The club has a distinguished history of hosting celebrities, Hollywood stars and some of the biggest names in golf, including Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, who played the course regularly during World War II when Hogan was stationed across the highway at the Santa Ana Army Air Base (now the Orange County Fair & Event Center).

Santa Ana Country Club was Hogan’s home away from home and Snead, stationed at Camp Pendleton, would come up to play Hogan in private rounds. Imagine what kind of interest, media and otherwise, a Snead-Hogan skins match would stir up today?

Hogan once shot an 8-under-par 64, which stood as the course record for several years. Decades later, PGA Tour star Fred Couples shot 63 to break the course record, and later tied by John Burckle.

The Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio, also teed it up regularly during WWII, when he was stationed at the Army air base.

On Oct. 25, 1942, one of the grandest days of golf transpired at Santa Ana Country Club, a gala and golf exhibition to benefit the Army Emergency Relief Fund, highlighted by A-list Hollywood celebrities such as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Oliver Hardy, Fred Astaire and Mickey Rooney, as well as Hogan and golf great Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

According to the publication “The History of Santa Ana County Club,” SACC member Dr. Stan Norton said that halfway through the back nine, Crosby was having an off day and told his caddy to play for him. Later, when SACC member Riley Huber asked Hope how he liked the course, Hope deadpanned “remind me to play it sometime.”

The club opened in 1901 with a golf course in the Peters Canyon area, two miles southwest of Irvine Regional Park in Orange. It was called the Santiago Golf Club. It was one of 43 golf courses built in California that year, a nine-hole course with fairways of native soil, not grass and oil-soaked sand “greens” about 30 feet in diameter.

The club moved to the spot that is now the Castaways in Newport Beach in 1912 and renamed itself Orange County Country Club. It was a bold move by the club, which was trying to keep up with the growing demand of longer yardages and more golf clubs emerging in Southern California. The 160-acre location on the Newport Bluffs overlooked the Newport Bay and the club spent $5,000 to build a clubhouse, which included lockers for “300 to 400 ladies and gentlemen, as the women are to have a limited membership,” according to an April 1914 article in the Newport News.

By the early 1920s, golf was experiencing radical changes to the landscape of its courses throughout the country, mainly the conversion to grass on the fairways and greens, and Orange County Country Club wanted a piece of the action.

The bluffs at the Castaways lacked sufficient water supply for an irrigation system to accommodate a grass golf course. After club members decided on its current location, in which a water irrigation system could be built, what followed was a beautiful golf layout by Scotland’s John Duncan Dunn, the original course architect. Since then, the course has been updated and remodeled several times.

Dunn’s original layout included a six-hole ladies-only course, but it was never built, and as club lore has it, remained a source of controversy for many years.

If golf course superintendents and agronomists understood water irrigation in 1923 the way they do today, the club would have never moved from the Castaways to its location on Newport Blvd. next to the 55 freeway.

Imagine what it would be like if the club remained at its picturesque spot high above the cliffs at Upper Newport Bay, with views of the ocean and bay?

In 1923, the club moved to its current location and renamed itself again, this time to its present name, and the club, along with its golf, continued as a social-scene sensation in the Roaring ’20s.

Richard Dunn, a longtime sportswriter, writes the Dunn Deal column regularly for The Orange County Register’s weekly, The Coastal Current North.

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  The glass-enclosed wine cellar. (Photo by Alejandro España)

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  The gourmet kitchen. (Photo by Alejandro España)

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  Sliding glass doors create indoor-outdoor flow. (Photo by Alejandro España)

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  The oasis-style yard holds a Kayu Batu hardwood deck, a built-in barbecue, a fire pit and ample space for a future pool. (Photo by Alejandro España)

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  The outdoor area includes a built-in barbecue and a fire pit. (Photo by Alejandro España)

Former Los Angeles Angels outfielder Justin Upton has put his luxury modern farmhouse in Newport Beach’s Dover Shores neighborhood on the market for $6.795 million.

Records show that’s 44% more than the $4.7265 million Upton and his wife, Ashley, paid for it, through a trust, in March 2020.

Oak floors milled from 125-year-old reclaimed barn-wood planks run throughout the 5,963-square-foot home renovated in 2019. It has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms across three levels, accessed by a floating staircase with solid oak treads.

A glass-enclosed wine cellar, a surround-sound theater, and a full bar equipped with a beer froster, ice maker, refrigerator and popcorn maker on the lower level.

