@ArcadeFire – Don’t mess with Veruca Salt, she wants Everything Now.
1939 Newport Bay
Tags: #old newport beach, #Vintage Newport Beach Postcards
This appears to be the fun zone area just north of the Pavilion on Newport Bay. This vintage postcard is from 1939. Take a look at the high and low diving boards made of large pieces of lumber.
The Hottest 100 Yards circa 1980
Tags: #old newport beach, The Hottest 100 Yards
The below article was published in 1980 by Surfer Magazine. The article describes the beach between 54st and 56st lifeguard towers in Newport Beach as The Hottest 100 Yards in the surfing. It holds true to that name today. Enjoy
Old Balboa
Tags: #old newport beach, #Vintage Newport Beach Postcards
Two antique postcards of the Balboa area. One depicts the bridge to get onto Balboa Island circa 1930’s and the other shows a gondola and dates back to the the early 1900’s. The Gondola was a popular way to travel the back bay in the early years of Newport due to the shallow and marshy conditions. Also, interesting to note that the card only shows 7 homes that are on bay front lots compared to the 1000’s that line the bay’s edge today.
New postcard to my collection, postmarked on the back from 1908. It shows a gathering at the Balboa Pavilion under flags that are raised at half staff. This could be a funeral procession or other day of morning.
I’m enjoying this new song by Arcade Fire and anticipating their new album! The music video has a very Newberry Springs look to it.
A new addition at HQ. The quote by Jack Kerouac says….Happy. Just in my swim shorts, barefooted, wild-haired, in the red fire dark, singing, swigging wine, spitting, jumping, running, that’s the way to live.
We are having our annual opening day of summer party this coming Sunday at HQ 1pm. See ya there!
Newport Beach continues to level the sand in west Newport. There are several sand hills like this one slated for removal from the beach for use in another part of the city. It’s been a good place to watch the sunset. Also, the sand pipe was removed from the 56st jetty last week.
Lemoore City Service Sign
Tags: #Kelly Slater Wave Co., #kswaveco, #Lemoore
The central valley city of Lemoore has updated their city services sign. The sign now gives a nod to their most famous resident…the Kelly Slater Wave Pool.
A week ago, before sunset, waves pumped at 56st. The day had been fairly windy with big wind swell in the water. Just as the sun set for the horizon, the wind died and the waves went nuts for about 30 minutes. All the sand from the dredge pipe had helped to create A-Frame barrels from 54st to the River Jetties.
Amboy Crater Super Bloom
Tags: #2017 Super Bloom
Two weekends ago we set out on a road trip to track down some Super Bloom wild flowers. We ended up at Amboy Crater off Route 66 in the Mojave National Preserve. Lots of yellow and purple wildflowers growing amidst the black volcanic rock in this normally barren part of the desert.
The sand dredging of the Santa Ana River has been underway since September 2016 and is scheduled to run another month and half or so. In the last several days the project coordinators installed a sand pipe that reaches out onto the 56st jetty and into the lineup. Only time will tell if 56st surf will benefit from this sand movement. Fun Fact- since 1991, it has cost 533 million dollars to keep the lower Santa Ana River free of sand! Click HERE for more info on the project.
56st Sand Pipe
Balboa Peninsula 1920
Tags: 1920's Newport Beach, Bal Week Newport Beach
With Spring Break time of the year approaching, I’m posting this amazing postcard from what I believe to be Bal-Week(spring break) in the early 1920’s on the Balboa Peninsula. The photo shows people packed into the intersection of Main St. and E. Bay St. just in front of the Balboa Pavilion. Perhaps this is the parade of “Beach Beauties”…..not too certain. Besides the massive crowd, if you look closely you can see several things including signs displaying Kodak Supplies, Ice Cream and the Balboa Apartments. I can’t make out what it says on the back of the vehicles and any help deciphering it would be appreciated.
Mariner’s Mile 1941
Tags: #Mariner's Mile, #Vintage Newport Beach Postcards
This is a real photo postcard of Mariner’s Mile circa 1941. On the bottom left you can see the Arches restaurant which opened in 1926 and PCH running south under the classic arched bridge. This postcard intrigues me so much due to the lack of development depicted. Definitely before Newport’s boom with very few homes on Lido Isle, no homes on the hills overlooking the bay and very few buildings on Mariner’s Mile itself.
