Countdown to 2000: 1970s Personalities

Andrew Glazer

In the 1970s, Newport Beach changed from a casual vacation enclave for

the rich and famous to a convenient place for the newly rich to live.

The era of Hollywood star-filled yacht parties and nightclubs officially

ended when John Wayne, haggard cowboy star of more than 200 movies,

passed away on June 11, 1979.

Newport Beach flags flew at half-staff that day. Wayne, who was a

familiar fixture at local barbershops, bars and yacht clubs, would be

seen no longer.

Longtime Newport Beach resident George Grupe recalled seeing Wayne at

Richard’s Market one afternoon with his son, Ethan. Ethan was slowly

eating an ice cream cone, which began dripping down his arm. Wayne,

standing in the market, shouted impatiently to his son: “Well, are you

about ready?” The room began laughing and Wayne swaggered out, hiding his

own smile.

While real estate barons, bankers and businessmen began flocking to

Newport Beach to celebrate high culture, Jerry Roach, owner of the

Cuckoo’s Nest in Costa Mesa, did his best to smear it in the dirt.

Roach’s club, which Costa Mesa desperately fought to close, was the

epicenter of Orange County’s thriving punk rock scene. There were nights

when half of the club’s patrons were arrested for charges ranging from

curfew violations to drug charges to assault with a deadly weapon. And

Roach said he was having a blast the whole time.

“It was too fun for them,” said Roach, who now helps his two sons

organize raves, cleans chimneys and does whatever he can to avoid working

for “the man.”

Roach closed the club in the early ‘80s after the Costa Mesa City Council

passed a resolution prohibiting dancing there.

Sources:

Daily Pilot; “Newport Beach, The First Century 1888-1988,” James P.

Felton, 1981; interview with local historian George Grupe.