The main level boasts a gourmet kitchen with Thermador appliances and butcher block and lava stone countertops. Sliding floor-to-ceiling glass doors in the open floor plan create uninterrupted indoor-outdoor flow.

All but one of the bedrooms occupy the top floor.

The oasis-style yard holds a Kayu Batu hardwood deck, a built-in barbecue, a fire pit and ample space for a future pool.

Annie Clougherty of Compass has the listing.

Upton, 36, is a free agent. He made his 2007 debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He went on to play for the Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers and Angels.

The Anaheim team designated him for assignment in 2022.

After spring training, the Associated Press reported that Upton signed a one-year contract with the Seattle Mariners. But he refused the team’s option to send him to their Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers, and instead became a free agent.

A “transformational” $50 million gift from Newport Beach philanthropist Richard Pickup is helping establish the center, which will not only work on research and to improve gaps in care for memory and cognitive disorders, but also create programs for patients’ family members who are also impacted by the effects of the often devastating diseases.

Pickup, who turns 90 next month, has directed several donations over the years toward advancing care for those dealing with dementia-related diseases. The Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute, a Hoag program that offers neurologic care and treatment, was established in 2017 after a $15 million donation. This new gift will create the Richard H. Pickup Center for Brain Health.

“We really need to change the model of how we do care for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Hoag realizes, and our community realizes, that the way we’ve done things is just not going to cut it,” said Aaron Ritter, director of the Memory and Cognitive Disorders Program at the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute.

“The idea is getting in front of this, doing things now and creating a model and programs that can actually help alleviate the suffering that comes with the disease, and also advancing new therapies and treatments that follow what we’ve done with cardiac care and diabetes care,” Ritter said. “It’s a huge change.”

Along with creating the new space on the hospital grounds, the $50 million gift will also go toward supportive programs for patients and their families with a focus on screenings, early detection and advancing technology, Hoag officials said.

Because care needs to go beyond patient treatment, Ritter said. Family members and loved ones often shoulder the burden and costs of care.

“It’s a family disease, so anybody that’s affected by dementia, you multiply it by two or three, the number of people that it takes to care for those people,” Ritter said.

“Yesterday, I saw somebody whose 21-year-old son has to move to Newport Beach to take care of his dad. He’s like, ‘I don’t know what to do. I won’t be able to make any money.’ Those are the stories we’re hearing,” Ritter said. “So how do we change that? How do we get the support and care for a 21-year-old who has to take care of their 65-year-old father? That’s the challenge that is faced by dementia care right now.”

There are warnings of a “Silver Tsunami” in the United States, as the population older than 65 grows quickly and people live longer.

Orange County’s population of older folks is growing by 15% annually, according to Hoag officials. And with aging comes several health concerns and diseases, including Alzheimer’s and dementia. Alzheimer’s rates in Orange County, Hoag officials noted, doubled between 2014 and 2021 and are projected to double again by 2040, requiring more experts in brain health and aging.

Ritter warned the medical industry hasn’t made as much progress for diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s as it has in other areas such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

“The rates of death from those have gone way down. And for Alzheimer’s, we haven’t seen the same outcome,” he said. “People are living longer, but they’re developing dementia. So the idea of taking care of people that are at risk for dementia, preventing dementia or treating dementia better, that’s a big part of treating the Silver Tsunami.”

The Richard H. Pickup Center for Brain Health will be a place to change that, he said. The center will be designed with a “whole-family” approach to care.

It starts with an accurate, timely diagnosis, Ritter said, and then with the family developing a treatment plan that addresses the areas in a person’s life that illnesses like dementia most impact. A whole-family approach to care covers those things, as well as the ways that the loved ones of a patient may need care as well.

“Right now we have in the United States something we call dementia neurology deserts. There are places where people can’t get a diagnosis, they can’t get answers as to what may be going on,” Ritter said. “Dementia always impacts driving, finances and medications, pragmatic things. Right now, Hoag supports the Alzheimer’s Families Center in Huntington Beach, which is a huge operation. About 100 families use those services every day.”

Pickup understands firsthand the struggles that families face when caring for a person with memory and cognitive disorders.

“I had a close brother of mine that was probably seven or eight years younger than I, and I went through the pain of just seeing him deteriorate so badly,” Pickup said. “I think at this particular point in my life, instead of supporting 75 different (causes), I said, ‘Let’s take this meaningful amount of money – we all have this great big desire to build this particular program up – let’s put it in there and see what these guys can do with it.’”

