Heydays: The Roaring 70s in Newport Beach, Ca Revisited

By Ray Garra

Newport Beach, California, in the seventies. The place to be. If you weren’t
around then, or were someplace else, I’m sorry you missed it. It was re-
ally somethin’.
The social scene was dominated by the thirty-to-forty age group, the majority
of whom were either divorced or getting a divorce. Don’t know why that was the
case. Something in the air, maybe something in the water. There was a freewheeling
attitude that abounded, a lot of partying. It was kind of like a half-century revamp
of the “Roaring Twenties.” Singles clubs popped up all over the place. Wantonness
seemed to be the theme. The threat of HIV was yet to appear – for quite some time;
the only worry being possibly a case of herpes, easily cured.
Good times abounded; the economy was brisk; real estate stood on the brink
of exploding upwards; Nixon was President at the start. The weather in Newport
Beach was as good as it could get all year-round, except for a June gloom that was
easily planned for and sidestepped. There was no reason not to frolic.
The key spot to do so was the Balboa Bay Club, a private club loaded with
amenities and with a heavily discounted membership fee program for those under
thirty-five years of age. Such a program kept the place alive with the younger set
and the joint jumpin’. The Club occupied the largest piece of property on Newport
Bay with a stretch of beach, extensive marina, five-lane regulation pool, gymnasium,
living accommodations, tennis courts ... and a bar and dance floor that packed in
the customers with quality entertainment on a regular schedule. Showbiz celebrities
stayed at the Club when visiting the area. Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater
leased two of the Club’s penthouses, kept his 65 foot fishing boat at the marina, and
spent much of his time at the Club, his divorced daughter holding court with the
3
single set. If you were anybody at all and visiting Newport Beach, you wound up at
the Bay Club. Of course there were countless other emporiums of pleasure in the
area, but none even close to matching the appeal of the Club.
My membership in the Balboa Bay Club began soon after moving to Newport
Beach as a family man in 1965, under the affordable discount plan. I kept the mem-
bership at the time of my divorce five years later.
The divorce tossed me into the developing single scene as described above and
the Bay Club became a headquarters. My little Coronado 25 sailboat was docked in
the marina. My expanding single scene relationships blossomed within the mem-
bership of the Club. As stated earlier, it was the place to be.
My business activities during this stretch of time followed many paths, some
natural, some unnatural. My occupations within the printing industry evolved
naturally into pursuit of sports publications and sports promotions, but then angled
off into the scene of beauty pageants and, finally, the world of travel. All of these
enterprises produced a cast of unforgettable characters that added zest and intrigue
to an odyssey of remarkable diversification.
The tales told herein are all genuine in content; the characters all factual (with
appropriate change of names); the photos are of the actual locations and those of the
leading ladies—yes, the real thing! A decade of decadence and hedonistic pursuit
herewith unfolds ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Expressive Press
• Release date: Mar 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311349507

Ray Garra

Ray Garra served three and a half years active duty with the US Coast Guard, followed by six and half years in the USCG Reserve. The true events of those years, half a century ago inspired in first book. Ray's civilian career has largely been spent in the printing and publications field. His shorts stories have appeared over the past few years in Mensa and other publications.