Tradition marches on

Elia Powers

For one Corona del Mar neighborhood, Fourth of July festivities are a

sign of changing demographics.

Children are the focus of the Fourth of July celebration at Cameo

Shores and Cameo Highlands. The event includes a parade with

decorated bicycles, an appearance from a resident dressed as Uncle

Sam, a visit from the Newport Beach Fire Department and a display of

one resident’s Model T Ford.

“It’s a small, quaint, grass-roots event,” said Madeline Hayward,

a Cameo Highlands resident. “We’re getting back to the old-fashioned

neighborhood feel.”

When the adjacent communities of Cameo Shores and Cameo Highlands

were developed a half-century ago, homeowners with young children

were the norm, said Cameo Highlands resident John Lindgren.

Cameo Shores was the first to develop in the mid-1950s. The Irvine

Co. owned the property, so contractors built homes on leased land,

Lindgren said.

Cameo Highlands wasn’t finished until the early 1960s, which

“wasn’t exactly a boom time in real estate,” Lindgren remembers.

The community was meant to be quaint, with only one road leading

in and out of the Highlands and the Shores.

Homes were sold from $35,000 to $65,000. More than 90% of the 319

properties were built to have ocean views, Lindgren estimates.

Unlike some Orange County neighborhoods developed in that era,

Cameo Highlands and Cameo Shores were defined by an eclectic mix of

homes. There wasn’t a dominant contractor, Lindgren said, so the

homes were built in different styles and sizes.

In the 1970s, many of the homeowners bought their lots. As

children grew up and moved out of the neighborhood, few families were

moving out with them.

“What happened was there were a lot of original owners -- it was a

neighborhood of people in their 50s and 60s, many of whom were

retired,” Lindgren said.

Most residents didn’t have youngsters around, so there was little

motivation to hold community events in their honor.

Lindgren moved to Cameo Highlands from Seal Beach in 1987. He got

involved in the Cameo Community Assn.’s board of directors, serving a

term as president.

In the years since he moved to the neighborhood, Lindgren said he

has noticed a definite change.

“We are getting junior business executives buying into the

community,” he said. “A lot of them are tearing down or doing serious

remodeling.”

The younger families are moving in with their children, just as

families did in previous generations.

In response, the Cameo Community Assn. has devoted resources to

giving the two community parks major face-lifts. Events catering to

children have returned, as well.

In addition to an Easter-egg hunt, the Fourth of July parade and

festival have become signature events.

“It’s getting back to the way things were in the early days,”

Lindgren said.

* THE GOOD OLD DAYS runs Sundays. Do you know of a person, place

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