Lido Isle (mistakenly Lido Island) is a

man-made island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...

located in the harbor of

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

. Surrounded by the city, Lido Isle was incorporated as part of Newport Beach in 1906. At that time it was part

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...

and part

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

. There are no commercial facilities on the island other than a small snack bar open in the summer, and its only link to the city is a small bridge. The man-made island is solely residential with approximately 1,800 people living on the island.

History

In 1904 Henry Huntington became a partner with William Collins in the Newport Beach Company. In exchange for extending the

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

to Newport Beach, Huntington received and a wide

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

for the railway. A mudflat was included in addition to the other land given Huntington. This mudflat became known as Electric Island, Pacific Electric Island, and finally Huntington Island. In 1923, Huntington Island was purchased from Pacific Electric by W. K. Parkinson for $45,000 (~$747,000 in 2022). Parkinson, a former conductor on the Pacific Electric, made his fortune from land investments when oil was discovered near

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

. Parkinson spent more than a quarter-million dollars dredging the harbor and using the fill to raise the isle more than ten feet above the

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

line. The Griffith Company was hired to build seawalls, a bridge, piers and roads. The new development was one of the first

master planned communities A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

in California and was conceived to resemble a European resort. Parkinson envisioned the space as a resort similar to those in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. After dredging the island was renamed Lido Isle in homage to

Lido di Venezia The Lido, or Venice Lido ( it, Lido di Venezia), is an barrier island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy; it is home to about 20,400 residents. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido late August/early September. Geography Th ...

near

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Geography

The island has one bridge providing access. The community was one of the first in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

to be built with underground utilities. As part of the Mediterranean-theme the development was built with streets named after many Mediterranean cities, including Barcelona, Genoa, Nice and Ithaca. The names of the two main streets, Via Lido Nord and Via Lido Soud, also reflect this theme. The island has about 800 homes with about 250 on the water. Most are built in a

Mediterranean Revival Style architecture Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

, but there are some

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

and

modern style The Modern Style is a style of architecture, art, and design that first emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1880s. It is the first Art Nouveau style worldwide, and it represents the evolution of the Arts and Crafts movement which was native ...

homes as well.

Community

Lido Isle Club House

The geographic and social center of this "semi-private" community is the Lido Isle Club House, which hosts many community clubs and organizations, including the Lido Isle Yacht Club, and includes a snack bar and bay beach. All property owners must pay an annual assessment, and all residents are Community Association members. The island plays a big part in the annual Newport Christmas Boat Parade.

Lido Isle Yacht Club

The Lido Isle Yacht Club was founded in 1928, though it did not fully organize until 1947. The club’s burgee is a combination of the white burgee with red St. George’s Cross of the

Royal Yacht Squadron The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) is a British yacht club. Its clubhouse is Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. Member yachts are given the suffix RYS to their names, and are permitted (with the appropriate warrant) to we ...

and blue fouled anchor of the South Coast Corinthian Yacht Club. Its mission has been to educate young sailors and provide activities to the people of Lido Isle. The Southern California Yachting Association granted membership to the club in 1948, and it was admitted to the Yacht Racing Union of Southern California in 1965.

Gallery

File:Lido Isle Newport Beach CA Photo D Ramey Logan.jpg, Lido Isle cross section, Newport Beach File:Lido Peninsula Photo D Ramey Logan.jpg, The Lido Peninsula, Newport Beach

References

External links

Lido IsleLido Isle Yacht ClubLido Isle Community Association
* {{authority control Neighborhoods in Newport Beach, California Islands of Newport Beach, California Artificial islands of California Islands of Southern California Islands of California