Looking Back -- This street has no name

Young Chang

NEWPORT BEACH -- A little piece of long ago still remains near the

intersection of Via Lido and Via Oporto.

If you take Newport Boulevard south, make a left on Via Lido, another

left on Via Oporto and then follow the cobblestone road until it dead

ends near the Elks Club, you’ll see a street sign that reads “Central

Avenue.”

“Who knows why this one small [darn] piece of Central Avenue is still

around?” said longtime Newport Beach resident George Coffin. “But it’s

sort of a treasure hunt. Here is the one lonely sign of Central Avenue

left.”

What we know as Balboa Boulevard today used to be Central Avenue.

Judge Robert Gardner, a longtime Newport Beach resident who lived on

Balboa Peninsula in the 1920s through 40s, said he doesn’t remember the

signs ever changing while he lived there.

The Daily Pilot columnist also laughed heartily at the idea that one

random sign still shows off that old name.

The 74-year-old Coffin, who grew up in the 1200 block of East Central

Avenue, also didn’t recall when the change was made either.

“But every town had a Central Avenue or Main Street,” Coffin said.

The change isn’t a complete mystery. Former public works director Don

Webb, who’s regarded as somewhat of a history buff, knows the story

behind the little stub of Central Avenue.

The street in general ran from the tip of Balboa Peninsula to where

Pacific Coast Highway meets Newport Boulevard today.

Webb said a bridge used to arch over where the two-block strip of

Central Avenue still exists, connecting it to Coast Highway.

He estimated that Central changed to Balboa Boulevard in the

mid-1930s, when the Arches interchange was built. The low bridge over the

two blocks was removed when the interchange moved in and the sign naming

the street came into view.

But no one ever said the little piece of Central should be renamed.

“I think it’s great,” said Gardner, still finding the situation funny.

“But I have no idea.”

* 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.