Mural taking form on market wall paints a picture of Balboa Island
Artist Gary Miltimore can be found most mornings in the shade of the Island Market on Balboa Island, mixing paints and preparing his canvas for his day’s work.
Sedans heading for the ferry roll steadily along Agate Avenue past the wall of the quaint market where Miltimore, a longtime Newport Beach resident and avid sailor, has dedicated about 70 hours of work in roughly two weeks to create a mural dedicated to Balboa Island’s past and present.
Some drivers slow and roll down their windows to get a better look at the piece, which eventually will span the stucco wall’s entire length. Miltimore said the mural likely will take a total of about 200 hours to finish.
“I work from about 9 in the morning until the sun comes over the building, then it becomes so unbearable I pack up and come back the next day,” he said.
The mural can’t be rushed. Undertaking a large-scale painting takes a lot of patience and attention to detail, according to Miltimore.
Currently he’s focusing on perfecting the mural’s details of Marine Avenue, from the St. John Vianney Chapel mosaic to the trees that provide shade from the summer sun as visitors stroll among shops.
“That’s what gives the island so much flavor,” Miltimore said.
The mural, commissioned by the Balboa Island Improvement Assn., is one of several art projects and events residents plan in celebration of the island’s 100th anniversary of incorporation into the city of Newport Beach.
The $10,000 mural was funded with donations from four Balboa Island families, who will have their names on the artwork and a plaque that will be placed at Agate Avenue and South Bayfront, said association President Lee Pearl.
“It’s completely funded by local families who care about the island and want to do something special in celebration of its history,” Pearl said.
Balboa Island, once an uninhabited muddy sandbar in Newport Harbor, has come a long way in 100 years.
It got its start in 1906, when developer William Collins decided to dredge a channel along the north side of Newport Bay across from the Balboa Pavilion on the peninsula. He piled the dredged sand and silt on a mud flat until an island was formed. In the years that followed, Collins and his real estate agents sold lots on the island for a few hundred dollars apiece but struggled to add amenities such as sewers, finished streets and sidewalks on the income from the sales.
By 1916, Collins abandoned the project and Balboa Island officially became part of Newport Beach. One hundred years later, island residents say it’s a milestone worth celebrating.
When the mural is complete, it will feature some of Balboa Island’s former celebrity residents along with notable fixtures that have remained through the decades. The Sugar ‘n Spice frozen banana stand on Marine Avenue will make an appearance, as well as the ferry, which began as a giant rowboat with a small engine that shuttled passengers from Balboa Island to the Balboa Peninsula for a nickel.
Wild Goose, the yacht formerly owned by late actor John Wayne, who often frequented Balboa Island, will sail across the mural’s likeness of the harbor as beachgoers sunbathe along the shore.
Pearl said the idea is not for the mural to be historically accurate or dedicated to a particular era but to showcase snapshots of people and places that make the island unique.
Late actress Shirley Temple and late actor Buddy Ebsen, who formerly lived on Balboa Island, will be painted dancing together, much like they did in their 1936 film “Captain January.”
Island Market’s location adjacent to the ferry and the boardwalk along South Bayfront made it an ideal place for the artwork, Pearl said.
“Thousands of people come here on the ferry and will have access to this wall,” Pearl said. “When you’re waiting in line for the ferry, you’re going to see it, and when you’re coming off the ferry, you’re going to see it. I think it’ll be an asset for the island for many years to come.”
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
