By Pat Brennan…

Before the Santa Ana River got its name, it was building one of

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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.

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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

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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.

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