What Used to Exist in Newport Beach

Source: Orange County Archives via Wikimedia Commons.
Browse other vintage Newport Beach photographs and postcards.

OCThen reader Bob King is putting together pamphlet about things that no longer exist in Newport Beach... 

Hey all.....graduated from Seal Beach Grammar School on PCH and 12th in 1948. Still go to Seal on occasion to visit with a couple of friends and to eat at Walt's. I have a ton of memories about Seal, Sunset, Surfside, Belmont Shore, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport, but I trying to remember the location of the Victoria Station Restaurant in Newport Beach and simply can't remember.  

 Can someone out there help this old dude? Need it as I am endeavoring to put together a pamphlet along the lines of "Things That Aren't Here Anymore".

Bob King
majskyking@gmail.com
Newport Beach
949-422-6526

The old Bison Ranch comes to mind.  It was an old restaurant and zoo where families could spend their afternoon and then snack on some bison burgers.  It was located along Jamboree Road where Bison Road intersects.

There was Merle's Drive Inn, located on MacArthur and PCH.  In the 1960's it was renamed "The Zoo" and then in the 1970s it closed down.

Also, Sid's Blue Beet, a favorite night spot located by the pier.  It changed hands was renamed "Blue Beet Cafe".

What you do remember about Newport Beach that doesn't exist anymore?

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Hank's Restaurant, Newport Beach

Anonymous remembers a restaurant called "Hank's" in Newport Beach during the 1970s...

Does anyone remember a restaurant called Hank's in Newport Beach? It was on a corner, down the street from where the pier is. It had the best fish and you could just walk in off the beach, very casual. This would have been during the 70's.

I did some Googling on this, but couldn't find any info. Considering this was in the 1970s, there's probably little information online.

But if you remember it, please comment.

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Newport Elementary School - Memories

Anonymous submits some memories of attending Newport Elementary School...

Newport Elementary; sand in the hightops that weren't allowed in the house; watching epic pipeline comes to newport from the blacktop during recess and lunch; looking for the witch on the corner house south of the school; fifth grade beating the "murderers row" sixth grade softball team; went there kindergarden to sixth grade; we performed "gloria" on our final day in the auditorium; thank you all for the memories!

And another anonymous reader has this to share as well...

Does anyone remember Miss Moyer at Newport Elementary? She dove for my foul pop-up and skinned her knee on the blacktop! It was fourth grade she taught; Quite a looker and a fine athlete.

Anyone out there attend Newport Elementary?

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The Dory Fleet of Newport Beach

Anonymous asks if anyone remembers the dory fleet out of Newport Beach..

Anyone remember the Dorry (Dory, Dorrey?) fleet out of Newport Beach near the Pier?

I didn't frequent Newport Beach much while I lived in OC, but there is a website dedicated the dory boats...

http://www.doryfleet.com

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A Man Named "Ski" with Parrots

Roxanne asks if anyone remembers a guy named "ski" who wandered around Newport Beach with parrots...

Does anyone remember a guy named "ski" who used to walk around Newport Beach with parrots on his shoulder? If you were female he could be a bit of a pervert but he was harmless. My friends and I first came across him when he was living at the Ambassador Inn Costa Mesa. He then moved to Newport Beach and would walk up and down the boardwalk showing of these amazing birds and trying to pick up chicks of course.

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Sid's Blue Beet, Newport Beach

Anonymous asks if anyone else remembers a place in Newport Beach called, "Sid's Blue Beet"...

Anyone recall Sid's Blue Beet in Newport near the pier? Funky place with loads of ambiance and great live music. Sid, the onetime owner is wanted by the law and word has it, is hiding out in Vegas. It was hopping in the 70's.

Sid's Blue Beet is now "Blue Beet Cafe". I've never been there, but had heard about it.

I wonder if the person writing is either someone looking for Sid, or maybe Sid himself.

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Nutburger in Santa Ana

OCThen reader Gary asks if anyone remembers a burger joint in Santa Ana called "Nutburger"...

I was living in Santa Ana during the mid to latter 60's. Does anyone remember The Nutburger? It was a hamburger joint on Harbor and Warner that featured hamburgers with peanuts in them. The were actually pretty good.

And he also asks if anyone remembers another place in Newport Beach...

Also, does anyone remember the name of the restaurant that featured cute carhops in short dresses who roller skated to your car to take orders and deliver food? It was on the corner of MacArthur and PCH in Newport Beach (where the Gulfstream is now). This would have been in the 60s and 70's.

If you have anything to add, click on "Post a Comment" below...

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Old Tiki Restaurant in 1960s Newport Beach

An anonymous OCThen reader asks if anyone remembers a tiki-style restaurant in Newport Beach during the 1960s...

Does anyone remember a restaurant on Pacific Coast highway in Newport Beach where Billy's is currently--called Kon Tiki? I recall going there on a date in the 1960's. I was there recently and recognized the Polynesian touches that are still there, but I am not sure I am remembering the name correctly.

If you know anything, please "Post a Comment" and share with us...

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Newport Pop Festival - Any Old Timers?

Jeff Overley, a reporter with the OC Register, says he's working on a story about the 40th anniversary of the Newport Pop Festival. He send me a note asking if any OCThen readers ever visited a previous NPF event.

Hi Steve ... I'm a reporter with the Register, and I'm working on a story about the 40th anniversary of the Newport Pop Festival. I came across a commenter on your website who mentioned attending, so was curious if you might know of anyone else who was at the show....Any help would be awesome, please feel free to drop me a line any time ... Best ...

Give him a ring if you'd like to see your name in print...

Jeff Overley
The Orange County Register
joverley@ocregister.com
714-445-6683
714-932-1221 (Cell)

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Memories of Newport Beach, 1965

Here is an e-mail I received today from someone who grew up in Newport Beach during the 1960's...

Nice job on OC then. Wow, I didn't realize I was old enough to be part of history. I keep thinking I am still in my 20's (which was decades ago).

My family moved to Newport Beach from Los Angeles in 1965. six of us lived in a tiny apartment on the peninsula for the summer - on Alvarado street.
We moved up the cliffs and lived near Dover shores but not quite in Dover shores.

I could write a lot, but I'll keep it short. My siblings and I became freed birds. Living in LA, there was a lot of crime, and safety. Living in Newport Beach, not! Everywhere we went we could venture in vacant lots, making forts, riding bikes. WE'd ride our 1 speed sting ray bikes 5 miles to the beach. I remember watching Fashion Island being built, and UC Irvine. WE'd go to the back bay to watch remote control airplanes (before they built houses on the cliffs). When we wanted to drive to the country, we'd head out to the orange groves - which are now Irvine. There was nothing but farm land, yes, even where south coast plaza was.

Boy, this area has changed!
Patti M

What do you remember about Newport Beach decades ago? Click on "Post a comment" below.

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Jamboree Road

Jamboree Road is one of the major thoroughfares in Orange County, running from just west of Irvine Lake, all the way south to Pacific Coast Highway.

But it used to be just a gravel road running from the Irvine Ranch Boy Scout Troop 36 Clubhouse, near Irvine Boulevard and Myford Road, down to Newport Beach, about 8 miles of road. It was created in 1953, in preparation for the third National Boy Scout Jamboree held July 17-23, 1953.

The Jamboree was the first ever held west of Mississippi River. It was a big event for Orange County, perhaps one of the key events putting Orange County on the map.

The site of the Jamboree is located where today's Newport Center and Eastbluff communities in Newport Beach now stand.

At the height of the festivities, the Jamboree was a city unto itself. People called it, "Jamboree Town". Peggy Goetz, wrote an article about the Jamboree which appeared in the Irvine World News...

It had a fire company, a bank, a theater, a hospital, a telephone office, a U.S. Post Office, stores and even a zoo. People called it "Tent City" and "Jamboree Town." It had about 50,000 residents living in more than 25,000 tents.

If you know what the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is to the town of Sturgis, South Dakota, the Boy Scout Jamboree had the same significance in Orange County just over 50 years ago. Today, just the name of Jamboree Road is the only living reminder of that event.

Read more about the logistics that went into building and preparing for the 3rd National Boy Scout Jamboree in Peggy's article.

Do you remember the Boy Scout Jamboree? Click on "Post a Comment" below, and share them with us.

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Memories of Gary Zaremba

Gary Zaremba, another OCThen.com visitor, shares his many memories of growing up in Orange County. Among them, the El Toro Marine Base, Cook's Corner, the Hells Angels, and the schools he went to...

