A closer look -- Always ready for a city close-up

Young Chang

NEWPORT BEACH -- Film composer Brian Tyler used to jam here in garages

with the doors scrolled open and passersby stopping to hang out.

The skies were sunny, everything was breezy, the air smelled slightly

of salt.

The mood and overall beauty of the city helped nurture an era of bands

and rock and roll, said the Newport Beach native and composer for

“Frailty,” a Bill Paxton film opening Friday.

The same scenic blessings attracted Hollywood heavyweights to

Newport’s harbor in the ‘50s and ‘60s, making the city somewhat of a

watering hole for entertainers.

Seaside attractions beckoned movies to get filmed here and stars to

even stay here.

The city also produced its own headliners. Newport-Mesa schools boast

an alumni list including Tyler, screenwriter David McKenna, Sugar Ray

frontman Mark McGrath and “Charlie’s Angels” director McG -- whose Corona

del Mar High School teachers would know him as Joseph McGinty.

It’s no wonder the Newport Beach Film Festival spends a week every

year celebrating films -- the art, the glitz and the city’s connection to

Hollywood, which runs deep.

“I grew up here, I live here now and it is the greatest place in the

world to live except for the restaurants,” said McKenna, whose movies

include “American History X,” “Blow” and “Body Shots.” “If I could take

L.A.’s restaurants or New York’s restaurants and put them here, I’d be in

heaven.”

Tyler, who has scored for such movies as “Panic,” “Plan B,” “Vampires:

Los Muertos,” “The Fast and the Furious,” “Six-String Samurai” and

television series “The Education of Max Bickford” considers Newport Beach

an antidote for the more hectic pace of Los Angeles, his current home.

Tony-Award winning producer Don Gregory cited the same reason for

living here.

“It’s a beach community and there’s water,” he said. “People find that

very relaxing especially in the entertainment field where tensions and

stress run high.”

A sandy spot to smell the roses

As an active producer about to remake the 1950 film “Harvey” with

Miramax, Gregory said Newport’s sights help him to relax but also to

work.

On any given day, with the phone at his ear and the ocean just out his

window, Gregory said he’ll wheel and deal and create and develop and then

stop to notice the sunset and even smell the roses.

“There’s no smelling of roses in L.A.,” he said.

And that may be why celebrities including Humphrey Bogart, Lauren

Bacall, Greta Garbo, Bing Crosby and a roster of other entertainers

spanning the generations designated Newport Beach their own fun zone.

The hottest spot was the Balboa Bay Club.

Henry Schielein, president and chief operating officer of club,

recited a long list of members and visitors who parked their yachts on

the water and had tequila at the bar.

John Wayne, who lived next door, was a governor of the club.

Comedian Joey Bishop is still an honorary governor, Andy Devine once

made a tradition out of performing lively Christmas shows there and the

late Milton Berle was known to light up at the club’s cigar events.

“The Balboa Bay Club has a lot of history with entertainment people,”

Schielein said. “The location has a lot to do with it.”

McKenna, who is now writing the life story of the most decorated

living soldier, Col. David Hackworth, considers Newport Harbor an

invaluable asset.

“I have a Duffy boat, my wife and I take our friends out on it all the

time and cruise around and have drinks and appetizers. It’s an incredible

time,” said the writer, who will soon make his directorial debut with

“The Twelfth Man,” starring Meryl Streep.

More than movie stars

But the bay and its famous club aren’t the only spots that attracted

entertaining legends. In the ‘30s and ‘40s, musicians including Stan

Kenton, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mercer, Les Brown and Benny Goodman

performed on the Rendezvous Ballroom stage.

In the ‘80s, Newport Beach and its surrounding cities harbored a band

scene that Tyler and his various rock bands took part in.

“And there were a lot of great record stores around,” said the

composer, who is currently scoring “Last Call,” starring Jeremy Irons,

Sissy Spacek and Neve Campbell. “Licorice Pizza was kind of the hangout.

I use to ride my bike there, pick up records, buy soundtracks. My friends

asked me why in the world I was buying so many soundtracks.”

Through the decades, the city’s beaches and islands also became

popular filming spots for feature-length works, commercials and stills.

The city gets 185 to 190 permits a year from crews wanting to film

here, translating into about 250 production days a year, said Joseph

Cleary, a Newport Beach film liaison with partner Marty Capune.

The better known projects set in the city include episodes of

“Gilligan’s Island;” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Rumblefish” on the 13th

Street school grounds; “Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion” at the

Newport Beach Central Library; “The Chase;” Disney’s “The 13th Year,”

shot entirely in the city; and commercials for companies including Lexus,

Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz and a variety of surfwear brands.

“We have the best studio in the world,” Cleary said. “We’ve got two of

the greatest piers, we’ve got a Fun Zone, we’ve got a very unique

situation where we have a private harbor . . . and we’ve got Lido Marina

Village, which has been used as a European village.”

A studio with style

Cleary and Capune started the film liaison office with the city 15

years ago and continue running it on a 24/7 schedule that makes Newport

Beach more accessible to filmmakers needing to shoot on spontaneous

deadlines.

Cleary said even the city’s police officers have developed a “hipness”

when it comes to industry jargon.

“They know the difference between ‘camera left and right’ and ‘we’re

going camera left around this corner’ and ‘lock that up,”’ he said.

As someone who has started his family in Newport Coast with a wife and

a son, McKenna added that Newport Beach offers a safeness that eliminates

having to look over your shoulder while at a versa teller machine.

“That’s what I love about Newport Beach,” he said.

Tyler, whose West Los Angeles studio sometimes doubles as a director’s

stop for listening to music and even hiding out, said he might one day

set up homes in both cities.

Gregory, a former arts commissioner for Newport Beach, concluded that

his city offers more than just a pretty face.

“The surroundings are lovely and conducive to relaxing, and there is a

certain atmosphere here that lends itself to the artistic community,” he

said. “I like starting things here and developing them in this

atmosphere.”

* Young Chang writes features. She may be reached at (949) 574-4268 or

by e-mail at o7 young.chang@latimes.comf7 .