By Pat Brennan…
Before the Santa Ana River got its name, it was building one of
You are viewing: Where Is John Wayne’s Yacht Wild Goose Today
America’s wealthiest communities.
Balboa Island sits in the middle of the harbor of Newport Beach,
California — also known as Balboa Bay — and a small building lot
here starts at $2 million. If you want to see water you’ll pay $9
million. And many of its homes are too large for a single lot.
The Santa Ana is the largest river totally within Southern California
and one of the world’s oldest. It comes tumbling out of the San
Bernardino Mountains, cuts its way through the Santa Ana Mountains,
which are younger than the river and then flows across the semi-desert
plains of Orange County before heading to the Pacific Ocean.
Just before emptying into the Pacific, the Santa Ana dumps all that
sand and mud it has been carrying down from the mountains and out
of the desert, creating an estuary of sandbank islands fringed by
marshlands.
Millions of tons of silt were added to the islands by dredges deepening
the bay to accommodate bigger ships.
Two of those islands are known today as Balboa Island and Lido
Island. They’re fun to visit, but you basically have to be a movie star
or a corporate CEO if you want to live here.
More than 10,000 pleasure craft float in Newport Harbour. It’s the
busiest yacht basin in America. Many of those mega yachts are tied up
in front of mega homes.
Some of your favourite war movies were filmed on these islands in
Newport Harbour. John Wayne didn’t want to commute far from his
Newport Beach mansion when filming the movie Sands of Iwo Jima in
the 1940s, so they shot scenes on a barren island near his home. That
island is now covered with luxury homes.
Read more : Where To Find Sharran Lookout
Wayne was just one of many film stars to be spotted at stop signs,
restaurants and on the streets of Newport Beach.
You can go cruising on Wayne’s 136-foot-long yacht to see his
neighbours’ mansions and their yachts. His yacht — the Wild Goose
— was built in Seattle in 1943 as a mine sweeper for the U.S. Navy.
Its hull is made of three-inch-thick slabs of Douglas Fir. It was
previously owned by Harold Jones of Vancouver who owned the
biggest ship-building firm and boat operator on Canada’s west coast.
Wild Goose was party central during the 17 years Wayne owned it
until his death in 1979. Various U.S. presidents and Hollywood
superstars sailed on Wayne’s yacht. His family wanted to keep it in
Newport Beach after his death and sold it as a harbour tour vessel to
Hornblower Cruises, the same company that operates the boat tour on
the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
But you don’t need a 136-foot-long yacht to tour Newport’s busy
harbour. Many yacht owners also own eight-passenger electric boats
for running errands around the harbour.
No cars are allowed on some of the former sandbank islands, so
residents drive electric golf carts. One young resident decided electric
boats would work on Balboa too. He launched the Duffy Electric Boat
Company and sells them around the world. They’re very popular in
the harbour of Newport Beach.
Tourists can rent them at $100/hour, but you’re better off to go with a
guide, such as Newport At Your Feet, that can tell you whose mansion
you’re marveling at.
There are 400 restaurants in this town of 85,000 and many of them
draw diners from Los Angeles 71 km to the north and San Diego 143
km to the south. The Cannery is one of the most popular. For most of
its 90 years, it was a fish cannery when Newport Beach was mostly a
fishing village. A developer wanted to tear it down to make way for
Read more : Where Are Us Carriers Now
more housing, but another developer with a passion for heritage outbid
him and saved the structure. Today large yachts compete with small,
electric boats for space on the Cannery’s dock so water-bourne
patrons can compete for space inside the restaurant.
Developer Robert Olsen has a sense of heritage. He tore down the old
city hall at Newport Beach to build Lido House, a hotel resort on Lido
Island that includes five three-storey cottages. The dining room/pub at
Lido House is called the Mayor’s Table and it puts on one of the most
popular breakfasts in town.
Balboa Bay Resort was one of the first yacht clubs built on the
harbour and its membership list from those days reads like a who’s
who from America’s corporate, show biz and political elite. The yacht
club is now a resort, but still has 105 boat slips at a private club that
has been separated from the 160-room resort. Vic Casanova is the
executive chef at the resort and he developed his culinary skills as an
apprentice in Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel.
Many of the private docks in front of large mansions are edged with
small fences. It’s not that the owners are inhospitable, but it’s to
dissuade sea lions from climbing upon the dock to bask in the
California sun and then leave a stinky calling card.
Still, you’ll see the 650-pound sea lions lying on docks with crushed
fences.Some homeowners have found a more effective way of chasing
away sea lions: They have porcelain coyotes standing out on their
docks.
Newport Beach is a great place to escape a Canadian winter. A paved
walkway circles Balboa Island that gives a good view of homes, water
and yachts — and you don’t have to shovel it.
The New York Times rated the Christmas parade of highly decorated
boats for five nights in the harbour leading up to Christmas as one of
the 10 best holiday events in the U.S.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHERE
