Balboa name was shortchanged by Newport Beach

In 1513, a Spanish explorer named Vasco Nunez de Balboa slogged for

25 days through the jungles of Central America and came upon the

biggest ocean in the world. History tells us that he was the first

white man to gaze upon the Pacific Ocean and so ... forget all the

indigenous people who were quite aware of this large body of water.

Forget the Polynesians, Micronesians and Melanesians who’d been

sailing across this watery expanse. In the history books Balboa gets

credit for having “discovered” it. His reward for this discovery? A

few years later he was convicted of treason, beheaded in a public

square and his remains “thrown to the vultures.” I always like that

“thrown to the vultures” bit. That has a lot more pizazz than being

interred in Forest Lawn.

Why this particular bit of historic trivia? To lament that this

city is named Newport rather than Balboa. Other than a town in Panama

and this village, the name Balboa seems to have lost out. On the

other hand, Newport seems to be a very popular name even though I can

think of nothing or no one of note connected with the name. Let’s

face it. Newport is blah, yet there are Newports in Arkansas,

Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, Indiana, Vermont, New Hampshire,

Oregon, Washington and Rhode Island, and I’ve probably missed a few.

While I haven’t been to most of them, I would like to visit Newport,

Kentucky. They publicize the Newport Aquarium on the Ohio River.

Admission is $10, and that includes a cocktail. Now that’s my kind of

aquarium.

Anyway, all these other Newports and no other Balboa in this

country. In 1940, Earl Stanley tried to do something about it. Earl

was rather short, a trifle rotund, with a ruddy complexion, white

hair and a nice, almost bashful smile. The Park Avenue Cafe on Balboa

Avenue had two entrances, both facing on Park Avenue. The one nearer

Marine Avenue led into the cafe. The one farther from Marine Avenue

was a double door. Go in the left side and you entered the Park

Avenue Bar. Enter the right side, and you went into Early Stanley’s

real estate office. Old Man Irvine liked Earl Stanley. Connections

like that made Earl a very successful realtor. He handled new Irvine

projects like Bay Shores and Cliff Haven. He eventually served on the

City Council and then went on to become the first Assemblyman from

the harbor area. Anyway, back in 1940 Earl tried to get the name of

the city changed from Newport to Balboa. The voters turned it down by

a vote of 2 to 1, 1,014 to 551. Unbelievable! There was another chance to salvage Balboa, not as the name of the

city, but at least to raise the recognition factor. This was to

change the name of the Irvine Coast Country Club to the Balboa

Country Club. Someone had researched it and there wasn’t another

Balboa Country Club in the country. And so what did we do with this

opportunity? The past repeated itself. It became the Newport Beach

Country Club. Boring.

What’s in a name? Tristram Shandy’s father believed it shaped a

person’s character. Maybe if we had called ourselves Balboa, we’d

still be just a raffish little beach town stocked with eccentric

characters, and our city wouldn’t have the cachet it does today.

Maybe.

Anyway, I heartily endorse any effort to utilize the name Balboa.

I also endorse the idea of a cocktail included with admission and

recommend that our local museums and gardens take this under

consideration.

* ROBERT GARDNER is a Corona del Mar resident and a former judge.

His column runs Tuesdays.