Newport Beach California
Newport Beach California
Newport Beach California has the highest per-capita ownership of Mercedes Benz automobiles in the entire world. Houses on the bay and on the Newport peninsula rank among the most expensive on the west coast of the United States, which puts them in the running for some of the most expensive real-estate, per foot, in the entire world. Home of the O.C. and the Balboa Bar, Newport Beach California represents some of the new-old money of the west coast. Though these houses aren’t historic estates, the peninsula was built up in the 50s and 60s, which sets the rich development of Newport apart from the even newer big money developments of Silicon Valley which cropped up by the hundreds in the early 90s. The rich of Newport occupy an interesting middle ground between the old money of the steel and oil families of the early 19th and 20th centuries and the ultra-new money of those who made it big during the tech boom.
However you look at it, Newport Beach California means money. When you drive Pacific Coast Highway through town you’ll pass yacht dealers situated across from Ferrari and other exotic car dealerships. I’ve seen more Bentleys in the Newport area than anywhere I’ve ever seen; they’re lined up in ritzy supermarket parking lots like Accords and Camrys back in the real world. I worked as a caterer near Newport for awhile and waited on small, friend-and-family Christmas gatherings which included 200-name guest lists, carolers, magicians, and dozens of staff. In order to reach the house where the party was being hosted I had to get past an armed security guard at the gatehouse that kept the riff-raff out of the gated community.
Though the clientele is posh and the real-estate astronomically expensive, it isn’t tough to imagine why the rich decided to settle there. Newport Beach California is a beautiful area, with around 300 days of sunshine a year and beautiful views of Catalina Island and the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to the influx of money in the area, Newport boasts a great school system and amazing restaurants. On a nice day you can walk for hours up and down the boardwalk, people watching and checking out the surfers lined up on the breakers. Sure, the rent for a two-bedroom apartment may be more in Newport than the mortgage payment on a house in many parts of the country, it’s a pretty good bet that those houses aren’t a block from the beach and less than an hour from Hollywood or
L.A.
