Smart Meetings

Of course, the Southern California lifestyle is famously focused on the outdoors. But Orange County’s 42 miles of coastline—with pristine sand, rocky tide pools, salt marshes and charming yacht harbors—is an irresistible magnet for locals and visitors alike. Sunsets can be breathtaking; sunrises, inviting. Seagulls circle overhead; whales and dolphins sometimes frolic offshore.

“Ultimately, a destination’s attractiveness drives the decision of where to meet,” says Doug Traub, president and chief executive of the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau (huntingtonbeachmeetings.com).
Pat Zollman, regional director for Helms Briscoe in Danville, Calif. concurs. “Orange County has so much to offer; you never run out of things to do and can come back time and time again.”

North to south along the county’s coast are Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point and San Clemente. Upscale resorts, restaurants and shopping are plentiful in these coastal
communities that link Los Angeles with San Diego. In all, coastal O.C. has 6,000 rooms at meetings-friendly properties and roughly 250,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. And nightlife is booming at restaurants and clubs like Sutra Lounge and Mozambique. Is it any wonder that the O.C. has come into its own as a meetings destination?
Zollman says it’s one of her favorite places.

“Orange County is the perfect location no matter what size (the meeting is) or what the budget is,” she says. “The beach lifestyle is attractive (especially) for people who don’t regularly go to the beach,” she says. “That’s a big draw.”

Just 100 years ago, rutted wagon trails provided the only access to O.C.’s shore. Pacific Coast Highway wasn’t complete through O.C. until the late 1920s and the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) didn’t reach the county until 1954. By that time, each coastal town was firmly entrenched with a personality inherited from the sailing captains, oil and railroad barons and artists who influenced their early years.

Though celebrities and politicos like John Wayne, Bette Davis, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson and President Richard M. Nixon drew attention to the Orange coast between the 1950s and 1970s, it took a flurry of resort development in the 1990s to bring the area into its own. Now it’s names like Heather Locklear, Richie Zamboa, Paris Hilton and John Travolta that create the buzz.

The additional hotel rooms and meeting space have lured more groups to the water’s edge. It’s easy to find the right meetings property, too, through a marketing partnership called The OCeanfront (the-
oceanfrontca.com) that promotes O.C.’s coastal resorts, golf clubs, shopping venues and CVBs in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Dana Point.

“We talk on a level playing field when we talk about the group market,” says Cormac O’Modhrain, president of the hospitality division of Robert Mayer Corp. in Newport Beach, the owner and developer of the Hilton Waterfront and the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach.

With about 21 million people residing within a day’s drive of the area, plus easy access to the coast with a web of freeways throughout the county, the area can be easy to access by car for many of your attendees.
Additionally, the John Wayne/Orange County Airport is within a 30-minute drive of all beach communities. The airport ranked No. 3 in customer satisfaction among small airports in a recent JD Power survey. Long Beach Airport is another close-by option.

“John Wayne and Long Beach airports are huge selling points for us,” says Scott Evans, director of sales at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point.

SEAL BEACH
Seal Beach anchors the north end of the O.C. coast and still carries small-town charm along its downtown and the pier. About three miles inland, where a newer business district has grown up, is the Italian-style boutique Ayres Hotel (ayreshotels.com), which caters to business guests in a homey environment. Nearby, the Old Ranch Country Club (oldranch.com) has a new clubhouse that can cater banquets of up to 340 people in 4,788 sq. ft. of function space.

HUNTINGTON BEACH
Originally called Pacific City, the town was later renamed in honor of railroad magnate and developer Henry E. Huntington, who brought the Pacific Electric Railway—and thus visitors—to the area. Today they come to loll on its eight miles of sandy beaches, jog or bike on a paved bike path or surf some of the best waves in the area. In Huntington Beach, seeing CEO surfers hit the waves before they hit the office is nothing unusual, making it a perfect spot to mix business and pleasure.

Some of Zollner’s clients like it for the variety of healthy activities and comfortable atmosphere, she says.
Surfing beaches led to the moniker of Surf City USA—a phrase trademarked by Huntington Beach, which is marketing the city under that brand.

“We’re doing a unique thing,” Traub says. “We’re selling it like a consumer product.”

So far, Huntington Beach has landed six licensing deals for products that span the globe, and a Surf City USA store that will open this fall. You won’t be surprised to learn that Dean Torrence, half of the singing duo Jan & Dean, who wrote “Surf City” in the ’60s, lives in town.

