Busy Beek altered the face of Balboa Island

Young Chang

Balboa Island might as well have been called Beek’s Island. Joseph

A. Beek, the first harbor master in Newport Beach, was a

one-of-the-first when it came to almost everything.

He started the Balboa Island Ferry and founded the Balboa Island

Yacht Club.

He had a real estate office on Balboa Island and sold many of the

early lots there.

He was a developer of Beacon Bay.

He was one of first supporters of an early hospital called the

Newport Beach Hospital.

He was one of the early directors of the Newport Balboa Federal

Savings and Loan Assn.

He co-developed Harbor Island.

He was one of the city’s first library trustees.

And he’s even been recorded in history, in James Felton’s “Newport

Beach, the First Century, 1888-1988,” as a man who heavily helped in

the relief effort after an intense tropical storm in 1939.

“He was a very, very busy guy,” said his son Seymour Beek. “He did

an amazing number of things and almost all at the same time.”

As Newport Beach back then was a city filled with people in the

summer and scantily populated in the winter, Joseph Beek moved here

in 1920, but started working at and influencing the area much

earlier. He became the first harbor master in 1907, when he was paid

$25 a week for upkeep of his boat, according to Felton’s history.

“I think the main function was to tow people off the sandbar at

the entrance to the harbor when they got stuck and probably to help

people who got in trouble on the same sandbar,” said Seymour Beek,

who lives on the island today. “Drownings were fairly commonplace at

the harbor.”

But one of the biggest accomplishments of his life involved

development of the sale of lots on Balboa Island, where he also

started the Balboa Island Improvement Assn.

“When he first came here, Balboa Island had already been

developed, but most of the lots had not been sold. He went to work as

a real estate salesman,” his son said.

Felton’s book says Beek senior, who died in 1968, used to sell

lots for 50% off if people promised to start building immediately.

But when it came to development, he didn’t limit himself to

Southern California. Beek also developed land in Sacramento, where he

served as the secretary of the California State Senate starting in

1913.

“He did that for 50-some years,” Seymour Beek said.

The pioneer Newport Beach figure also played an important part in

connecting, literally, the island to the mainland. In 1919, he

started the Balboa Island Ferry, says Felton’s book. His family still

runs the business today.

When it came to personality, Beek had plenty of that too. He was a

funny guy who knew how to speak, sell and be outgoing.

“And he was a good storyteller,” Seymour Beek said.

* 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