He always has a positive view

From his makeshift bed atop the Lido Marina Village parking garage, Willie Boyd once had a waterfront view for which wealthier Newport Beach residents have paid millions.

Homeless for the past 10 years in Newport Beach, Boyd says that he dines on lobster and ribs at some of the city’s finest restaurants, and that locals frequently slip him $20 and $50 bills.

Boyd has no legs and no teeth, but feels blessed.

“People in this community have been very good to me,” Boyd said. “I try to remind people that they are blessed too.”

People like to help Boyd. It makes them feel good. Being around Boyd makes them feel good.

“I can tell he is a good soul, and we all need a little bit of help sometimes,” said Larry Morgan, owner of the Windward Sailing Club on Via Lido. Morgan lends Boyd money when he runs out of gas for his car, and helped him rent a hotel room so he could watch the Super Bowl.

“He’s always upbeat and in a good mood, which must take a lot for him, I know,” Morgan said.

Putting around town in his red electric scooter chair, some once dubbed Boyd the mayor of Newport Beach, and the unofficial title has stuck.

“What can you say about Willie? He’s always smiling,” said the Rev. Richard Crocker of St. James Anglican Church. St. James is one of three local churches Willie attends on Sundays.

“He’s just such a positive, upbeat person, even when it’s pouring down rain,” said Newport Beach resident Gail O’Hea, who helps Boyd buy a meal or get a hotel room whenever she sees him around town.

O’Hea’s 14-year-old son, Brooks, prays for Willie each night before bed.

Boyd knows everyone in town it seems, greeting businessmen, beauticians and bus boys on his regular rounds with a handshake and a smile.

“I like to think of myself as an evangelist,” Boyd said. “I try to say 100 ‘God bless yous’ a day. My main objective is to encourage and inspire.”

A construction worker from Chicago, Boyd moved to Southern California after he lost both of his legs in a car accident in 1991.

He has a 17-year-old son in Lake Elsinore, but the relationship with the boy’s mother went bad, and Boyd ended up on the streets, he said.

After sleeping underneath a patio umbrella latched to a concrete column on top of the Lido Marina Village garage for a few years, Boyd moved to a spot he calls his condo — a wooden bench overlooking Newport Harbor.

He would find $20 bills next to him when he awoke in the morning, and police officers would lend him their ponchos when it rained, he said.

About six months ago, Boyd managed to collect enough money to buy an old tan Cadillac that he keeps parked behind a waterfront Newport Beach restaurant. His blanket, pillow and prosthetic legs are stowed in the trunk.

The businessman who owns the lot lets him sleep there and use a restaurant outlet to recharge his electric scooter at night.

“He’s an institution, been down here for years,” said property owner Fran Ursini. “He’s not hurting anyone, and he’s always happy and smiling.”

In the evenings, Boyd heads over to the Mother’s Market and Kitchen grocery store in Costa Mesa, where he greets customers at the door and takes tips.

He’s hoping to get a legitimate job at the market once it moves to a new location in June, and eventually put together enough money to get his own apartment.

“Right now, I don’t have a life,” he said. “I do better when I have a woman in my life.”

How To Help

Boyd hopes to get enough money together to get his own apartment, so he can see his teenage son more often.

“It will help me be a dad,” he said.

Donations can be made to Willie Boyd at 640 Lido Park Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92663.

Editor’s note: This corrects an earlier version.