In all, Huntington Beach has 76,500 sq. ft. of meeting space and just over 1,000 hotel rooms at its primary meetings properties.

“We have a really unique group destination here,” O’Modhrain says, with some groups that return each year because of the beach-front hotels.

The Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa (huntingtonbeach.hyatt.com) has the largest meeting facilities along the coast in a dedicated conference wing with its own lobby and meeting planner offices. The resort’s 20,000-square-foot ballroom opens onto a foyer with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the ocean and an outdoor deck.

The Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort (waterfrontresort.com), next door to the Hyatt, has a 5,850-square-foot ballroom and pre-function areas that spill out easily around the handsome ocean-facing pool deck. The Hilton this fall will complete a room renovation that strives to bring a more residential feel to
the hotel.

Team-building options are myriad in Huntington Beach, and the best part is that many of them can be done for free on the beach! The Hyatt, which links to the beach via a pedestrian bridge, caters beach picnics, as does Zack’s Beach Catering and Concessions (beachfoodfun.com). Zack’s, at the pier, also has bike, skate and surrey rentals and surfing lessons.

Huntington Central Park, one of the largest city parks in Southern California, also has picnic facilities, an amphitheater, a sports complex, a lake, an equestrian center and even a Disc (Frisbee) Golf course. Those
who prefer real golf can try their hand at the Meadowbrook Golf Club (meadowbrookgc.com).

To get in the spirit of the city’s trademark sport, try a scavenger hunt that includes the International Surfing Museum (surfingmuseum.org), the Surfers’ Hall of Fame and its bronze statue of Duke Kahanamoku (the father of surfing), Jack’s Surf Shop, the Surfing Walk of Fame and Huntington Surf & Sport. Pravda Surf (pravdasurf.com) offers build-your-own-surfboard team-building sessions. Take your joint creation back to the office and hang it on the wall for very, very cool décor.

NEWPORT BEACH
After a century of trying to turn Newport Harbor into a shipping port, the federal government gave up and sold it to James McFadden in the late 1800s. He purchased the swampland for $1 an acre, dredged it and developed a viable harbor. By 1906, the aforementioned Pacific Electric Railway began service to Balboa Peninsula, bringing visitors from Los Angeles and launching Newport’s tourist industry.

This year, the city celebrates its centennial. Modern Newport is about fashion, glamour and culture, but it still has retained its waterfront and sailing lifestyle, along with a healthy dose of beach worship. That’s a plus for meetings.

“We invite people to come to our meetings,” says Angela Tarantino, president of Tarantino Events in San Rafael, Calif. Tarantino, who recently used The Island Hotel, says East Coast contingents, in particular, are always eager to attend—particularly for winter meetings.

“They love Newport Beach and Orange County,” she says, and attendees often prolong their stay after the meeting to enjoy the city.

Newport extends from a waterfront peninsula to the John Wayne Airport, inland about five miles. It also includes Corona del Mar and Newport Coast (re-created on The OC) at its southern end. It’s also home to Fashion Island. Opened in the 1970s, Fashion Island is the premier shopping destination in Newport Beach. Surrounded by hotels, offices, pubs and movie theaters, the 200-specialty-shop center is anchored by Neiman Marcus and Blooming-dale’s and is a must-see destination for Japanese visitors and fans of The OC alike.

Newport Beach’s total meeting space is second only to Anaheim’s in Orange County. In all, it has 130,000 sq. ft. of indoor space at major hotels, which offer about 2,200 guest rooms.

“Our corporate business is strong and group business is steady,” says Gary Sherwin, executive director of the Newport Beach Conf-erence & Visitors Bureau (newportbeach-cvb.com).

Sherwin says a host of changes and renovations at meetings mainstays Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa (newportbeachmarriott-hotelandspa.com), The Island Hotel (theislandhotel.com; formerly the Four Seasons), and the Fairmont Newport Beach (fair-mont.com; formerly Sutton Place) are likely to bring increased business as consumers learn about the upgrades.

“Most of our attendees hadn’t been to Newport before,” says Paul Griffin, director of meetings and events for Destination Marketing Association International, which recently held a CEO Forum at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa. The Newport Marriott completed a $65-million makeover this year that turned it into a decidedly smart and comfortable urban resort overlooking Newport Harbor. Planners also have enjoyed the newly branded and AAA Five-Diamond-honored Island Hotel, also at Fashion Island.

