Commerce, spearheaded the effort, and many of its leaders became the

first city officials, including former postmaster Charles TeWinkle, who

was elected mayor. The effort was driven primarily by a desire for local

control over development planning. On the night of the election, local

townspeople gathered in the front lobby of the Costa Mesa Globe-Herald to

watch as the results were posted on blackboards. One of the new council’s

first actions was approving a city seal design.

* 1953 -- Annexation fight between Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. A

two-block area known as Estus Annex No. 1 was destined to go to Costa

Mesa, but Newport Beach officials tried to make it part of that city.

Residents in the area voted 124-40 in May 1953 to join Newport Beach. The

struggle threatened Costa Mesa’s incorporation, but cityhood was

certified by the state in July.

* 1953 -- The national communism scare hit home when Costa Mesa civic

leader J. Stuart Innerst was the subject of a Santa Ana Register story

that reported his resignation from the Orange County Grand Jury was

linked to a mention of his name in a report of the California State

Senate Investigation Committee. He publicly called the newspaper story a

lie.

* 1953 -- The International Boy Scout Jamboree was held where Fashion

Island now stands. The massive event, which took more than a year for the

national Boy Scout Council to organize, was attended by more than 50,000

boys from every state in the country. Roads were created specifically to

accommodate the event, including, fittingly, Jamboree Road.

* 1954 -- The first woman mayor of Newport Beach, Dora Hill, was elected.

She helped guide the freeholder’s election, which successfully instituted

the city-manager form of government under which Newport Beach now

operates. A city charter was drafted that called for seven council

members instead of five, with each elected from a specific district

within the city but approved by all voters. Hill served until 1958.

* 1956 -- Newport Beach celebrated its 50th anniversary, which included

the crowning of Miss Golden Jubilee. A key player in planning the events

and one of the city’s most influential early leaders, Chamber of Commerce

Director Harry Welch wouldn’t live to celebrate the golden anniversary.

Mayor Hill proclaimed a five-day period of civic mourning in his honor.

* 1956 -- For a period of six months, Costa Mesa had a Nike base on 339

acres of the abandoned Santa Ana Army Base, which was located near Orange

Coast College. Three antiaircraft batteries and Nike launching stations

were manned and operated there, and four 20-foot Nike rockets were ready

for firing. The dramatic event was an undertone of the ongoing Cold War

between the United States and the Soviet Union.

* 1957 -- Winds of up to 80 mph battered Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

The Globe-Herald reported the destruction the “Santa Anas” caused,

including sprawling telephone lines, trucks being blown from the

highways, uprooted trees, whipped-up bay waters and power outages

throughout the community. The Globe-Herald followed with an article that

included the Orange County agricultural commissioner confirming the winds

were “Santa Anas” not “santanas,” as was reported in other newspapers.

Dixon W. Tubbs said the latter term is a “gringo-type contraction of the

words Santa and Ana.”

* 1959 -- The Costa Mesa Water District was established as a

consolidation of the city’s four major water suppliers. Each agency --

city of Costa Mesa, Fairview County Water District, Newport-Mesa County

Water District and Newport Heights Irrigation District -- voted to create

the new agency, which would become Mesa Consolidated Water District.

Sources:

Costa Mesa Globe-Herald

“Newport Beach: The First Century, 1888-1988,” James P. Felton, ed.

“A Slice of Orange: The History of Costa Mesa,” Edrick J. Miller, 1970.