A long time in a yellow trailer on Lido

Luis Pena

LIDO PENINSULA-- Claire Reed recently celebrated her 90th birthday,

the latest but far from most incredible change she’s seen in the

city.

Reed was born Oct. 11, 1913, and has been a resident of Newport

Beach since 1950. .

Reed and her late husband, Ted, were living in Palm Springs when

they decided to look for a summer vacation home. She fell in love

with a yellow trailer on the Lido Peninsula and told her husband to

sell their Palm Springs home and his business so that they could move

their family of four closer to the ocean. One downside of the change

was that they lost their next-door neighbor in Palm Springs, Frank

Sinatra.

Of course, they gained two celebrity neighbors, John Wayne and

Rock Hudson. Reed said Wayne owned the trailer right next door, but

that was used by his secretary.

But the Duke did visit. Reed says he made a strong impression the

first time he came over. After a mishap with the door, he colorfully

expressed his annoyance.

“The first time that he came in here he took a step up into the

trailer, and he almost broke his neck,” Reed said. “He got inside and

said, ‘Why in the hell don’t you buy a house a guy can stand in?’”

She and Hudson share the rights to a Beer Can Derby championship

that they won on his 40-foot boat, the “Newporter.” She has an

autographed picture of Hudson that reads, “To the best sailor in the

harbor.”

A lot of things have changed in Reed’s long tenure as a resident.

She can remember when the Cannery Restaurant was a working cannery.

She would take fish she had caught there to be canned .

The rent for their yellow home was $33 per month. A similar place

would now go for $2,000 per month.One of the things that Reed misses

about her early years was the small population. She said that the

area was mostly commercial and that it was a place where everybody

knew everybody else.

Reed said that after Labor Day, they were practically alone

because the homes like hers were mainly vacation residences. She said

there were about 25 people who lived in the resort during the off

season, though the weekends brought plenty of vacationers.

Another thing that Reed misses is the Goofoffers Club, which met

in the cafe at Richards Market, which is now Pavilions. People had

customized coffee mugs with their names, even John Wayne.

Now Reed takes pleasure in providing soft drinks for the

dockworkers and laborers in the area in return for their doing favors

for her, such as taking her shopping.

And despite her continuing smoking habit, Reed celebrated her 90th

birthday with 90 friends and family members.

But she has a secret to her smoking that she says keeps her from

feeling its full effects.

“I don’t inhale,” she said. “I cough a little once in a while.”