Balboa Island Ferry Has Been in Service for Over 100 Years

NEWPORT一In 1919 Joseph Allen Beek gained the rights to the Balboa Island Ferry, which would become “the oldest continuously operated business in Newport Beach,” said owner Seymour Beek to Newport Beach Independent in a 2019 article commemorating the ferry’s 100th anniversary.

For 100 years Beek and his family have owned the ferry that traverses the 800 feet between Balboa Peninsula and Balboa Island.

Beek started with The Ark, a wooden rowboat with an outward motor that had been fitted with back-up oars and by 1922 had built The Joker, which could fit 20 people and their vehicles.

In the 1920s a trip across the harbor would cost a rider five cents. In 2021 a one-way trip will run an adult a shocking $1.25.

The ferry continues to operate at normal hours, 6 a.m. to 12 a.m., seven days a week, with three boats that have been on the harbor since the 1950s, Admiral, Commodore, and Captain. To learn more, see the Balboa Ferry Island website balboaislandferry.com

Provided by: Orange County Historical Society