The "green fence of death" that stalks so many of our historic buildings, has now gone up around the
South Coast Shipyard on the
Balboa Peninsula in
Newport Beach. I found out about this on a tip from urban archaeologist
Sarah Adams, and went over to see for myself.
Most of the buildings on this block appear in 1938 aerial photos, although I don't have a definitive construction date for any of them right now. (During the 1890s it was the site of
Horace Salter's feedlot.) The shipyard's main "period of significance," however, was
World War II, when the 103,000 square-foot facility was, according to the
Los Angeles Times, "among the West Coast's most booming building and repairing shipyards." Then known as
South Coast Boat Builders, they won war contracts to build rescue
vessels, convert aging tuna clippers into wooden minesweepers, and outfit other Navy vessels. Some of those ships, like patrol frigates, were surprisingly large for Newport Harbor.
During
Orange County's post-war building and development boom,
property values in Newport Harbor skyrocketed, and pricey residential
development replaced industrial. Also, the kinds of large vessels
and working boats the shipyard specialized in were slowly disappearing --
replaced by yachts and sailboats.
In a sign that
residential development was faring far better than ship building,
the South Coast Shipyard was sold to a swimming pool company in the
mid-1960s. But by 1970 (when I suppose every house in Newport already had at least one swimming pool), the shipyard was cut up into smaller properties. There were a lot more spaces than tenants. Cranes and equipment were left to rust, and
the property was soon put up for sale again.
In 1974, the historic shipyard was "renovated and restored" by William Blurock & Partners and became the
South Coast Shipyard & Design Center, with a variety of shops selling nautical equipment and decor in addition to the shipyard's usual services.
(The Shipyard was also initially discussed as a potential home
for the
Newport Harbor Nautical Museum.)
Over the past three decades, the South Coast Shipyard specialized in restoring vintage watercraft. The adjoining mix of shops became more eclectic as the years went on.
The photo above shows some of those shops, including one with a pretty nice 1930s deco facade, surrounded by green construction fencing. Please note that the
Crab Cooker is not fenced and is in no danger. The photo below shows the interior courtyard of the shopping area.
In 2009, the
Coastal Commission approved replacing the buildings with a
"mixed-use project ," including a 21-slip marina, a dozen tie-up slips,
27 condos, 246 parking spaces, and 36,000 square feet of office and
retail space. (Yawn!) After several years of a wacky real estate market, I'm not sure if the plan has been modified, but I assume that something very much like the 2009 plan is what will take the place of the South Coast Shipyard.
It's truly a shame that the developer made no attempt at adaptive reuse of the main Shipyard buildings, which played such an important role in history. Certainly, there are some good examples of that kind of "recycling" in Orange County, with a hotel now in the old
Irvine bean warehouse, a gourmet food court in the old
Anaheim Railroad Depot, CSUF's Art Center in
Santa Ana's old
Grand Central Market, etc., etc., etc.
In discussing this site a few years ago, a Newport Beach City Councilmember said that it was only feasible to save "super-historic buildings, like the Balboa Pavilion." Sorry, Charlie,... You don't get to invent a new category of "super-historic." Either something is historic or it isn't. And the South Coast Shipyard most certainly is.
