Face Lift by the Bay : Landmarks: The venerable Balboa Bay Club is preparing to remodel its facilities into a garden oasis. There is talk of opening dining, hotel rooms to the public.

NEWPORT BEACH —  For decades, the Balboa Bay Club was the place to be, an elite fun spot where the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo and Richard Nixon sought sunny refuge.

Today, the 45-year-old yacht club retains a certain aura. But the stargazing isn’t what it used to be. Club officials say that business has been down in recent years and that the club needs renovation.

But after years of wrangling with the city, scaled-back plans to remodel the club into a garden oasis are finally inching forward. And there is talk of, once the remodeling is complete in a few years, opening up the members-only club for the first time, allowing the public to dine in restaurants and stay in the club’s hotel rooms.

“In the old days, it was filled with movie stars. John Wayne was on the board of governors, and very well-known industrialists looked at the bay club as a getaway place,” said owner Beverly Ray. “What we want to preserve is the feeling about this place and the memories and the lifestyle. It is very simple, where people come to lay back.”

Several years ago, just before the recession took hold of Southern California, club officials had proposed a lavish renovation. But residents protested, complaining that the additions would block views and bring more traffic and noise to their neighborhood on the bluffs overlooking Newport Bay. The City Council eventually rejected those plans.

Club officials returned to the council this year with a scaled-back, $30-million renovation plan that won quick approval last month, as well as praise from residents who opposed it the first time around.

The new proposal is still ambitious. It calls for the demolition and rebuilding of much of the aging club’s facilities.

But supporters say the plan is pragmatic--designed to coexist with the surrounding community and the economic realities of the 1990s.

“Things have changed dramatically in the past (four) years,” said club President Dave Wooten, noting that the 1990 plan did not anticipate the statewide recession. “I would not want to be sitting here with 300 hotel rooms to fill.”

The expansion plan would significantly alter the appearance of the club by adding gardens, palm trees, new buildings, patios and a breezy bay-front promenade.

The club would increase from about 155,000 square feet to about 189,000. New athletic facilities, a public restaurant, coffee shop, two bars and a ballroom would be built along with four conference rooms.

Ray said she envisions the new club as “buildings set into a garden by the bay.” The architecture will be “very simple, classical lines. Nothing extreme. Something that will look good and elegant forever,” she said.

There are plans for glass-covered walkways, expansive ocean-side patios, a large central courtyard and a swimming pool perched alongside the bay.

In recent years, as new hotels and condo complexes have sprung up nearby, the club has found itself scrambling to fill its 144-room terrace apartments, which overlook the bay and “battleship row,” a line of boat slips that are home to some of California’s largest yachts.

“There was a time when (the apartments) were always full and there was a waiting list to get in,” Ray said. “We have a lot more competition these days.”

Ray and other club leaders are betting that the new project will give the club a contemporary look while maintaining the mystique the hideaway has enjoyed since its heyday.

Opened in 1948 amid the mud flats of a then-deserted Coast Highway, the club had always been synonymous with fame, wealth and power.

Its membership rosters have included William Holden, Lauren Bacall and Joey Bishop. They and dozens of other Hollywood stars regularly made the one-hour trek from Beverly Hills and the Hollywood Hills south to Newport Beach, where many docked yachts.

New York Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle, test pilot Chuck Yeager and crooner Frank Sinatra were once regular visitors.

The club’s photo archives are filled with pictures of famous figures enjoying the sunny outdoor patios and bars, including Ronald and Nancy Reagan. After his resignation from office, Richard Nixon briefly lived on the compound before taking up residence in San Clemente.

Although fewer celebrities rub elbows at the club today, the landmark retains a certain mystique. In recent years, the club was the setting for writer Joseph Wambaugh’s novel “The Golden Orange.”

The proposal still must pass muster with the California Coastal Commission and the club also must negotiate a new lease with the city. Construction is not expected to begin for at least three years.

The scaled-back project has received support from nearby residents of the Cliff Haven and Newport Heights areas who were among the most vocal critics of the 1990 plan. Residents said the new project blocks fewer views and does a better job of addressing traffic and noise concerns.

John Sturgess, president of the Cliff Haven Homeowners Assn., said the club solicited comments from neighbors and kept them updated on the status of the project. Sturgess and other residents said they plan to keep meeting with club officials through the design and construction process.

“They really did a good job helping us understand the plan,” Sturgess said. “We worked together to make it compatible with the community.”