From gondolas to mega-boats

PETER BUFFA

It starts Wednesday and it’s really bright. It’s 96 years old and it

runs hot and cold. Do you know what it is? I’ll tell you. It’s the

Christmas Boat Parade, the Parade of Lights, the Boat Parade, any of

those will do. You decide.

As traditions go, it’s a lulu. Ninety-six years is a long time in

anyone’s book, and everyone loves it. Well, almost everyone. Kids are

fascinated by it, fully grown people cherish it as a Christmas

memory, caterers and wine merchants can’t get enough of it.

It all began in Venice -- California, not Italy. Do you know a man

named Abbot Kinney? Probably not. He died in 1920.

Abbot Kinney was a prominent, but eccentric, Los Angeles developer

who traveled the world as a young man and was particularly fond of

Venice -- Italy, not California. Kinney bought a mile-and-a-half

tract of land just below Santa Monica in 1891, along with a

controlling interest in the Ocean Park Casino, which Kinney and his

partners expanded into the Ocean Park Beach Resort.

In 1902, Kinney decided to build a faithful re-creation of Venice

-- canals, gondolas and all -- and on July 4, 1905, Venice of America

was born.

The Pacific Railway brought people by the trainload from downtown

L.A. and Santa Monica to “ooh” and “aah” over the Venetian canals and

the ornate storefronts that duplicated the colonnade beside St.

Mark’s Square.

Tourists could tour the new Venice on a miniature steam railway or

by gondola, but gondola-wrangling is a tricky business, so Kinney

imported real, live gondolas and real, live gondoliers from the real,

live Venice.

One of them was a man named John Scarpa. Do you know what Scarpa

means in Italian? It means “shoe.” What does that have to do with

anything? Not a thing.

After a few years of schlepping people around Venice -- California

-- Scarpa decided to strike out on his own. He had visited Newport

Beach a few times and liked it a lot: the views, the restaurants,

Fashion Island, the easy freeway access, the whole thing.

In 1907, Scarpa strapped his gondola on his SUV, jumped on the 405

and headed south. He set up shop at the Palisades Hotel in Corona del

Mar, giving romantic tours of the harbor and ferrying people back and

forth to the Peninsula.

Scarpa knew gondolas and he knew marketing, which is why he

organized a midsummer, nighttime boat parade fashioned after a

long-standing summer tradition in his hometown of Venice -- Italy,

not California.

And so, on Aug. 23, 1908, the first Newport Beach boat “parade of

lights” took place. As parades go, it was, well, small. Besides

Scarpa’s gondola, there were eight canoes, all lighted with Japanese

lanterns.

The parade was an on-again, off-again affair until 1913, when the

Booster Club of Balboa took over the reins -- OK, the oars. They got

things organized and started promoting it as an annual event. The

1915 parade, also held on the Fourth of July, definitely deserves an

“Honorable Mention” ribbon.

According to the Newport Harbor Boat Parade Committee website, in

addition to the parade in 1915, an abandoned boat was set on fire,

with a dramatic “rescue” of the passengers, and a naval battle was

staged with fireworks serving as weapons, and the explosions of two

underwater mines. Yikes. That’ll get the neighbors’ attention.

Ironically, the very real fireworks of World War I began the

following year and the parade was put back in its box until 1919.

Things really got serious in 1921 when Joseph Beek, of Balboa

Ferry fame, took the helm and changed the name to the “Tournament of

Lights.” The boats got bigger and more luxurious, and the lighting

and decorations grew more and more elaborate.

Today, the wow factor never fails to wow and the boat people spend

boatloads of money decorating their aqueous pride and joys with

nautical toys. The jaw-dropping, mega-boats with the galaxies of

lights are always amazing, but I must say, I get an equal kick from

the guppies in between. There’s something about two people in an

aluminum rowboat with one string of lights, two flashlights and a

beer that causes excessive smiling year after year.

It also might interest you to know that parades of lighted boats

are a holiday tradition much older than the country itself.

Parades of lights, on water and land, have been going on in places

like Williamsburg and Jamestown in the Virginia Colony since the

1600s.

If you ever have a chance to see the Grand Illumination at

Christmastime in Williamsburg, by the way, do not miss it under any

circumstances.

Being a settler in Virginia in the 1600s was hard. These were not

frivolous people. Actually, they were very dull people. No sense of

humor. None. But isn’t it interesting that one of the few moments of

fun they allowed themselves was much the same celebration we’ll enjoy

this year for 96th time?

Today, there are more holiday boat parades around the country than

you can shake a seven-layer cookie at.

But if we wanted to puff ourselves up and say ours is the biggest

and oldest and best, we would have more than little standing for all

that puffiness.

According to the Tales of Balboa website, in 1929, California Governor C.C. Young said that parade was “ ... one of the most

beautiful things I have ever seen. I think its most charming feature

is its freedom from commercialism,” gushed the Guv.

How about that? We’re not talking about some nobody here, people,

we’re talking about C.C. Young. Is there anyone who hasn’t heard of

C.C. Young, for heaven’s sake?

Oh, good. I was afraid I was the only one.

And if C.C.’s endorsement isn’t enough for you, I’ll have you

know, the New York Times has called the Newport Harbor Boat Parade “

... one of the top 10 holiday happenings in the nation,” and keep in

mind, the nation is a big place.

So there you have it. Go see it. Enjoy it. Live your dream. John

Scarpa did. Just goes to show you what a boy and his gondola can do.

I gotta go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs

Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].