“The change has been a plus aesthetically,” says Tarantino. “But it’s the high level of service that brings us back.” The hotel plans to remodel its suites by 2007. Planners sometimes use the handy docks at the waterfront Balboa Bay Club & Resort (balboabayclub.com) as a launch point for dine-arounds by boat. As both a private club and public hotel, Balboa Bay draws its share of celebrities as well as a host of holiday parties and meetings.

“We get a cross-section of political, corporate high-end executives and sports
figures,” says George Lysak, director of sales and marketing. Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort (newportdunes.com) on the Newport Back Bay embodies the laid-back O.C. lifestyle for corporate and association waterfront events on the bay. In all, it has 18,400 sq. ft. of function space and can tent additional areas as needed. It lends itself well to a variety of water-based activities that might include kayak races or water-balloon volleyball.

Harbor cruises are a favorite with meeting planners, with Hornblower Cruises and Events (hornblower.com) and Duffy’s Electric Boats (duffyboats.com)—a do-it-yourself cruiser—among the favorites. Hornblower’s Newport fleet includes local celebrity John Wayne’s former yacht, the Wild Goose.  

“Hornblower gets a lot of corporate business,” the CVB’s Sherwin says, including regional groups.
On the Peninsula, the Harborside Restaurant (harborside-pavilion.com) has a grand ballroom upstairs that overlooks the harbor and Balboa Island. It’s a particularly good spot for viewing the annual Christmas boat parade, and can accommodate up to 500.

The Newport Sports Museum Foundation (newportsportsmuseum.org) at Fashion Island is a sports-lovers delight with more than 10,000 pieces of memorabilia. Recently expanded, it now can host dinners or receptions for about 200.

A block from Fashion Island, Orange County Museum of Art (ocma.net) has a pavilion for special events. Incidentally, this month the museum debuts the avant-garde 2006 California Biennial, to run through the end of December. Two years in the making, the exhibit will showcase more than 150 works by some of Northern and Southern California’s most exciting and innovative young artists. The Sherman Library and Gardens (slgardens.org) in Corona del Mar, five minutes south of Fashion Island, can host up to 250 in a lovely, quiet garden and patio room.

LAGUNA BEACH
Laguna Beach was a favorite summer camping destination by the late 1800s. Then a San Francisco-based landscape painter visited and returned home with glowing reports that led his compatriots to follow him south. Within a few years, artists made up half of Laguna Beach’s population, launching the city’s
reputation as a haven for the arts. But the onset of the Depression brought hard times
to the profession, which led to the first Festival of Arts in 1932.     

Organizers hoped the festival would draw business to town after the Los Angeles Olympic Games. But then one artist suggested adding “living pictures,” launching the tradition of the world-renowned Pageant of the Masters (lagunafestivalofarts.org; see Not to Be Missed, pg 76). Now, 74 years later, these events, along with other cultural activities, draw visitors from around the world.

Plus, says Judy Bijlani, CMD, executive director of the Laguna Beach Visitor & Conference Bureau, the MTV show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County has helped the city gain extended name recognition. The two mainstay properties for meetings are the Surf & Sand Resort (surfandsand-resort.com) and Montage Resort & Spa (montagelagunabeach.com). Together, they offer more than 21,000 sq. ft. of meeting and ballroom space on the oceanfront.

Smaller groups might choose the 100-year-old Hotel Laguna (hotellaguna.com) at Main Beach downtown.
The Surf & Sand grew from a ’50s-era motel into a full-scale resort on the sand. During the Nixon era, it often was home to the White House press corps when the president was at his home in San Clemente. Today, it’s more likely to be hosting groups from pharmaceutical or technology companies, says director of sales Amy McLemore.
“We’re seeing more demand and shorter-term bookings,” she says. A lot of groups are from Orange County or Los Angeles and come for a working getaway that avoids air travel. “We do a lot of team-building, like sand-castle building on the beach.”

About half a mile south of the Surf & Sand, the Arts & Crafts-style Montage Resort & Spa has a broad lawn area popular for buffets and brunches, poolside areas and gardens galore for special outdoor events.

For indoor fun, Laguna Culinary Arts (lagunaculinaryarts.com) gives meeting attendees an opportunity to prepare a four-course dinner or learn wine and cheese pairing—all customized to accommodate dietary restrictions and cooking-skill levels.