Thanks for this web site, Steve! I wasn't born here but my family and I arrived in Orange County in the summer of 1958 when I was almost 7. There were orange groves and eucalyptus trees everywhere and most cities were "islands" between one orange grove or ranch to another. My dad was stationed at El Toro Marine base, becoming the Manager of the Staff NCO club. He used to book entertainment acts for Friday and Saturday nights. I remember my dad getting us a signed copy of a photo from Tex Ritter (John Ritter's dad) after he performed there one night.

We even lived in the military housing on base for a couple of years while I attended 4th and 5th grades. Stanley Cook, the son of the owner of "Cook's Corner" was the pitcher on our little league team. Another pitcher, Dan Peavey, was such a baseball fanatic (he had the best collection of baseball trading cards that I ever saw), that he impressed Joe Dimagio enough that he came to visit us at the El Toro Elementary School in 1962. Our team even took a photo with him that was blown up and mounted in our school cafeteria. I wish I knew what happened to it.

The smog was much worse and the traffic was about the same as it is today. I remember hardly being able to breathe from all of the "yellow" air that passed through our lungs all day while attending school. On summer weekends, we used to go to "Tin Can Beach" - where Bolsa Chica Beach is today. The beach got its name from all of the rusted tin cans that lined the road. We had to walk through thin, sandy lanes that were formed by foot traffic in order to get to the beach. Of course, this was in the days of pop tops, so you really had to watch out where you walked or you'd get one stuck in your feet.

We moved around a lot in those days, living in Orange (near the Circle), Tustin and then El Toro before finally moving to Santa Ana. I remember going to Hart Park a lot while I lived in Orange. There was a hobo used to ride the rails and who lived in the park in the winter months. He "borrowed" wood from a lumberyard that was nearby to fashion his makeshift shack. My friends and I would talk to him about his travels while he cooked his food out of tin cans. Sometimes he would feed the park squirrels and rabbits. I can't imagine my son doing something like that today.

When we moved to Santa Ana, I attended John Adams Elementary, McFadden Jr. High (first graduating class) and Santa Ana Valley High. In my Jr. year, they opened Saddleback High and about 1/2 of the students were transferred to that school becoming the first graduates.

While I was at Valley, Martin Luther King was killed and we had riots on Greenville with cars being burned right near our school.

Special places and people that I remember in Orange County in those days included the Pier at Newport Beach (where I spent many a time after cutting classes at school), Lars the "Greeter" in Laguna and the hippie shacks (where I stayed with friends) above the old bookstore, "Farenheit 451", crashing beach parties along the boardwalk in Newport on summer nights, the "Nutburger" restaurant on Fairview and Warner in Santa Ana, "The Zoo" drive in restaurant at the corner of MacArthur and PCH where the waitresses served you fast food on rollerskates, the long winding, country road from El Toro all the way to Cooks Corner, Lion Country Safari and "Bubbles" the hippopotamus who escaped and submerged in one of the ponds on Laguna Canyon Road.

How may people remember Victor Hugo's restaurant in Laguna before it became Las Brisas? How many people remember the "head shops" in Laguna where meditation and pot smoking were common events? How about the Hara Krishnas who used to dance and play tamborines on the main streets in Laguna? How about the annual events when the Hell's Angels would ride into Newport and park hundreds of their choppers effectively blocking off Newport and Balboa Blvds. near the pier? I remember the police securing many "paddy wagons" just for this occasion. Eventually, the Hell's Angels didn't return but it was exciting while they were there.

Does anyone remember the town that disappeared between Placentia and Anaheim along the railroad tracks - ATWOOD? My grandfather had a used furniture store there. How about the Tustin Marine LTA (lighter than air) base with the very large blimps that were housed in the blimp hangers before they were replaced by helicopters?

I attended several pop festivals and especially remember the Newport Pop Festival at the O.C. Fairgrounds where Country Joe & The Fish and Jefferson Airplane played. I also went to another 3 day festival at Devonshire Downs in San Fernando Valley (you name the 60's rock group, they were all there!) and one in Palm Springs during the summer of 1968 that became an all out riot with police helicopters dropping tear gas on the crowd. In fact, a curfew was established for several years after that where minors had to be accompanied by adults to enter into Palm Springs.

Well, that's about enough to cover for now. Maybe I'll add some other things when I remember them.

Thanks Gary!

