Post #655978 by Dustycajun on Wed, Oct 17, 2012 12:54 PM

Also found this little tidbit of history:

I find it fascinating that many neighbors remember the Castaways Club, a popular watering hole and Orange County landmark that was destroyed by fire in 1956. The bluff top has been referred to as the “Castaways” ever since. The 160-acre site was originally built as the Orange County Country Club in 1913 and included an 18-hole golf course below the Castaways bluff, several tennis courts, a boathouse and bathhouse. Since golf courses didn’t start their transition to grass until the 1920s, the Orange County Country Club golf course (now called the Santa Ana Country Club) was probably compacted oil and sand until it was relocated to its present site in 1923 where wells could support irrigation. The Castaways course became a public course, and the clubhouse was refurbished as a restaurant and bar. It is rumored to have been a house of ill repute while operating as The Countess and Mona’s, until finally opened as the Castaways Club perched atop the bluff where the present park benches overlook the Newport Harbor basin.

DC