Pickup said he hopes the new center will help develop better awareness of memory and cognitive diseases, as well as earlier detection.

“There’s got to be some gaps in here that we certainly could cover to come along a little bit faster,” Pickup said. “There’s not a lot of money being spent individually in this particular disease, and maybe this will go for the home run we’re looking for.”

The price for South Coast Collection was reported by a news division of Newport Beach-based Green Street.

The buyer was Baltimore-based Continental Realty Corp.

“South Coast Collection is the only shopping venue of its kind in an extensive, high net worth trade area,” stated Josh Dinstein, a senior vice president at CRC. “The asset’s institutional quality and strong value-add potential, plus its location in the heart of Orange County, make SoCo the perfect acquisition for our entry into the southern California marketplace.”

The 292,000-square-foot retail center sits on 20 acres not far from IKEA and the new Anduril headquarters in the previous LA Times printing plant. The shopping center is known for its high-end home furnishing brands and the dining hub known as The Mix.

Tenants at 3303-3323 Hyland Ave. include COCO Republic, Design Within Reach, Roche Bobois, Pirch and Paul Mitchell the School, Natuzzi Italia and Room & Board. Restaurants include Arc Food and Libations, Butcher’s House, Greenleaf Kitchen & Cocktails, Moulin, Paragon and Portola Coffee.

In 2015, the White Plains, New York-based Rockwood bought the 405 freeway-adjacent property from Burnham Ward Properties for $120 million . Joel Mayer, a managing director at Rockwood, said at the time that the firm was looking forward “to enhancing the property to create an environment that is among the preeminent lifestyle centers in Southern California.”

Burnham USA Equities, a sister company to the developer of the property, Burnham Ward Properties, was managing the center for Rockwood and also will run it for the new owner.

Eastdil Secured LLC represented Rockwood Capital in the sale.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the seller of SoCo.

More small apartments trade hands

The investor thirst for small apartment complexes continues in Orange County.

In recent weeks, a beach-adjacent building with eight apartments in Laguna Beach sold for $3.075 million or $384,375 per studio unit, according to CBRE.

The 66-year-old apartment building at 525 Catalina is a few blocks from Laguna’s Main Beach and downtown village. Built in 1957, the two-story, 3,388-square-foot complex is made up of eight studio units.

CBRE said it was the first time the property has been available for sale in “over five decades.”

To the north in Garden Grove, CBRE also sold a 10-unit property at 11821 Stuart Drive for $2.875 million or $287,500 per unit.

It was another first-time sale for the property since it was built back in 1958.

The two-story, 8,601-square-foot building completed in 1958 has a mix of three one-bedroom and seven two-bedroom units. The building comes with a community pool, on-site laundry and garage parking.

The previous owner had recently completed improvements to the property that included new paint, a new sprinkler system, updated gas lines and new garage doors.

The new owner could increase rents by 25% for “an approximate cap rate of 6.25% through a renovation plan.” said Andrew Boukather, a senior associate at CBRE.

The CBRE team represented the unidentified seller and buyer, both of whom live in Orange County.

Buchanan breaks into Northern California with storage buy

Newport Beach-based Buchanan Street Partners recently bought a self-storage facility in Auburn for $21 million.

The 116,500-square-foot facility includes 825 self-storage units and 40 RV parking spaces.

The purchase marked the fourth self-storage property Buchanan has bought in California in recent years.

“The Auburn transaction represented a unique opportunity for us to acquire a high-quality stabilized self-storage property near replacement cost and with plenty of upside potential through professional third-party property management,” said Feerooz Yacoobi, a vice president at the firm.  “I’m excited for Buchanan Street to break into the northern California market.”

On the move

Donald “Don” Kennedy is the president of the American Land Title Association for the 2023-2024 year. He is a Santa Ana local and the managing director for First American Title Insurance Co.’s Agency Division. Kennedy is a third-generation ALTA president, following his father’s, Parker S. Kennedy, presidency in 1993-1994 and his grandfather’s, Donald P. Kennedy, presidency in 1983-1984.

Newport Beach-based The Saywitz Co. has made two new hires. Ariana Bolin is the new director of support services, assisting executives as well as marketing, communications and back-office operations. Sabrina O’Brien is working in client relations, helping the company’s commercial and multifamily management operations.

