Fourth celebrations of the past

Tom Forquer

Before the advent of cell phones and video games, Fourth of July

revelers relied on more primitive technologies for entertainment and

communication.

While the modern-day youth utilize cell phone networking to

determine a party’s location and status, the youth of 1950s in West

Newport used trash to attract attention to their parties.

Gay Wassall-Kelly, a longtime Balboa Peninsula resident and editor

of the Balboa Beacon, recalls how “They’d built these soda pop

pyramids and add beer cans to them, and the kids would go around and

find the tallest pyramids, which were the best parties.”

These days, Fourth of July revelers can battle for their

independence from the safety of their own game console or PC.

George Grupe, an area resident since 1928, recalled how residents

of Balboa Island and the Peninsula in the 1970s had a cross-bay

bottle-rocket rivalry.

“They’d try to shoot skyrockets and have ‘em land on the

Pavilion,” he said. Grupe noted that Balboa Island residents were

tactically disadvantaged because “they had to fight the sea breezes.”

Perhaps the most the most bizarre form of July 4 entertainment was

the Tricycle Grand Prix, which took place for several years in the

early 1980s.

Jim Fournier, a Newport Beach resident since 1978, explains more

about the race on his Web site, www.talesofbalboa.com.

“Held in the park at the foot of Balboa Pier, the race would start

in front of the gazebo, and go around the park’s circular sidewalk.”

Participants would bring both traditional and custom designed

tricycles and race both aided and unaided by a pusher. The race

became so popular that it was featured on “Games People Play,” hosted

by Arty Johnson.

* TOM FORQUER is a Daily Pilot intern. He can be reached at

tom.forquer@latimes.com.

* LOOKING BACK runs Sundays. Do you know of a person, place or

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