Elia PowersFor those who loved searching for...

Elia Powers

For those who loved searching for albacore or halibut, Port Orange

Fishing Hole was the place to go along Mariner’s Mile. And the neon

“Let’s Go Fishing” sign let you know you had arrived.

It was the stomping ground of Jim Barrett and his son, Pete

Barrett, a longtime Newport-Mesa resident.

“Every day was a special day being able to work on the water,”

Pete Barrett said. “The people involved in sportfishing were very

friendly.”

Jim Barrett, a general contractor, brought his family from Chicago

to Orange County in 1939 because he found business working on Prado

Dam. He oversaw the construction of a concrete wall at the base of

the dam that stopped potential flooding of the Santa Ana River.

The elder Barrett owned an underused plot of waterfront property

and decided to open a landing and sportfishing company in 1943. He

scoured the West Coast, looking for good deals on fishing vessels and

amassed a collection of five day boats and 25 charter boats -- making

it one of the largest fleets on the Newport Harbor.

There were nearly 20 wharfs, piers and sportfishing centers at the

time, and Port Orange Fishing Hole was one of the most frequented.

Pete Barrett, a 1942 Newport Harbor High School graduate, received

his motorboat-operating license when he was 18 and added a master’s

certificate at the age of 22. He worked as a “relief skipper,”

filling in for regular boat captains, when they needed a break.

The younger Barrett also ran the office, arriving at 2 a.m. each

morning to sell tickets for the day’s fishing runs. He worked until 7

a.m., rested, and then returned at 3 p.m. for the afternoon shift.

“If I was eating dinner at a friend’s house, I sometimes fell

asleep at the table, while people around me were talking,” he said.

“If I had the energy, I’d get up and find a couch for a quick nap.”

The sportfishing season lasted anywhere from 60 to 120 days,

depending on the weather, Pete Barrett said. On a summer weekend day,

he said, up to 600 people would ride on the boats, which often left

at 5 a.m.

It was common for anglers to catch their daily limit of 10 fish

per person. But as Pete Barrett recalls, there were sometimes tense

moments after the outings.

“Some of the people wanted their money back because they didn’t

catch fish,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything about it.”

After World War II, Pete Barrett said many of the Southern

California harbors that had been used for defense purposes opened up

to sportfishing.

Anglers who had come to Port Orange Fishing Hole from Los Angeles

or Long Beach now could find sportfishing spots closer to home. So in

the early 1960s, Jim Barrett closed his shop.

It was just the start of Pete Barrett’s career, though. He opened

his own realty company, which he ran until 1999. He also served as a

Newport Beach city councilman from 1974 to 1978, keeping a close eye

on harbor issues.

“It was a real exciting time,” he said. “I learned more about the

city during those four years than I did in my previous decades living

here.”

Now 80, Barrett lives in Costa Mesa and works for Harbor Realty,

which was established one year after Port Orange Fishing Hole served

its first customer.

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

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