Milestones

MVE + Partners, an architecture, planning, and interior firm based in Irvine, received three awards from the American Institute of Architects from both the Orange County (AIAOC) and Utah chapters for its work on three different projects.

Those projects included the Mandarin Oriental Residences in Beverly Hills (Best Multifamily Mixed-Use Development), and Silo Park and Post District Residences in Salt Lake City (Best Multifamily Mixed-Use Development and Merit Award, respectively).

The awards come as the firm approaches its 50th anniversary in 2024.

Real estate transactions, leases and new projects, industry hires, new ventures and upcoming events are compiled from press releases by contributing writer Karen Levin. Submit items and high-resolution photos via email to Business Editor Samantha Gowen at sgowen@scng.com. Please allow at least a week for publication. All items are subject to editing for clarity and length.

The number: Southern California is home to 33 of the nation’s priciest ZIP codes for residential real estate.

The source: My trusty spreadsheet looked at RealtyHop’s annual ranking of the 100 most-expensive neighborhoods in the nation based on median selling prices.

Quick analysis: In case you need another reminder of the exorbitant cost of Southern California housing, one-third of the nation’s most expensive ZIPs for housing reside near the California coast between Santa Barbara and the Mexican border.

Six of them are in one Southern California city – Newport Beach.

This year’s count is higher than the 30 in 2022 but on par with 33 in 2021. The Class of 2023 had a median selling price of $2.5 million, down 5% in a year – attention, “bargain” hunters – after a 15% gain in the previous 12 months.

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Statewide, 61 ZIPs are in the Top 100 vs. 59 in 2022 and 63 in 2021. These California neighborhoods had a median selling price of $2.7 million, up 1% in a year after a 13% gain in the previous 12 months.

Location. Location. Location

Here are the Southern California members of the Top 100 ZIPs in 2023, with their US rankings for the past three years …

No. 2: Beverly Hills 90210 with a $6.29 million median price; it ranked 3rd in 2022 and 4th in ‘21.

No. 6: Montecito 93108: $4.8 million, No. 7 in ‘22, No. 6 in ‘21.

No. 9: Newport Beach 92661: $4.35 million, No. 14 in ‘22, No. 17 in ‘21.

No. 10: Rancho Santa Fe 92067: $4.25 million, No. 18 in ‘22, No. 24 in ‘21.

No. 13: Newport Beach 92662: $3.98 million, No. 9 in ‘22, No. 9 in ‘21.

No. 14: Newport Beach 92657: $3.95 million, No. 23 in ‘22, No. 15 in ‘21.

• RENT TRENDS: What’s available – and what are landlords charging? CLICK HERE!

No. 18: Santa Monica 90402: $3.7 million, No. 17 in ‘22, No. 20 in ‘21.

No. 21: Los Angeles 90077: $3.5 million, No. 25 in ‘22, No. 7 in ‘21.

No. 22: Newport Beach 92625: $3.49 million, No. 24 in ‘22, No. 26 in ‘21.

No. 23: Los Angeles 90272: $3.4 million, No. 20 in ‘22, No. 12 in ‘21.

No. 34: Rancho Santa Fe 92091: $2.99 million, No. 27 in ‘22, No. 36 in ‘21.

No. 36: Manhattan Beach 90266: $2.95 million, No. 44 in ‘22, No. 37 in ‘21.

No. 42: San Diego 92014: $2.83 million, No. 75 in ‘22, No. 70 in ‘21.

No. 43: Newport Beach 92660: $2.8 million, No. 37 in ‘22, No. 65 in ‘21.

No. 45: Newport Beach 92663: $2.75 million, No. 71 in ‘22, No. 55 in ‘21.

No. 49: San Marino 91108: $2.73 million, No. 54 in ‘22, No. 44 in ‘21.

No. 52: Rancho Palos Verdes 90274: $2.5 million, No. 62 in ‘22, No. 59 in ‘21.

No. 55: Los Angeles 90049: $2.5 million, No. 77 in ‘22, No. 72 in ‘21.

No. 59: San Diego 92118: $2.47 million, No. 53 in ‘22, No. 69 in ‘21.

No. 61: Beverly Hills 90212: $2.45 million, No. 94 in ‘22, No. 64 in ‘21.

No. 67: Summerland 93067: $2.37 million, unranked in ‘22, No. 61 in ‘21.

No. 68: Villa Park 92861: $2.35 million, No. 73 in ‘22, unranked in ‘21.

