The night memories turned to ashes

Anyone who’s anyone in Newport Beach has heard of the old Rendezvous

Ballroom -- the place to be in the early- and mid-20th century.

Most everyone in the city over the age of 40 remembers the fire

that destroyed the popular hangout in 1966.

Milt Meehan had a close view of the disaster.

He was born in Orange, but his heart was always in Newport Beach.

Meehan and his friends made the coastal city their destination nearly

every weekend.

“We’d all chip in for gas, one of the seniors would drive his

Ford, and we’d drive down to the beach and back,” Meehan said. “It

was our favorite playground.”

After serving in the United States Navy during World War II,

Meehan bought a house in Costa Mesa. During summers from 1946 to ‘51,

he worked as a Newport Beach lifeguard at Main Beach in Corona del

Mar.

At night, Meehan worked at the Rendezvous Ballroom as a doorman.

He never set foot on the dance floor, but he heard many of the top

big band acts of the time.

For extra money, Meehan worked as a framer at the new housing

tracts in nearby communities. Most of the houses he worked on have

since been torn down, Meehan said.

Phil Hayden, a friend of Meehan’s who worked at the Newport Beach

Fire Department, told him about a position with the department.

Meehan passed the required tests and became a firefighter in 1951.

At that time, the department required all employees to live within

city limits, so Meehan moved to Newport Beach.

And so ended Meehan’s days as a carpenter, lifeguard and door man.

He was focused on being a firefighter.

“It was my new dream job,” he said. “What appealed to me was the

work shift. I’d work 24 hours straight and then have a full day off.”

Meehan slowly climbed the ranks at the fire department, graduating

to captain and eventually battalion chief, which was his title for 16

years.

There were no paramedics in Newport Beach, Meehan remembers, so

the fire department responded to a plethora of calls.

Meehan recalled stories about life-saving rescues and those that

didn’t end so well. And he still remembers that fateful night in 1966

when the Rendezvous Ballroom went up in smoke.

He was battalion chief at the time and his department responded to

the call. They were unable to save the building. Meehan wrote in a

letter that “My memories ... had turned to ashes.”

“I spent a lot of nights there,” he said. “It was hard to believe

it went to the ground so fast.”

Meehan continues to own various apartments throughout the area and

lives with his wife, Ruby, in Newport Beach.

He still perks up when a fire truck drives by his street.

“I hear them going up and down the street, and it brings back

memories,’ Meehan said.

* THE GOOD OLD DAYS runs Sundays. Do you know of a person, place

or event that deserves a look back? Let us know. Contact us by fax at

(714) 966-4679; by e-mail at dailypilot@latimes.com; or by mail at

Daily Pilot, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.