🗺 Newport Harbor Orange County Harbor District, Newport Harbor Chamber of Commerce, Claude G. Putnam, 1939.
🧭The cartographic charm of master mapmaker Claude George Putnam is on dazzling display in this enchanting come-on carte for beautiful Balboa Island, depicted here at the end of its transformative period. Despite living most of his life in Glendale, Putnam had two great loves: the Newport Harbor and yachting (both of which are represented here). He was a senior staff commodore of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, director of the Southern California Yacht Club, founder of the Trans-Pacific Yacht Club, and charter member of the Woofilbirds Yachting Fraternity. If that weren't enough, he was also one of the best pictorial mapmakers ever. ⛵️ Putnam trained as a painter in Paris but found great success in Southern California as an illustrator in many forms (his masterful and historic Roads to Romance maps, done for a group of chambers of commerce that cover several local counties, are just one example of his success). Here he is paying homage to his passion: the commodore drew six types of sailing vessels at the top of this map and sundry delightful depictions of frolicking in or near the Pacific Ocean at the bottom.
🪢While it may seem like a stretch to include Newport and Balboa Island as part of a collection of Los Angeles maps, the areas are well-connected dating back to the 1860s. The swampy mudflat now known as Balboa Island was once part of Los Angeles County, though not good for too much—that is, until the enterprising McFadden brothers, James and Robert, bought it (along with much of the ocean front of Newport Beach) and established a wharf where hay, tallow, and hides from visiting commercial ships were traded.
@lamag
#NewportHarbor #NewportBeach #OC #history #heritage #ocean #PacificOcean #harbor #harborhistory #beach #California #sea #beach #summer #BestofLA #Orange #map
