LOOKING BACK -- Young Chang

I have a confession to make.

When I first started working at the Daily Pilot a year and some months

ago, I was lost and confused about many things, but about the following

three things in particular:

The way Superior Avenue in Costa Mesa works.

What and where Corona del Mar was -- I’d ask people if they lived in

Newport Beach, they’d say “no, Corona del Mar.”

And finally, Lido Isle. I wasn’t sure if the area was in fact an area,

just a small spit of land or the name of a street.

Obviously, I know now. And I’m here to tell you the history.

Lido Isle was first known as Electric Island at the time when pioneers

of the city strived to make Newport Beach a harbor and shipping city like

San Francisco.

In 1927, a man named Franz Herding began bringing residential

development to the area just past the small bridge. He knew something

about the French and Italian Rivieras and helped construct the loopy

drives around the isle.

He’s also the guy to thank for all the French, Italian and Spanish

street names.

Longtime Newport Beach resident Gay Wassall-Kelly puts it eloquently

when she says that driving over the little bridge into Lido Isle makes

you feel “like you’re in a different time zone.”

She remembers visiting the area as a child and loving the how secluded

the beaches and waterfront homes were.

“To me it was kind of like the jewel in the bay,” she said. “Just a

little more sophisticated and more elusive. And it always had friendly

people on it.”

Lido Village, the still popular retail spot behind City Hall, leads

into the area right before you hit the bridge.

This spot began with a handful of stores started by the Koll Company.

Some of the first stores were Richard’s Lido Market, Vincent’s Drugstore

and the Newport-Balboa Savings and Loan Association.

Two men -- Paul Palmer and Dick Richard -- are largely credited for

developing one of the first shopping centers in the city.

* Do you know of a person, place or event that deserves a historical

Look Back? Let us know. Contact Young Chang by fax at (949) 646-4170;

e-mail at young.chang@latimes.com; or mail her at c/o Daily Pilot, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.