Newport Beach is just 20 minutes north of another iconic Orange County beach town, Laguna Beach. But they are worlds apart. Laguna Beach is the silhouette of a tousle-haired blond emerging from the surf as the sun sets. Newport Beach is a handsome couple, clad in Dolce and Gabbana, climbing out of an Escalade. Laguna is track one, side one of The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.
Newport is Yacht Rock. The energy in Newport is upscale, the hedges are manicured and the scene oozes style. But don’t let the flash fool you. This is still a beach town, with plenty of sun, sand and nautical adventures to be had. (It just has better shopping.) As winter looms here in Utah, consider the short flight from SLC to John Wayne Airport for your fall getaway and explore the good life.
Newport’s Ship Comes In
Newport’s name comes from a brave (or foolhardy, decide for yourself) nautical feat. After the Civil War, western migration spiked and many emigrants settled in the area looking for agricultural land. Access to the sea (and important supplies) however, was made difficult by the narrow and shallow opening to Newport Bay, then called San Joaquin Bay. In 1870, an intrepid merchant marine named Captain Samuel Sumner Dunnels successfully dared the channel, with a 105-ton, flat-bottomed steamer loaded with lumber and supplies from San Diego. Dunnels proclaimed that he had discovered a “New Port” and there you have it. Dredging and widening of the channel in the early part of the 20th century made the bay entry less dangerous, and, for a time, Newport was a major shipping port on the coast before rail arrived and major shipping moved north to San Pedro. This was fortuitous and changed the town’s trajectory from heavy industry towards tourism and leisure. The wide bay became a port of call for the pleasure craft of the wealthy. Yacht rock, baby.
Stay: Pendry Newport Beach
For a taste of Newport’s well-heeled lifestyle stay at Pendry Newport Beach (pendry.com) a newly renovated luxury hotel located near Newport’s iconic shopping center, Fashion Island. You’ll be welcomed with the hotel’s signature Pendry drink (every Pendry has a non-alcoholic refresher to greet guests).
Protip: Use the codeword “Daffodil” at the bar and they’ll kick it up a notch with a top-shelf spirit. Remember. You are not in Utah anymore.
Pendry Newport Beach is a full-service hotel with an emphasis on service. A fleet of staffers is deployed around the hotel to ensure no request is too small or too big. After check-in be sure to visit (or revisit) the Bar Pendry. Hotel bars can often be dreary, populated with bored spouses and business travelers hunched over laptops. This hotel bar, however, is hopping with live music and a solid bar menu. Since Pendry’s renovation, it has become a popular spot with actual Newport Beach locals, who are a friendly, convivial bunch.
Play: Explore the California Coast
You came here for the water, right? The best way to get into the Newport vibe is to book a Whale Watching tour with the guiding outfit Newport Coastal Adventure (newportcoastal
adventure.com). The coast beyond the harbor is teeming with ocean life. Dolphins and whales await as you zoom around the ocean in a zippy Zodiac with narration and marine science banter flowing from your crew. (On a recent trip we saw many humpback whales and enjoyed a rare sighting of a blue whale, the big mamma! Also, lots of frolicking dolphins).
Eat & Drink: Dining from lux to Comfort
Fuel up for (or conclude) a shopping trip to Fashion Island at Joey Newport (joeyrestaurants.com) with a great happy hour and an open patio that features a bar and retractable sections of the roof. Enjoy the coastal air and a glass of well-deserved champagne around the outdoor fire pit. Find a farm-to-table breakfast and water views at Malibu Farm Lido (malibu-farm.com) known for its fresh, organic and local ingredients. The opposite of Malibu Farm Lido would be Breakfast at Wilma’s Patio (wilmaspatio.com), a classic diner in the older part of Newport featuring a selection of “Balboa Bombers” a mess of eggs, meat and hashbrowns served in a hollowed-out sourdough bread bowl. Enjoy an elegant lunch on the outdoor patio back at Pendry Newport Beach at the hotel’s signature restaurant, SET: Steak & Sushi (setnewport.com). Finally, for a scenic (and delicious) experience, book a harbor tour on a Duffy Boat with Sea Señorita (seasenoritaduffy.com). Duffy boats are small all-electric boats that ply the harbor and can host floating parties for, say, bachelorettes or friend-tribe trips. In our case, we concluded our tour at the dock outside of Blue Water Grill (bluewatergrill.com) an excellent seafood restaurant with the requisite seasonal fish, oysters, clams and crab on the menu.
The One and Only Crystal Cove State Park
Amid all the finer things in life found in Newport Beach, there is a special scruffy little gem preserved from another time. Crystal Cove State Park (crystalcovestatepark.org) is the site of a handful of beach shacks that were “built” in the 1920s. We put that in quotation marks because these are improvisational structures. The small community used whatever they had on hand to enhance these bric-a-brac buildings, which often began as “kit homes” bought from the Sears & Roebuck catalog. The site became a popular movie location for films like South Pacific and Beach Blanket Bingo, with its most well-known turn in the movie Beaches. (One of the cabins was the location for the film’s heart-wrenching ending.) You can visit the park, a lovely cove with surf to splash in, tidal pools to explore and waterside dining where you can witness the daily happy hour raising of the martini flag at the Beachcomber at Crystal Cove (thebeachcombercafe.com). (Motto: “Every night is Saturday night, and Saturday night is New Year’s Eve. Come raise the flag with us!”) But the Taylor Swift ticket here is scoring a reservation for one of the cabins and spending the night. The booking system is administered by California State Parks and is much like reserving a public campsite. It’s first-come-first-served, you get what you get, with spots opening on a rolling window, allowing reservations up to six months in advance. Try your luck at reservecalifornia.com.
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