Many living on the beach during the summer simply cope

Mathis Winkler

WEST NEWPORT BEACH -- Some call it “party central,” others have

christened it “Mr. Rodman’s neighborhood” in homage to former basketball

player Dennis Rodman.

And then there are those who simple call it “home.” They are the ones

who live in between the more or less well-kept duplexes, where rows of

beach towels slung over balcony railings and “summer rental” signs

announce the arrival of short-term vacationers.

Sometimes, “home” ends up feeling like a hotel, said Margie Donrey,

who moved to her husbands beachfront home on Seashore Drive near 38th

Street about six years ago.

The one difference? There’s no one to pick up after people when they

make a mess, Donrey said.

Still, summer isn’t all about horror stories. There are weeks when the

new, temporary “neighbors” turn out to be a lot of fun.

“We’ll be out barbecuing, they’ll be out barbecuing,” Donrey said.

“You meet nice people, but it’s kind of like the luck of the draw every

week ... you just kind of don’t know. Every week, you hope that it’s

somebody who is respectful.”

Unfortunately, luck’s not always on Donrey’s side and she’s dealt with

everything from maggot-infested trash cans to vomit and urine left by

others on her porch or garage door.

“A lot of the summer I spend cleaning up after people,” she said. “For

some reason, there are a lot of parties.”

Joann Larson, who lives a few blocks down on 44th Street, offered a

simple explanation for that phenomenon.

“We’re blessed with a wonderful surf and beach,” said the retired

Newport Elementary School teacher as she sat on her backyard patio.

Right by the sand

Back in 1962, when Larson and her husband, Miles, moved to their home

from Covina, friends didn’t understand the couple’s motivation.

“Why do you want to move your kids into an environment that’s

transient?” Larson remembered them asking.

“For the same reason as everyone else,” she’d reply. “We like the

beach.”

In the beginning, Larson tried to establish relationships with

vacationers. She soon realized that she’d have to rely on permanent

residents -- or at least the property owners -- to get things done.

Now, when problems arise, she calls the landlords or management

companies and asks them to handle them.

It works pretty well. While other streets in the neighborhood are

still struggling with the annual summer invasion, the situation on 44th

Street is under control, she said.

“I try to keep a good street,” she said. “I know it sounds kind of

silly, but I do. Because I like living here.”

The conversion of summer rental buildings into private homes or

yearlong rentals has also helped to improve the area, Larson said.

Bill Schonlau, a Realtor who has owned and lived in several oceanfront

houses -- including the one now owned by notorious party man Rodman --

said rentals right on the beach are rapidly disappearing.

“It won’t be too long before there is hardly any rentals on

Oceanfront,” he said, adding that the houses have become too expensive

for owners to get a reasonable return on their investment by renting them

out.

Away from the water

The situation’s a lot different on the other side of West Coast

Highway, however.

“As soon as you cross the street inland, it’s a whole different ball

game,” Schonlau said.

Here, houses cost less than half the oceanfront ones, and it still

makes sense to turn them into rental apartments.

Former Mayor Jan Debay, who represented West Newport Beach on the City

Council for eight years before leaving her seat last December because of

term limits, said it’s all a question of community pride.

When her family bought a home on Seashore Drive in 1979, they did not

know the area’s reputation.

“We didn’t have any idea of what the problems were,” Debay said.

As she became more involved in the community, Debay began to work with

neighbors to improve the situation.

To ease the parking problem, people would paint yellow lines on alleys

to alert vacationers where they could and could not leave their cars.

To cut down on noise, the city attorney’s office began working on a

noise ordinance, which council members strengthened even further just a

few weeks ago.

City officials also would check on overflowing trash cans and cite

owners that didn’t keep a lid on cans.

And a new condo conversion ordinance allowed people to buy half a

duplex and convert it into their home.

“That helps because those people are neighbors,” said Debay, who moved

to a condo further inland in 1990. “They are not just there for the

week.”

The efforts have made a difference, she added.

“We’ve come an awful long way,” she said. “There’s still a ways to go,

but I think we’ve made an awful lot of progress.”