OC History: How the Balboa Island Ferry changed Newport Beach ...Middle East

Chances are if you’ve visited Newport Beach before, you’re familiar with Balboa Island.

The area has its quirks and charm from the first frozen banana stand that became an inspiration for TV’s “Arrested Development” to becoming a hot spot for holiday tourists thanks to an F1 racecar turned holiday decor on a family’s lawn.

However, none of that would have been possible without the Balboa Island Ferry.

The Balboa Island Ferry was pitched more than a century ago, as a way to get prospective land buyers from the Balboa Peninsula, across the Newport Bay, to a large swatch of sand that had been formed to make a small island that would soon be known as Balboa Island.

Back in the early 1900s, Newport Beach was gaining popularity as the red line trolley from Pasadena brought people straight to Balboa Pavilion, a bathhouse and gathering place.

The vision for Newport Beach at the time was for it to be a harbor for shipping containers, one that the federal government was eyeing to build a large port before picking Long Beach and San Pedro.

William Collins, a wealthy business man, had previously made another island called Collins Island, and wanted a bigger island right next to it. He teamed up with Joseph Allan Beek on the Balboa Island project.

While today’s Balboa Island homes sell for millions of dollars, back when they were first trying to sell plots of land, they were going for $99.

In order to get people to and from Balboa Island, Collins ran a row boat service for prospective land buyers. But by 1919, the city wanted a ferry with a regular operator. Beek said he could get up and running in a day and got the contract. And his family has kept the Balboa Island Ferry in business for more than a century.

This was, of course, before Balboa Island had a bridge to the mainland, so the ferry service was essentially the main way to get to the island. Now, the ferry carries cars across the Newport Harbor, but it wasn’t an auto ferry when it first started because there weren’t a ton of cars on the road at that time. But when the automobile industry took off a few years later, the ferry adapted a little barge that Beek would tie to the front of the boat to carry a car across. At that time it cost a nickel per person to ride the ferry, and $5 per car.

As Balboa Island rose in popularity and beach cottages were built, Beek decided it was time for other ways of getting to and from the island, and built a bridge in 1922.

With the addition of the bridge came businesses. However, one of the most well known businesses on Balboa Island didn’t make its debut until two decades later. I’m talking of course, about the original frozen banana stand.

Sugar ‘n’ Spice was originally called Dot & Bob Candies and opened on July 4, 1945. The frozen banana was an honest mistake that stemmed from the shop owners asking their 11-year-old son to put a bunch of bananas in the refrigerator and he accidentally placed them in the freezer. The family, not wanting to waste the bananas, got creative and decided to dip them and fudge and cover them with various toppings.

Flash forward to 2003, when the Emmy Award winning comedy “Arrested Development” gave the Balboa Island frozen banana stand a new life. The show’s creator, Mitch Hurwitz, was an Orange County native, and based the show on a fictional Newport Beach family that owns a frozen banana stand, which was modeled after Sugar ‘n’ Spice. Some of the show’s most iconic quotes have to do with the banana stand: “It’s one banana, Michael, what could it cost, 10 dollars?” and “There’s always money in the banana stand.”

From the ‘80s to the ‘90s, part of the charm of taking the Balboa Island Ferry was visiting Fun Zone on the other side of the Balboa Peninsula. The coastal amusement zone had a variety of classic carnival rides in its heyday, including bumper cars, a merry-go-round and who could forget the “Scary Dark Ride.” The Balboa Island Ferry dropped families off right at the entry.

Today, visitors can still play games in the newly revamped arcade, or take a ride on the Ferris Wheel, which provides a perfect view of the Balboa Island Ferry.

The Balboa Island Ferry still makes its way across the Newport Harbor the same as it has for years, going back and forth between Balboa Island and Balboa Peninsula, with the short trip going approximately 800 feet and taking just under 5 minutes. The Ferry is still cash only and costs $1 for kids, $2 for adults and $3 if you’re bringing your vehicle. The ferry continues to operate 365 days a year, even when the Newport Beach Boat Parade is taking place.

The Balboa Island Ferry has also made its fair share of news in recent years, with pressure to update the ferries from diesel to electric engines to help meet zero-emissions standards.

In 2024 the Beek family, received a $7.9 million grant from the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, to help with the conversion of its vessels. The family hopes to be able to convert all three ferries by the end of 2026.

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