The Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach, Orange County, California, is a California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Place. Established on July 1, 1906, the Balboa Pavilion played a prominent role in the development of Newport Beach by attracting real estate buyers to an area formerly designated as "swamp and overflow" land. The Balboa Pavilion is one of California's last surviving waterfront recreational pavilions from the turn of the century. The Pavilion continues to serve the public today as a marine recreational facility and is Newport Beach's most famous landmark, as well as its oldest standing building. History Origins On September 20, 1905, the War Department in Washington D.C. granted a group of promoters, called the "Newport Bay Investment Company," permission to construct the Pavilion as a "boat-house, bath-house, and pavilion." The promoters built the pavilion on the Newport Harbor side of the sand spit and its sister project, the Balboa Pier, on the adjacent ocean side of the sand spit, which is today called the Balboa Peninsula. These two structures were built to attract lot purchasers to this area of Newport Beach called Balboa. Design The pavilion was designed by Los Angeles freelance architect Fred R. Dorn, who would later go on to work as an associate of Morgan, Walls & Clements. On July 1, 1906, the -high Victorian style building was fully completed to coincide with the completion of the Pacific Electric Railway Red Car Line extension to central Balboa near the Balboa Pavilion on July 4, 1906, after only 10 days of construction. With the extension of the Red Car line, People began to flock to Balboa and some purchased lots, and, thus, the Newport Investment Company's plan worked. The original building had a second story meeting room and a first story bathhouse. In the bathhouse, people could change from street attire into rented "bathing suits." Soon, yearly Fourth of July bathing beauty parades brought large gatherings of people to Balboa. Big Band era The 1930s ushered in the Big Band era. On weekends the Pavilion featured such prominent bands as Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and the Dorsey Brothers. Phil Harris and his band played regularly on weekdays. The dance step called the "Balboa" originated at the Balboa Pavilion and swept across the United States. The Pavilion had several upstairs and downstairs card rooms where patrons would gamble. Until the later 1930s, the Pavilion offered speed boat