Tivoli Terrace and Tivoli Too (tivoliterrace.com; tivoli-too.com) are unique restaurant and catering facilities on the grounds of the Festival of Arts (home of the Pageant of the Masters) and Art A Fair at the foot of Laguna Canyon near downtown. Both are indoor/outdoor facilities that can handle up to 200 people.

Boutique hotel La Casa del Camino (casacamino.com) has limited guest rooms, but ample indoor and outdoor meeting space in a historic, Spanish-style setting. Its rooftop garden overlooks Laguna’s coastline, while the Italianate Courtyard and Cress Room lend themselves to small receptions. The adjoining Savory’s restaurant was a filming location for Laguna Beach.

DANA POINT
Named for 19th-century runaway sailor and Harvard-educated author Richard Henry Dana—who wrote Two Years Before the Mast in 1840, chronicling his youthful adventures along the California coast—Dana Point has a long maritime tradition. Dana called it “the only romantic spot in California.”

Today, those sentiments are borne out at Dana Point Harbor and Marina, where the city celebrates the Festival of Whales each March and welcomes the Tallships each September. Groups can go sportfishing, whale-watching or catch a high-speed Catalina Express catamaran (catalinaexpress.com) to Catalina Island about an hour away .
Dana Point Harbor opened in 1971 and is about to embark on a major overhaul that will bring more restaurants and shops to the harbor.

Dana Point has a trio of upscale resorts to chose from. These include The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel (ritzcarlton.com), St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa (stregismb-.com) and Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa (lagunacliffs.com), which is perched on the cliffs overlooking the harbor. Dana Point also has a Doubletree Guest Suites (dohenybeach.doubletree.com) across the street from Doheny State Beach, one of the longest strands in O.C. Together, these properties offer more than 78,000 sq. ft. of indoor meeting space and more than 100,000 sq. ft. of outdoor gardens and lawns.

The Ritz-Carlton’s recent renovation transformed the ambience from the classic formality of the brand to a more relaxed, beach-inspired style that still bears elegant, traditional touches, while providing ample views to
the beach below.

“The Ritz-Carlton had a reputation of having the same look everywhere,” says Bea Grantham, director of special events for Sony Pictures Entertainment in Los Angeles, who regularly brings groups of about 50 to the property. “Now they seem to be blending into the local environment,” she says. “It’s
a definite improvement.”

Grantham said the location—within an hour or so from Sony’s offices—makes it easy for attendees to get there and still feel like they’ve gone someplace special.

Laguna Cliffs Marriott, reminiscent of a New England estate, also completed its renovation this year with the debut of a new restaurant concept called VU.

The elegant, Tuscan-inspired St. Regis Resort, across Pacific Coast Highway from The Ritz-Carlton, overlooks Monarch Beach Golf Course, which is on-property. Its 12,000-square-foot ballroom has been the set for various TV and movie shoots, including the TV show Las Vegas.

This spring, the St. Regis debuted its latest restaurant, Stonehill Tavern, which replaced the acclaimed Aqua and which is earning high marks of its own under the direction of renowned San Francisco chef Michael Mina.
Dana Point’s most notable unique venue, The Ocean Institute (ocean-institute.org), is located on 2.4 acres in the Dana Point Harbor adjacent to a marine-life refuge. This is an educational facility for hands-on learning about the sea. It offers regular educational cruises and its Samueli Lecture Hall and Conference Center—complete with a
whale skeleton—is available for meetings and conferences.

SAN CLEMENTE
San Clemente is the southern outpost of coastal O.C., with the U.S. Marine base Camp Pendleton separating it from the northern end of San Diego County. Just 15 square miles in size, it grew from a village established by Father Junipero Serra after he built the nearby Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776.

The city came into the spotlight in 1969 when a local estate became the Western White House. But despite recent residential and commercial development, a full-service meetings hotel has yet to arrive. It does have a few places for small groups, however. The 50-suite Comfort Suites San Clemente (sanclementecomfortsuites.com), a mile from Trestles Beach, has a boardroom. The freeway-handy Country Plaza Inn (countryplazainn.com) has 2,400 sq. ft. of divisible conference space.

If you go, don’t miss Iva Lee’s (ivalees.com), a New Orleans-inspired restaurant in the heart of town whose owners trace their Southern roots to the 1600s. It’s a dining delight for any occasion and can host private parties of up to 70 indoors and 30 on the patio.

