In another reminder that 2020 is a year like no other, the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade has been canceled. Next year we will undoubtedly see a return of this popular event.
In another reminder that 2020 is a year like no other, the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade has been canceled. Next year we will undoubtedly see a return of this popular event.
Merle’s Coffee shop opened in 1951 at the corner of Coast Highway and MacArthur Blvd., a space now occupied by the Corona del Mar Plaza. Merle’s, which billed itself as a drive-in, offered a typical menu of coffee shop staples. In the early 1960s, the restaurant changed ownership and Merle’s became The Zoo drive-in. Perhaps the most memorable feature of The Zoo was the gorilla-costumed employee who stood on the corner to attract customers.
For more than twenty years, the ceramicist Kay Finch produced artful porcelain figurines in a studio near the corner of Coast Highway and Hazel Ave. Kay, along with her staff,… Read More »
If George Hart, the original developer of Corona del Mar, had his way Sherman Library would be on 32nd Street instead of the much more pleasing Dahlia Avenue. So, how were the flower streets of Corona del Mar named? Why does an alphabetical scheme include three sets of duplicates: Avocado and Acacia, Marguerite and Marigold, and Poinsettia and Poppy? How did Hazel get included, after Poppy? And for good measure, do Avocado, Acacia, Fernleaf and Hazel qualify as flowers?
Affordable Motels in Corona del Mar? Can you believe Corona del Mar used to have motels along Coast Highway? The first motel in Corona del Mar, the Bay-Ocean Motel, is listed in a 1941 local city directory. By 1955, six more motels sprung up along coast highway: Crown of the Sea Motel, Del Mar Hotel, Farmhouse Motel, Motel Corona del Mar, Motel Kirkwood, and Sea Crest Hotel. The last addition was the Jamaica Inn Motor Hotel, that boasted two heated pools and opened around 1960.
In May of 1935 Harry Welsh, Secretary of the Newport Harbor Chamber of Commerce, was working with community leaders to plan a celebration to mark the opening of Newport Harbor. So, when a local newspaper ran a small item announcing President Franklin D. Roosevelt was planning a trip to California in July 1935, he took action immediately. He wrote in a letter to another ardent Newport Beach promoter, Dr. Albert Soiland, “Perhaps we could arrange to have [the President] stop off and pull a switch or some other ceremony in connection with the work at the Harbor…Looks like a real opportunity to get some exceedingly valuable publicity.”
