This month I have a lot to write about—we have had a lot of activity in the harbor—

On the morning of September 27th I watched as two tugboats escorted what was left of the Pride of Newport down the channel and out to sea.  They sank it 16 miles out.  It is the end of another Newport Beach landmark.  We will all miss seeing the old paddle wheeler as we come down Dover and over the bridge on PCH towards Bayside Drive.

Then on October 13, my friend and computer guru Tom Stanton and I were greeted by an unusual sight at the 76 dock on South Bayfront. Homeland Security Boats with machine guns!!

At First Tom and I thought it was just boats from a movie.  But I hung around and asked questions of Mike, one of the guys who works at the docks.  Turned out the boats and the guns were real—Navy personnel from San Diego who are patrolling our coast.  Newport Harbor has been a really interesting place lately!!

I am glad that Doris Lee is pursing her interviews with Balboa Island Icons, since we are losing a whole generation of people here on the Island.  Doris had a wonderful interview with Lenore Laraway back in our May-June Island Breeze.  Lenore passed away September 23, 2007.  At the request of her children, we are reprinting that interview as a tribute to Lenore.

I have been enjoying Design Dining quite a bit lately.  With all the activity in my life I don’t have much time to create meals— they do that for me—and deliver them to my door.  I can buy a bag of salad, some fresh bread and have a wonderful wholesome meal.

The one thing I do take time for is my exercise—lately I have been doing a lot of that with my personal trainer Shannon Carpenter—whose flyer is in this issue of the Island Breeze.  We have a great time walking the Bayfront and saying hello to all my Balboa Island neighbors (my aerobic exercise)—then we come back to my house and do stretching and work with weights.  It is fun and convenient and great for my body and my brain.

I had one interesting thing happen lately—Coast Magazine—our local throwaway—published a “green” issue.  It was ironic that they picked that issue to increase the weight of the paper—that issue had less pages and weighed considerably more than the Philharmonic Issue in May.  If you are going to try to sell magazines with a “green” theme—maybe you ought to try not to be so obviously non-green.  Orange Coast Magazine uses recycle paper—hmmmm.




BALBOA ISLAND ICONS . . . . . . DORIS LEE
THIS STORY IS REPRINTED IN HONOR OF LENORE LARAWAY WHO LEFT BALBOA ISLAND FOR GOOD ON SEPTMBER 23, 2007. 

You can tell Lenore Laraway is a very special lady with an eye for color when you step into her charming home at 1105 North Bayfront.  She and her late husband, Charles Laraway, bought this home through Martha Anwiler (a Balboa Island ICON too) in 1964 for $95,000.
Lenore is from a creative, resilient Beverly Hills family who lost its wealth and lifestyle in the depression. Her father then created “foot gloves” (Now called Peds) and sold the business for a profit.
Lenore majored in Interior Decorating at USC, graduated and went to business school which led to a high profile job as Secretary to an Air Force Wing Commander.  She met and married Charles Laraway who served in WW2 overseas for 3 years.  He was a building contractor who built them a wonderful home in Los Angeles.
In spite of hearing, “Balboa Island is terrible,” they bought on the Island and created their first shop, the Atrium, by remodeling a building at the corner of Marine and Balboa.  Later, under Charles’ guidance, Lenore operated “Laraway’s Specialty Store, for 32 years.  They called it a “women’s hardware store with thousands of buttons/beads/notions and customers.  If Laraway’s did not have it—no one did!
The Laraway’s chose to remain in their Island home with their two children.  One day a cat in distress had kittens under the Coldwell Banker’s office (where Abram’s Coastal Properties is now).  Miraculously the cat got all the kittens onto Laraway’s roof to safety.  Lenore called the Adoption company to take them, but kept the orange one and named her “Sally”.  Sally even went on trips to their desert home with the Laraway’s.
Lenore and Charles enjoyed golf, cards, etc., at the Newport Beach Country Club.  They now have 4 grand children and 8 great grand children.  When Charles became ill, Island Home replaced Laraway’s, and Lenore now spends her time with friends and family in her Island home, Her philosophy is humble:
“What makes me happiest is making someone else happy!” What a Special Lady!!
Would you like to be saluted as a Balboa Island ICON—please call Doris Lee @949.280.0607 or e-mail dorislee@coldwell banker.com.