Jamboree Road

Moving west by northwest up the coast from Crystal Cove, Highway 1 reaches Newport Beach at Corona del Mar – the “crown of the sea.” The western extreme of Corona del Mar is bounded by Jamboree Road.

It’s called Jamboree Road because in 1953 the Boy Scouts of America held their fourth national jamboree on a large piece of open land between MacArthur Boulevard and the Back Bay.  Originally it was a dirt road built off Highway 1 to provide access to the area of encampment. Promoters of the event, only the fourth national jamboree staged by Boy Scouts of America, made a big deal of the number, 53. To talk to public communications at the Jamboree, you would lift the receiver, wait for the operator (there were not even rotary dials in the area then), and tell her the number, which was “Jamboree fifty-three.”

Promoters also claimed that when you added nearly 10,000 locals who came to opening ceremonies to the Scouts and leaders encamped at what is now Newport Center you had 53,000 souls. The sight of 53,000 candles flowing across the open hillside on an otherwise very dark night was memorable. The candle light (or flashlight) ceremony would be repeated at subsequent jamborees for decades to come. Those Scouts shared the hillside with rattlesnakes, turtles, lizards, gophers, and various other fauna.

Historic event(s)

During the encampment, President Eisenhower announced a cessation of fighting in the Korean “conflict.” We watched the “breaking news” announcement on TVs that had small, black and white screens on which it was fairly easy to discern the 405 scan lines on the tube.

That was not the only history being made that summer at the Irvine Ranch. A new branch of Scouting was being born right in Corona del Mar. Leaders among the movement were T. Duncan Stewart of Corona del Mar and William H. Spurgeon of Newport. Spurgeon was an executive of the Irvine Ranch Company, and it was through his offices that the jamboree was hosted overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In recognition of his contributions to the Scouting movement, BSA has created the William H. Spurgeon Award to honor those who make significant contributions to Exploring. Spurgeon’s son Bill (William H. Spurgeon III) graduated from Newport Harbor High School nine years after the jamboree.

The jamboree lasted a week, and beyond the sea of 53,000 candles and President Eisenhower’s announcement, I have two distinct memories of the event. One of these involved a Scout from Texas, and the other involved a Hollywood film crew doing a documentary on the jamboree. (more)