A remarkable unique venue in San Juan Capistrano, inland from Dana Point, is Villa Marconi (714-258-3001), the private estate of philanthropists Dick and Priscilla Marconi. Set on 1,800 acres of nature reserve, the estate houses a wildlife preserve of exotic animals and is available for exclusive day tours, luncheons, dinners or receptions. The Marconi Automotive Museum (marconimuseum.org) in Tustin, 30 minutes’ drive inland from Newport Beach, is likewise available for events for up to 300 amid a $30-million collection of cars—nirvana for a Ferrari-lover.

To date, proceeds from the use of the museum have raised over $1 million for youth-oriented charities.  

Sandi Cain is a freelance journalist who has covered the meetings, hospitality and tourism industries in Orange County since 1997 for the Orange County Business Journal and other trade publications. She is a resident of Laguna Beach, Calif. Back to Top

Getting There

• John Wayne/Orange County Airport (ocair.com) is served by 10 commercial airlines and five commuter lines and offers roughly 250 daily flights to 24 nonstop destinations. Time from airport to destination ranges from about 10 minutes to 40 minutes, depending on destination.

• Long Beach Airport (lgb.org), located halfway between Los Angeles International Airport and John Wayne Airport, is the West Coast hub of JetBlue Airways, which has nonstop service to New York. It is also served by Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and America West. Long Beach Airport is between 20 and 45 minutes from all coastal cities. It is the closest airport for Seal Beach.

• Los Angeles International Airport (lawa.org/lax) is the major international arrival point for Southern California as well as just over half the domestic arrivals. The airport is 60 to 90 minutes from coastal O.C. cities, depending on traffic. Airport bus and shuttle services are easily available.

• Drive Market Coastal Orange County is within a day’s drive of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson. Interstates 5 and 405, along with the 57, 91, 55 and 22 freeways, link the county to surrounding areas. About 21 million people reside within this distance. South coastal cities also have easy access to Metrolink (metrolinktrains.com) in San Clemente or Amtrak (amtrak.com) in nearby San Juan Capistrano to take them to San Diego, Los Angeles or points east.
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Not To Be Missed

• Major seasonal events Late April: Newport Beach Film Festival (newportbeachfilmfest.com). In just 7 years, the festival has earned recognition from filmmakers and audiences as a premier event. It drew 30,000 people this year, who viewed 350 films that included features, shorts, documentaries and animated entries. The festival has presented many films that went on to become bigger hits, including last year’s sensation Crash.

• July and August: Festival of Arts/Pageant of  the Masters, Sawdust Festival, Art A Fair, Laguna Beach (lagunafestivalofarts.org; sawdustartfestival.org; artafair.com). For two months each summer, Laguna Beach presents the Pageant of the Masters, a presentation of “living pictures” that uses volunteer performers to re-create classic art works. It is unique in the nation. The Festival and Pageant were launched in the Depression to help the town’s budding artists. The Sawdust Festival and Art A Fair were started in the 1960s.

• Mid-December: Newport Boat Parade of Lights (newportbeach-cvb.com), the grand-daddy of boat parades, entertains revelers along Balboa Peninsula, Balboa Island and at restaurants along Pacific Coast Highway with its elegant parade of hundreds of light-festooned boats on Newport Harbor. Other parades are held in Huntington Beach and Dana Point.

• Whale-watching/fishing or cruises out of Dana Point or Newport harbors (danapointharbor.com, horn-blower.com, balboapavilion.com) Hornblower Dining Yachts is a mainstay in Newport Beach for lunch, dinner or cocktail cruises (or cruising the boat parade in December). Whale-watching cruises on various size vessels typically run from December–April. Fishing boats leave from both harbors daily and offer half-day or full-day excursions.

• Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach (surfcityusa.com; attractions/natural areas). One of the nation’s best birding spots, where more than 200 species are attracted as they migrate over the Pacific Flyway between North and South America. A 600-acre restoration of the tidal basin and opening of an ocean inlet was completed in August. Free access, with trail access from Pacific Coast Highway; tours on weekends.

• Treasure Island Park, Laguna Beach (lagunabeachinfo.com). At the foot of the Montage Resort & Spa, Treasure Island is a public park with spectacular views, wide, shaded grassy areas, picnic tables, benches and restrooms. Several pathways lead from the park to the beach that (at low tide) runs from Aliso Beach at the south end to Victoria Beach at the north end. It’s perfect for a picnic lunch and quick brisk walk or for watching Plein Air painters sketch the scenery while the light lasts.

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