Looking Back

Young Chang

Just up a gently sloping hill on the corner of 5th Street and

Marguerite Avenue in Corona del Mar, seniors have a place they rule.

Here, they can rely on instructors to teach art, exercise, dance and

even French classes at a pace and level appropriate for their age. They

can look forward to things like health fairs, casino nights, computer

classes and performances by ukulele players and accordionists. They can

enjoy potlucks and pancake breakfasts with other seniors who also have

the leisure time.

“This is someplace they can call their own,” said Vicki Chin, social

services coordinator for the Oasis Senior Center. “They have a lot of

input as to what goes on.”

Saturday, the center will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a day of

jazz concerts, bluegrass performances, an art exhibit, a pancake

breakfast and a barbecue lunch. Participants will be given a party favor,

a memory book about Oasis’ past.

The story started in 1974, when Councilwoman Lucille Kuehn determined,

after research, that 14% of Newport Beach residents were older than 60

and that this population needed to be better served.

Plans started with a proposal for an Older Adult Social and

Information Services Center funded by two years of Housing and Urban

Development Block Grant money, according to a history of the center

provided by the Newport Beach Central Library.

A year later, the city bought the space at 5th and Marguerite for

$450,000.

The three-wing space was leased to Carden School, a lease that was

renewed twice and would have ended in August 1977. When the school asked

to renew the lease for a third time, seniors got upset. The property had

been bought with funds set aside for a senior center, and it wasn’t being

used that way.

The council rejected the school’s request but approved a plan in the

spring of 1977 that meant seniors would use a room in the property’s

north wing and the school would use the rest.

Seniors around town got mad. They made their presence felt at City

Council meetings, Planning Commission meetings and other gatherings

involving city officials. They sought support from groups including the

League of Women Voters and the Orange County Senior Citizens Council.

Meanwhile, HUD threatened to take back the money they’d given the city.

Seniors formed a group called the Friends of Oasis and elected a

committee of officers to represent themselves. The school was unable to

continue at the site.

Plans for a center that would serve just seniors 50 and older began

taking shape. In August 1977, the Oasis Senior Center opened as a

three-room space.

By September 1977, the first bridge, painting, gardening, golf and

organ classes started. Dance and other classes started the next month and

potluck lunches and pancake breakfasts began soon after that. In July

1978, the center expanded to all three wings.

Some of the more popular clubs at the center now include the garden

club, which formed in 1978, the sailing club and exercise clubs.

“I think in many ways, [the center] gives them a purpose,” Chin said.

“It gives them activities that they enjoy, that they can get involved in.

And also a lot of the activities are taught by seniors, and they really

get involved and make new friends and just have someplace to go and

something to do.”

Saturday’s anniversary celebration will start at 7:30 a.m. and last

through the day at 800 Marguerite Ave., Corona del Mar. For more

information, call (949) 644-3244.

* 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.