Countdown to 2000: Optimism runs high

Susan McCormack

During the 1920s, in both Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, optimism

increased as industry and populations soared -- until 1929, when the

stock market crashed. By then, though, the area was stable enough to

endure the coming years of fear and uncertainty.

Home pride arose in the future Costa Mesa area in the 1920s, and the town

cemented its future as hundreds of business and homes sprouted up and the

population multiplied.

At the beginning of the decade, town folk in Harper held a contest to

rename their area, signaling a desire to make the town permanent and

unified. Costa Mesa, or coastal plain, was chosen among the entries to

represent the place. The name was evidence of the area’s Spanish-speaking

heritage.

On Newport Boulevard, the area’s first barber shop went up, as did an

additional gas station and a lumber yard. The man who would become Costa

Mesa’s first mayor, Charles TeWinkle, worked as postmaster and built a

hardware store.

A new school serving almost 200 students was needed by 1923, and a year later the first public library, containing 200 books, was built on the

second floor of the local bank. It was soon moved to larger quarters.

In late 1923, the Santa Ana Register reported that 250 buildings --

businesses and homes -- had been built in Costa Mesa within the past year

and described the town as a “rapidly growing, modern city.” By 1925,

2,500 people called Costa Mesa home.In Newport Beach, Balboa surfaced as

a resort area, while the McFadden Wharf remained the business center of

the city. To attract beach-goers to the Balboa Pavilion, pier and fun

zone, frequent beauty pageants were held, where women with cropped hair

posed in their thigh-length bathing suits.

With the increased emphasis on recreation, Newport Beach was soon forced

to focus on safety and dig into its pockets to hire lifeguards to watch

over the waters where many boaters had drowned.

With more and more people and businesses wanting to locate in Newport

Beach, millionaire W.K. Parkinson purchased an island in the harbor and

struggled to fill it and build a bridge connecting it to the mainland. He

did not live to see Lido Islebecome a thriving residential area.

The island’s new owner, W.C. Crittenden, oversaw the its development at

the end of the decade, but it would be years before anyone gained money

from their investments at Lido Isle.

These ten events shaped the 1920s:

* 1920 -- Alice Plummer wins a contest to rename the town of Harper as

Costa Mesa. She is awarded $25 for the name.

* 1920 -- West Newport Pavilion burns down, signaling the final bust in

the former boom area of Newport Beach.

* 1923 -- Costa Mesa Grammar School opens at the corner of 19th Street

and Newport Boulevard and serves 187 students.

* Jan. 1, 1923 - A small boat capsizes in the entrance to the harbor, and

the three occupants drown despite efforts to revive them. A Life Saving

Corps -- the first lifeguards -- is soon organized.

* 1923 -- Millionaire Pacific Electric conductor W.K. Parkinson buys Lido

Isle (formerly Electric Island) for $45,000. Parkinson fills the island

with dredged silt and sand until it is 11 feet above sea level at high

tide. The project costs $261,000. A permit to build a bridge connecting

the island to the mainland is granted one year after Parkinson’s death in

1928.

* 1925 -- In Costa Mesa, Fred Bush becomes the first volunteer fire

chief, and Frank “Big Boy” Vaugh becomes the first police officer.* June

14, 1925 -- Renowned Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku saves seven men

using his surfboard to paddle out to reach them and bring them to safety.

Kahanamoku, a volunteer with the Life Saving Corps, saw the men’s ship

overturn as he took a morning swim. Two others rescue an additional five

men, but another five drown.

* May 1927 -- World War I physician Gordon M. Grundy opens the city’s

first hospital, at the corner of Balboa Boulevard (then Central Avenue)

and 9th Street. The hospital was privately owned and contained five

private rooms, delivery and operating rooms, three treatment rooms, a

kitchen and offices. The doctor had offices in Newport and Balboa.

* 1927 -- The city of Newport Beach votes to allocate $500,000 to improve

the dangerous west and east jetties. A year later, it gives $200,000 more

toward the effort.* 1928 - The city of Santa Ana asks residents in the

future city of Costa Mesa if they would like to become part of Santa Ana.

Their answer was a resounding “no.”

Sources:

“The Story of Costa Mesa,” Thomas A. Barr, 1981

“Newport Beach, The First Century,” James P. Felton, 1988.