Redrawing a landmark

Paul Clinton

What a long, strange trip it has been for Beverly Ray, who is set to

unveil her new Balboa Bay Club & Resort on Wednesday after a 12-year

odyssey that began in the early 1990s with her late husband Bill.

At Wednesday’s opening, Ray and the Bay Club will begin a new era

by cutting the ribbon on a lavish, $65-million expansion to open up

more of the club to the public and fulfill a dream Bill Ray never saw

realized.

“I think he’d be thrilled with it,” Beverly Ray said of her late

husband. “I think it’s very different from what he planned, but it’s

a good fit for this property. He always admired my vision.”

Ray, the chairwoman of owner International Bay Clubs Inc., took up

the project shortly after Ray’s death in December of 1991. An earlier City Council had rejected Ray’s expansion plans, in July of that

year, saying a hulking, 300-room resort would be too towering.

But on Wednesday, the much downsized Bay Club expansion formally

opens its doors to offer 132 rooms, a restaurant and piano lounge to

the public.

Right up front, Bay Club managers say they’ll offer first-class

service with their top-notch hotel. Ultimately, they hope to secure

the Southern California Auto Club’s coveted Five Diamond rating,

given to only the upper echelon of hotels.

“Mrs. Ray made it very clear to me that she wanted to have a

first-class facility,” said Henry Schielein, the club’s president.

“What intrigued me was the opportunity to build a new resort. That’s

always exciting.”

The Four Seasons, in Newport Center, is the only Five Diamond

hotel in Newport-Mesa.

The newly built resort, modeled after an Italian villa, has been

built to reflect the club’s storied past while, at the same time,

keeping an eye to the future.

Built in 1948, the Bay Club was once a favorite getaway for

Hollywood celebrities such as John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren

Bacall, Ronald Reagan -- before he won the White House -- and others.

Like his on-screen persona “The Duke,” Wayne is celebrated by

“Duke’s Place,” a bar with glossy framed photos of the actor across

its walls. Live jazz can be heard nightly.

Wayne, a former club governor whose Wild Goose yacht was a

mainstay in Newport Harbor, has also had a top-floor suite named

after him. The presidential suite has been named for Reagan.

In addition to the lore of the past, the expanded Bay Club also

offers state-of-the-art amenities expected to draw a host of

weddings, meetings and other events.

With a 7,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom, the club now offers

17,000 square feet of space for functions.

As part of the expansion, the club manager decided to retain the

large rooms, which will be priced between $225 and $375; suites run

up to $3,000 per night.

“From the outset, we wanted to make sure we continued to offer

larger rooms than the standard hotel rooms,” said Dave Wooten, the

club’s chief executive.

Chef Josef Lageder will serve up a line of delicacies in the new

restaurant, First Cabin. The lobster bisque soup and seared

yellow-fin ahi are expected to be the highlights. First Cabin will

also stock an impressive wine list that includes a Grand Cru from

Vosne Roanee, one of the oldest vineyards in France, and a $1,700

Chateau Petrus Pomeral.

Bay Club managers have hired some 300 new employees to staff the

hotel.

The club is still partially private, maintaining a list of 3,000

members. It sits on state tidelands that the city oversees. The club

holds a lease that expires in 2011.

City leaders have also praised the new club, which has had its

share of controversy over the years about its openness to the public.

Former mayor Dennis O’Neil, who once represented the club as an

attorney, said the new club should be embraced as a local jewel.

“At the end of the day, the owners, the community and the city

have come together,” O’Neil said. “This project reflects tremendous

compromise, community pride and a valuable asset to the city.”

Current city leaders have also embraced it. The city stands to

reap about $4 million in property and sales tax revenue annually,

with the city getting an approximate $1.5 million prior to the

expansion.

“It’s going to be a preeminent facility in Newport Beach,” Mayor

Steve Bromberg said. “It will be a destination and drawing card for

the city.”

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

paul.clinton@latimes.com.