Balboa Inn
The Balboa Inn in Newport Beach was completed in 1929 and welcomed its first guests soon after. Walter Roland Hagedohm’s design of the two buildings with their three towers is almost archetypal of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The inn quickly became a peninsula landmark, attracting the international elite. By the 1940s, it was the host hotel for jazz greats like Glenn Miller and Stan Kenton who played at the neighboring Balboa Pavilion. It has entertained a variety of notables including Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Johnny Weissmueller, Howard Hughes and Barry Goldwater. In the 1980s, the Inn was purchased and restored by a partnership of NBA players that included Lakers’ great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ralph Sampson of the Houston Rockets and Alex English of the Denver Nuggets. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Newport Beach, Orange County
Photographer: John Bare