No. 69: Santa Barbara 93109: $2.3 million, No. 64 in ‘22, No. 76 in ‘21.

No. 70: Los Angeles 91436: $2.3 million, No. 59 in ‘22, No. 74 in ‘21.

• AFFORDABILITY: Who can afford to live here? What’s being done? CLICK HERE!

No. 71: Huntington Beach 90742: $2.3 million, No. 68 in ‘22, No. 87 in ‘21.

No. 72: Los Angeles 90291: $2.3 million, No. 66 in ‘22, No. 58 in ‘21.

No. 75: La Cañada Flintridge 91011: $2.28 million, No. 83 in ‘22, unranked in ‘21.

No. 84: Hermosa Beach 90254: $2.15 million, No. 85 in ‘22, No. 77 in ‘21.

No. 86: Beverly Hills 90211: $2.15 million, No. 74 in ‘22, No. 80 in ‘21.

No. 92: Irvine 92603: $2.1 million, unranked previous 2 years.

No. 98: Encinitas 92007: $2 million, unranked in ‘22, No. 92 in ‘21.

No. 99: Los Angeles 90048: $2 million, No. 87 in ‘22, No. 79 in ‘21.

No. 100: Los Angeles 90027: $2 million, unranked previous 2 years.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

The Polynesian canoe Hōkūleʻa has been making its way down the Southern California coastline, previously stopping in Marina Del Rey and earlier this week in Newport Beach.  It will be docking at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point on Saturday for the weekend before heading to the Maritime Museum of San Diego from Nov. 8-14.

It is all part of a four-year adventure navigating the Pacific Ocean.

“It’s a great way to disconnect and reconnect with the nature around us,” said crewmember Jonah Apo, from Oahu.  “We are fully immersed when we are deep at sea.”

Thousands of years ago, voyagers used only nature and ancestral knowledge as their map to navigate between islands, but through the generations the knowledge was lost.

In an attempt to resurrect the traditional methods, the Polynesian Voyaging Society built the Hōkūleʻa, a double-hulled canoe, for an inaugural trip from Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976.

“Voyaging is the origin of how Polynesians migrated throughout the Pacific, they were exceptional navigators and adventurers. They were the astronauts of their time,” Apo said. “At one point, that knowledge and history was lost.

“We’re reclaiming that culture and knowledge of navigators,” he said. “When you think of the people who came before you, it’s an important aspect in Hawaiian culture.”

During a tragic trip two years after the first voyage, in 1978, surfing big-wave legend Eddie Aikau died while trying to save fellow crew members caught in a storm. He attempted to paddle to shore for help, but was never seen again.

The rest of the crew was eventually saved, and a plaque at the front of the ship today reminds people of Aikau’s legacy.

Not wanting to end the ship’s story with Aikau’s death, one of the last remaining experienced voyagers, Mau Piailug, trained others to navigate the Hōkūle‘a in an attempt to replicate the successful 1976 voyage.

They made the journey from Tahiti back to Hawaii, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished in 600 years. It was the beginning of many more successful voyages in the following decades. In 2000, Hōkūleʻa was proclaimed as Hawaii’s first state treasure.

The vessel has been on 15 major excursions. Most recently, it went on a world-wide voyage from 2014 to 2017 with its sister ship, the Hikianalia Voyaging Canoe, visiting Dana Point in 2018. 

Hōkūleʻa’s current adventure kicked off in Alaska in June for a four-year trek that will cover 43,000 nautical miles.

The plan has shifted because of the El Nino and hurricane season expected to hit this winter, as well as the devastating fires on Maui, so the crew will head home to Hawaii following the San Diego stop.

The voyage will resume in the South Pacific through New Zealand, Australia and eventually up to Japan, before the Hōkūleʻa is shipped back to Los Angeles to make its way down to Mexico and South America.

Apo said he was first introduced to the vessel in high school, joining a few training sails, and quickly fell in love with the canoe and voyaging. He became a volunteer at age 16 and now, at 23, is part of the crew.

At each port, the reception has been amazing, he said.

“We’ve been met with many gracious hosts,” he said, noting that before coming to shore, they always get permission from indigenous tribes to enter the water and land.

“There’s so much excitement about the canoe, kids are curious about it,” he said. “Sharing our canoe with them is one of my favorite parts of the voyage.”

“Legacy is important and being able to share our knowledge with future generations,” he said.

