Newport Beach in the Rearview Mirror
A look back at the events and people—famous and forgotten—that shaped Newport Beach. Follow on Instagram (newport.in.the.rearview.mirror).
Newport Beach in the Rearview Mirror
11: Newport Nuggets: Three Short Stories Lost to History
•
Hosted by William Lobdell
Newport Beach history is littered with fun, weird, amazing and/or mindboggling stories that are too thin to make into an entire episode, but too good to pass up. In "Newport Nuggets: Three Short Stories Lost to History," we explores a trio of tales from the early part of the 20th Century:
- Newport Beach's first doctor and the Spanish Flu pandemic.
- The summer camp on Little Balboa Island for orphans and children whose parents couldn't take care or them. The popular retreat lasted 30 years (1914-1944).
- The would-be (and massive) religious colony, Melrose Mesa, planned for the West Newport bluffs near present-day Hoag Hospital. And why it didn't have a prayer at succeeding.