GOOD OLD DAYS:

Balboa, that quaint little island community known for its sandy beaches and clean, ocean air, had a wilder side in the 1920s.

Jeff Delaney, a Costa Mesa native who has lived on Balboa for the past 12 years, wrote a book about the island’s history.

“Balboa had a darker underbelly, including back room politics, rumrunners delivering their wares in the wee hours of the morning and illegal gambling on almost every storefront on Main Street,” he wrote.

“Images of America: Newport Beach’s Balboa and Balboa Island” features more than 200 photos detailing the affluent seaside community’s early days.

Judge Robert Gardner, a longtime Newport resident, was city judge from 1938 to 1947.

A Daily Pilot columnist until his death in 2005, Gardner told stories about his escapades in Newport Beach. He also chronicled what he saw in Balboa as a young boy in “Newport Beach, The First Century, 1888-1988.”

Most of the action took place in the heart of town at the Green Dragon Cafe, where patrons drank bootleg liquor in back booths, he wrote.

Gardner was 8 when he arrived on the train from Wyoming to live with his sister Jessie, and brother-in-law, Dick Whitson, a City Council member, chief of police and Green Dragon visitor.

By 9, he was working at the Dragon, listening to the back-room gossip while bringing setups and drink mixes.

Newport Beach City Councilwoman Nancy Gardner said her dad saw things some other kids growing up might not have seen — things like money changing hands and clandestine meetings — because Whitson was politically connected and her father was allowed into local establishments despite his age.

Gambling, dancing, alcohol — Balboa had it all.

“If you wanted a drink anywhere in Southern California during Prohibition, chances are that the booze you were drinking came to port in Balboa,” Delaney said. “And if you wanted to walk a street that had gambling in one out of every two establishments, Main Street Balboa was the place to be.”

The state outlawed gambling, but the city licensed it on Balboa. Local merchants often received anonymous phone tips alerting them when the Santa Ana sheriff was making rounds.

Gambling provided easy money for the city, Delaney said. Punch boards were a perfect way to sucker tourists into parting with their cash.

In most cases, no area of the board actually contained that $5 prize, Delaney said.

“Gambling may have been licensed by the city, but it wasn’t policed,” he said.

Gardner described how he would sit on the city dock and watch the rumrunners come up the bay to unload cases of liquor into a fleet of black sedans.

Delaney said he was aware since he was a teenager that Balboa had an “edge” to it, but didn’t discover how colorful a past it had until he began researching the town for his book.

Balboa’s version of “Sin City” kept the town afloat, he said.

“Balboa is lucky that several of its early officials and businessmen were very determined to make the town succeed, despite high tides that flooded its streets, a local economy that only prospered three months out of the year, and a Great Depression that wiped many small towns across the country right off the map.”

For a copy of “Images of America, Newport Beach’s Balboa and Balboa Island” by Jeff Delaney, call (888) 313-2665 or go to www.arcadiapublishing.com

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at [email protected].