The Hōkūleʻa will arrive in Dana Point Harbor on Saturday, Nov. 4, with a ceremony at sea at 4 p.m. and a welcome ceremony at the Ocean Institute at 5 p.m. On Sunday, there will be a screening of the Disney movie “Moana” at 6:45 p.m., with commentary from the crew.

Free dockside canoe tours will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday; 1 to 5 p.m. on Monday; and 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesday.

More info: hokulea.com

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  Debby Falese, left, and Jennifer Calonico, both of Huntington Beach, make their way along the beach just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Laura Steel of Newport Beach rides a wave just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Che Shayne, left, of Costa Mesa and Sarah Evangelista, right, of Huntington Beach, show off their costumes on the beach just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  A surfer rides her surfboard just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Russell Toler rides a wave with his daughter, Summer, 8, both of Costa Mesa, just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Wearing a Richard Nixon mask, Bill Morck of Costa Mesa rides his surfboard just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Members of the free community surf group, Surfista, pose for a photo on the beach just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  A surfer rides his surfboard just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Charles Mendola, left, and Jessica Stiffler of Huntington Beach make their way along the beach just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Debby Falese of Huntington Beach rides her surfboard into the beach just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  A surfer makes his way through the shore break just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  A surfer looks back at the beach as he makes his way out to ride the waves just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Surfers ride their surfboards just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Wearing a Richard Nixon mask, Bill Morck of Costa Mesa makes his way along the beach just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Jennifer Calonico, left, and Debby Falese, right, both of Huntington Beach, show off their costumes just north of the Newport Beach Pier early on Saturday morning, October 28, 2023, as surfers wearing a variety of Halloween costumes gather for the annual holiday event of riding the waves in Newport Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Surfers got spooky in Newport Beach on Saturday, Oct. 28, just north of the pier, joining an annual gathering that has grown through the years and draws a big crowd to watch the festivities.

For 20 years, surfers young and old have braved the waves in Halloween costumes – which usually get shredded pretty quickly by the salt water and wipeouts. Now more of an information gathering, the tradition was started by the Blackies Classic Longboard Association, which at first gave out prizes and awards, with judges on the sand.

It’s one of those days when surfers don’t mind taking party waves together, mostly for fun photos, as the crowd hoots and hollers.

While the Blackies event is the largest of it’s kind around, there were also surfers who hit the water on Saturday further south at Boneyards surf break at Doheny State Beach. And, the Wahine Kai women’s surf group rode waves in costumes at Bolsa Chica State Beach.

If you missed the fun, an event at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Dana Point Harbor will bring paddlers and kayakers decked out in witch costumes together to cruising around the waterways. Last year, more than 150 people joined in. The event is open to the public.

Shea had served as vice president of Walnut-based J.F. Shea Co., the successor to a plumbing and heavy construction firm his grandfather, John Francis Shea, founded in 1881 in Portland, Oregon.

A company statement said Shea was most comfortable in khaki pants, a buttoned-down blue shirt and muddy boots, which he used to walk construction sites.

“While Peter was a man of few words, he enjoyed connecting with people and deeply valued gathering with family and his loyal community of golfing, bridge-playing, or neighborhood friends,” the company said.

The original company was a leader in the construction industry that worked on the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the Hoover Dam and the Interstate Highway System.

In 1961, Shea joined his cousin John Shea and older brother Edmund Shea Jr. as co-owner of the newly dissolved and reincorporated J.F. Shea Co. Shea later served as president of the conglomerate’s heavy construction subsidiary, J.F. Shea Construction, focusing on tunneling and large infrastructure projects.

In the following years, J.F. Shea Co. branched out into homebuilding, commercial real estate development and venture capital investing.

Founded in 1968, Shea Homes built more than 123,000 homes in 11 states, according to the company. Builder Magazine’s latest ranking listed the Los Angeles County company as the nation’s 27th biggest homebuilder in 2022, with 3,428 homes sold and $2.98 billion in total revenue.

The family’s commercial real estate arm, Shea Properties of Aliso Viejo, owns and operates about 10,000 apartments and 6 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space in California, Colorado, and Washington, the company’s website said.

In 2015, Forbes magazine estimated the Shea family’s combined fortune was $2.5 billion.

Peter Shea outlived his two founding partners. Edmund died at his San Marino home in August 2010 at age 80. John, a Pasadena resident, served as J.F. Shea’s chief executive officer, and then as board chair until he died at age 96 in October 2022.

