From gondolas to mega-boats
PETER BUFFA
It starts Wednesday and it’s really bright. It’s 96 years old and it
runs hot and cold. Do you know what it is? I’ll tell you. It’s the
Christmas Boat Parade, the Parade of Lights, the Boat Parade, any of
those will do. You decide.
As traditions go, it’s a lulu. Ninety-six years is a long time in
anyone’s book, and everyone loves it. Well, almost everyone. Kids are
fascinated by it, fully grown people cherish it as a Christmas
memory, caterers and wine merchants can’t get enough of it.
It all began in Venice -- California, not Italy. Do you know a man
named Abbot Kinney? Probably not. He died in 1920.
Abbot Kinney was a prominent, but eccentric, Los Angeles developer
who traveled the world as a young man and was particularly fond of
Venice -- Italy, not California. Kinney bought a mile-and-a-half
tract of land just below Santa Monica in 1891, along with a
controlling interest in the Ocean Park Casino, which Kinney and his
partners expanded into the Ocean Park Beach Resort.
In 1902, Kinney decided to build a faithful re-creation of Venice
-- canals, gondolas and all -- and on July 4, 1905, Venice of America
was born.
The Pacific Railway brought people by the trainload from downtown
L.A. and Santa Monica to “ooh” and “aah” over the Venetian canals and
the ornate storefronts that duplicated the colonnade beside St.
Mark’s Square.
Tourists could tour the new Venice on a miniature steam railway or
by gondola, but gondola-wrangling is a tricky business, so Kinney
imported real, live gondolas and real, live gondoliers from the real,
live Venice.
One of them was a man named John Scarpa. Do you know what Scarpa
means in Italian? It means “shoe.” What does that have to do with
anything? Not a thing.
After a few years of schlepping people around Venice -- California
-- Scarpa decided to strike out on his own. He had visited Newport
Beach a few times and liked it a lot: the views, the restaurants,
Fashion Island, the easy freeway access, the whole thing.
In 1907, Scarpa strapped his gondola on his SUV, jumped on the 405
and headed south. He set up shop at the Palisades Hotel in Corona del
Mar, giving romantic tours of the harbor and ferrying people back and
forth to the Peninsula.
Scarpa knew gondolas and he knew marketing, which is why he
organized a midsummer, nighttime boat parade fashioned after a
long-standing summer tradition in his hometown of Venice -- Italy,
not California.
And so, on Aug. 23, 1908, the first Newport Beach boat “parade of
lights” took place. As parades go, it was, well, small. Besides
Scarpa’s gondola, there were eight canoes, all lighted with Japanese
lanterns.
The parade was an on-again, off-again affair until 1913, when the
Booster Club of Balboa took over the reins -- OK, the oars. They got
things organized and started promoting it as an annual event. The
1915 parade, also held on the Fourth of July, definitely deserves an
“Honorable Mention” ribbon.
According to the Newport Harbor Boat Parade Committee website, in
addition to the parade in 1915, an abandoned boat was set on fire,
with a dramatic “rescue” of the passengers, and a naval battle was
staged with fireworks serving as weapons, and the explosions of two
underwater mines. Yikes. That’ll get the neighbors’ attention.
Ironically, the very real fireworks of World War I began the
following year and the parade was put back in its box until 1919.
Things really got serious in 1921 when Joseph Beek, of Balboa
Ferry fame, took the helm and changed the name to the “Tournament of
Lights.” The boats got bigger and more luxurious, and the lighting
and decorations grew more and more elaborate.
Today, the wow factor never fails to wow and the boat people spend
boatloads of money decorating their aqueous pride and joys with
nautical toys. The jaw-dropping, mega-boats with the galaxies of
lights are always amazing, but I must say, I get an equal kick from
the guppies in between. There’s something about two people in an
aluminum rowboat with one string of lights, two flashlights and a
beer that causes excessive smiling year after year.
It also might interest you to know that parades of lighted boats
are a holiday tradition much older than the country itself.
Parades of lights, on water and land, have been going on in places
like Williamsburg and Jamestown in the Virginia Colony since the
1600s.
If you ever have a chance to see the Grand Illumination at
Christmastime in Williamsburg, by the way, do not miss it under any
circumstances.
Being a settler in Virginia in the 1600s was hard. These were not
frivolous people. Actually, they were very dull people. No sense of
humor. None. But isn’t it interesting that one of the few moments of
fun they allowed themselves was much the same celebration we’ll enjoy
this year for 96th time?
Today, there are more holiday boat parades around the country than
you can shake a seven-layer cookie at.
But if we wanted to puff ourselves up and say ours is the biggest
and oldest and best, we would have more than little standing for all
that puffiness.
According to the Tales of Balboa website, in 1929, California Governor C.C. Young said that parade was “ ... one of the most
beautiful things I have ever seen. I think its most charming feature
is its freedom from commercialism,” gushed the Guv.
How about that? We’re not talking about some nobody here, people,
we’re talking about C.C. Young. Is there anyone who hasn’t heard of
C.C. Young, for heaven’s sake?
Oh, good. I was afraid I was the only one.
And if C.C.’s endorsement isn’t enough for you, I’ll have you
know, the New York Times has called the Newport Harbor Boat Parade “
... one of the top 10 holiday happenings in the nation,” and keep in
mind, the nation is a big place.
So there you have it. Go see it. Enjoy it. Live your dream. John
Scarpa did. Just goes to show you what a boy and his gondola can do.
I gotta go.
* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs
Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at ptrb4@aol.com.
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