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Reuben E. Lee

The Reuben E. Lee was a 19th Century style paddle wheel boat docked in Newport Bay, right along Pacific Coast Highway, between Dover Dr and by Bayside Drive, as you cross over the bridge. The boat is still there, though it's no longer named "Reuben E. Lee". In 1995, it was renamed "Pride of Newport".

But the REL was a floating restaurant. It opened in 1964. It closed up for service probably 10 years ago. There is a similar "Reuben E. Lee" in San Diego, that shut down in 2003. Today, it is home to the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum. There is still a restaurant inside called, "Anthony's Riverboat Restaurant".

Below are memories of REL submitted to us back in the old days of OCThen.com:

By: Curtis Lofgren, 11 Aug 2002

Worked at the REL from 82-83...worst possible place to work in the entire world, universe, galaxy and...you get the picture. 100 degrees in the summer, 40 below in the winter and the plumbing?....there was none....just flush and see it go overboard....the powers that were placed hidden tapes of frog noises outside the gangplank...overall, the most amatuerish and scummiest of jobs...oh yeah, and the fish?...FROZEN!!!

By: Terry, 2 Apr 2002

I remember driving by the REL and seeing it tilted to one side. My husband stopped the car and we watched while the fire department tried to figue out how to get a VW bug out from UNDER it. Well, they waited for the tide to change a pulled it out with one of those really big tow truck What I always wanted to know was ...How it get there in the first place

By: Andrew Musselman, 29 Nov 2001

My friend scott Hollender and I used to pull a small boat up to the Ruben E Lee and have a meal. Great times!

By: Jerry Parker, 12 July 2001

In 1967 I was a buss-boy at the Ruben E. Lee, for a short time. It was quite a boat. When the Newport Beach Fire Boat zoomed past, the whole restaurant would rock and sway. I never saw any plates slide off tables, but the patrons would stare intently at their coffee or water glasses.

If you have any memories of the Reuben E. Lee, please click on "Post a Comment" below and share them with us here.

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The Buffalo Ranch in Newport Beach

Does anyone remember the old Buffalo Ranch in Newport Beach? Well, I don't remember it. I came to Orange County after it was long gone. I found some stories submitted to the old OCThen website, and decided to repost them here on the new OCThen:

By: Anonymous, 3 Apr. 2002

HERD OF 72 BUFFALOES ARRIVES TO ROAM NEWPORT BEACH RANCH This community now provides a home for the buffalo to roam. A heard of 72 arrived over the weekend to take up occupancy on the Newport Harbor Buffalo Ranch, a mile north of Coast Hwy. on the east side of MacArthur Blvd. The buffalo ranch, comprising 115 acres, has been leased by Gene Clark from the Irvine Co. He's put in a blacktopped winding road through the grazing range for benefit of visitors. The herd was trucked in here from Independence, Kan. The unloading was witnessed by hundreds of persons. The largest buffalo, a 2,7000 pound bull, lost its footing on the ramp leading from his truck into the fenced pasture and somersaulted into his new home. The herd includes two Brahmalos. Both are the crossbred products of a Brahma bull and buffalo. Clark also plans to bring four Indian families here from Kansas to add color to his promotion. The Indians will bone up on tribal dances and present them at frequent intervals for tourist enlightenment. They will live in teepees. But, contrary to other traditions, the Indians will not be permitted to hunt the buffalo. 1955 June 6. Southland Magazine.

By: Anonymous, 3 Apr. 2002

Buffalo Ranch was located on McArthur on the way to Fashion Island. As the center developed and more businesses located in that area, the ranch was reduced in size. The rides and gift store were gone by the late 1960s, and by the late 1970s, the small ranch and few buffalo that were left, closed up shop and left. They were squeezed out by residential development from two sides. I remember the archway over the entrance off McArthur.

By: Rip Rense, 13 Jan. 2002

My father used to take me to The Buffalo Ranch in the 1950s. I don't recall too much, except an Indian trading post-type store, a few buffalo,and a ride for kiddies consisting of miniature tractors. I'm curious how long The Buffalo Ranch was there, because I recently saw a Buster Keaton movie from 1924, "Sherlock Jr.," which was shot around Newport and adjoining environs and features one shot with a sign reading "Buffalo Ranch."

The above are e-mails submitted to OCThen.com a few years ago. I'm going to go through all the archives and repost them here on the new OCThen. If you have any memories of the Buffalo Ranch, click on the "Post a Comment" link below.

Hey, do you think this is why there is a "Bison Street" in Newport Beach?

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