Shea’s son, Peter O. Shea Jr., succeeded John as company CEO.

Born May 29, 1935, in Los Angeles, Shea was the fourth of five children. His father, Edmund Sr., supervised the construction work on the piers for the Golden Gate Bridge before the family moved to Los Angeles shortly before Shea’s birth.

Shea attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles, then earned a degree in business at UC Berkeley and an engineering degree from the University of Southern California.

He grew up around the family business’s construction sites, spending his summers on dam and tunnel projects, working as a driller’s assistant and miner on several tunnel projects.

J.F. Shea tunneling jobs included work on underground stations and Berkeley Hills tunnels for the Bay Area’s BART system, according to the company. The firm also did tunnel work for the Washington D.C. Metro.

Shea served on various construction industry and community organizations, including the Association of General Contractors board and the board for the Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine.

“Peter was a very kind, smart, and humble man,” said Shea Homes President and CEO Bert Selva. “He was also very quiet, but when he did share his thoughts, it was always incredibly valuable insight that was spot on. He was a great man and we will really miss him.”

Shea is survived by his wife, Carolyn; daughters Sarah and Catherine Shea Johnson; son Peter Jr.; sister Mary Elizabeth Callaghan; brother Henry; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 11 at Our Lady Queen of Angeles Church in Newport Beach.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Loyola High School of Los Angeles.

Retired NHL player David Backes sold his Newport Beach home of three years for the asking price of $7 million.

That’s 63% more than the $4.3 million Backes and his wife, Kelly, paid for the home in November 2020, property records show.

Completely reimagined from the ground up in 2018, the 4,433-square-foot modern farmhouse sits on a nearly-quarter-acre lot in the Newport Heights neighborhood. It has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and sliding glass walls that extend the indoors out to the expansive backyard with a pool, spa, fire pit and built-in barbecue.

There’s also a large lawn.

According to the listing, the custom home was a collaboration of Skout Interior Design, Christiano Homes and Richart Design.

The main entry features a porch swing and Dutch door that leads to the open-concept kitchen, dining and living room. A game room is nearby.

Upstairs in the primary suite, the spa-inspired bathroom boasts a glass-enclosed sauna connected to the shower. There’s also a separate tub.

Jon-Paul Bell of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty listed the property, and Janelle File and Brandon Goethals of Compass represented the buyer.

Backes, 39, played professional ice hockey for 15 seasons as a member of the St. Louis Blues, Boston Bruins and Anaheim Ducks. He retired in 2021. The 6-foot-3-inch center has also represented the United States in two Winter Olympics, winning silver in Vancouver in 2010, and three Ice Hockey World Championship games.

(Records through Oct. 22)

1. Mater Dei 35-3: The Monarchs swept Palos Verdes in the first round of pool play in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

Previous ranking: 1

2. Huntington Beach 28-6: The Oilers opened Division 1 pool play with a sweep of Alemany. They play at home against Los Alamitos on Tuesday .

Previous ranking: 2

3. Beckman 28-5: The Patriots beat Santa Monica and Marina to advance to the quarterfinals of the Division 3 playoffs.

Previous ranking: 3

4. Los Alamitos 31-6: The Griffins lost to second-seeded Mira Costa in the first round of Division 1 pool play.

Previous ranking: 4

5. JSerra 27-10: The Lions beat Long Beach Millikan and Rancho Cucamonga to advance to the quarterfinals in Division 2.

Previous ranking: 5

6. Orange Lutheran 24-13: The Lancers defeated Etiwanda and Aliso Niguel to reach the Division 2 quarterfinals.

Previous ranking: 6

7. Dana Hills 20-2: The Dolphins beat Cypress and Redlands in the Division 3 playoffs.

Previous ranking: 8

8. Newport Harbor 18-15: The Sailors beat Chaminade and Santa Margarita, last week’s county No. 7 team, in the Division 2 playoffs.

Previous ranking: Not ranked

9. San Clemente 19-13: The Tritons defeated Santiago of Corona, lost to La Canada in the Division 2 playoffs.

Previous ranking: 9

10. Edison 18-12: The Chargers defeated St. Joseph of Lakewood, Vista Murrieta in the Division 2 playoffs.

Others considered: Aliso Niguel 13-13; Canyon 20-3; Capistrano Valley Christian 27-3; Corona del Mar 17-11; Santa Margarita 18-12; Sunny Hills 27-2