Saturday Travel Feature
Balboa Island Cottage
Take a close look at the three houses in the picture above. Note the horizontal shiplap siding, the shutters, mulltipane windows, tiny strips of front yards with fences and gates. These are common to most of the cottage type houses sandwiched on to the .2 square miles that is Balboa Island, part of the Newport Beach community on the coast south of Los Angeles.
Balboa Island is man made, built on a sand bar/sand spit that was once swallowed by the high tide. Its development started in the early 1900's and the land subdivided into a grid of the small lots, which are evident in the photo, and narrow street. Many of the homes of the 3000 residence have been designed by one man, Ian Harrison. The lots originally sold for $350 to $750 with one as low as $25. Now the real estate listings are houses in the $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 range.
At first the Island was only accessible by boat. But in 1912 the first bridge to the Island was built and in 1929 a cement bridge was completed. However you can still go by a small ferry that even accomodates up to 3 cars.
The local delicacy is the chocolate dipped frozen banana on a stick. It is the favorite of the local residents.
Take a close look at the three houses in the picture above. Note the horizontal shiplap siding, the shutters, mulltipane windows, tiny strips of front yards with fences and gates. These are common to most of the cottage type houses sandwiched on to the .2 square miles that is Balboa Island, part of the Newport Beach community on the coast south of Los Angeles.
Balboa Island is man made, built on a sand bar/sand spit that was once swallowed by the high tide. Its development started in the early 1900's and the land subdivided into a grid of the small lots, which are evident in the photo, and narrow street. Many of the homes of the 3000 residence have been designed by one man, Ian Harrison. The lots originally sold for $350 to $750 with one as low as $25. Now the real estate listings are houses in the $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 range.
At first the Island was only accessible by boat. But in 1912 the first bridge to the Island was built and in 1929 a cement bridge was completed. However you can still go by a small ferry that even accomodates up to 3 cars.
The local delicacy is the chocolate dipped frozen banana on a stick. It is the favorite of the local residents.
Photo: Taken May 2007 by SW.
Link: http://www.balboa-island.net/h.htmLink: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balboa_Island,_Newport_Beach,_California
