‘This ain’t your grandma’s senior center.’ Newport’s Oasis marks 40 years

“This ain’t your grandma’s senior center. We’re a senior center of the future!”

As Oasis Senior Center Director Celeste Jardine-Haug looked over the dance floor Saturday overflowing with party-goers getting their groove on to the Tijuana Dogs’ rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” she noted how a $15-million rebuild completed in 2010 made it possible to add more programs.

“You won’t find bingo or cards, but instead adult-oriented activities,” Jardine-Haug said.

More than 250 guests turned out at Saturday’s nostalgic party and concert to help the Corona del Mar facility celebrate its 40th anniversary.

The center, which in its first year shared space with Carden Hall school, is now a thriving hub for Newport Beach residents older than 50.

In 1975, the city appointed a committee to analyze community needs. It discovered that more than 14% of Newport’s 63,101 residents were older than 60 and that there were no dedicated recreational services or social programs in place for them.

That year the city purchased the 6-acre site near Marguerite and Fifth avenues for $450,000 with the help of federal housing and urban development funds. In August 1977, Oasis, or Older Adult Social and Informational Services, opened a three-room facility.

The new $15-million, state-of-the-art center was completed seven years ago.

Jardine-Haug, who has a degree in gerontology, became director in 1988. Before the the center began, she said, the topic of what is healthy and engaging for senior citizens wasn’t a big concern in many communities.

“The biggest development has been increasing awareness about the needs in older adults — creativity, need for stimulation, social services and health resources,” Jardine-Haug said. “The medical community helps people live longer, but it’s the senior centers that help to enhance the quality of life during those longer years — meaning to be engaged in life.”

Walt Howald, a Friends of Oasis board member, can provide a firsthand account of the original inspiration for a place where seniors could connect. His father Grant was the U.S. postmaster in Corona del Mar at that time. Out of concern, he decided to deliver mail one day to certain addresses where the regular carrier had reported never seeing anyone.

“Dad took the mail to those houses and knocked on the door instead of leaving it in the mailbox,” Walt Howald said. “A voice from inside one of the houses said to leave the mail. Dad asked the man why he couldn’t come out and get it. The response was, ‘No reason to come out.’ Dad then asked, ‘Why is that?’ And the man said, ‘I have no place to go.’”

Howald said his parents, along with others from the original board, decided there needed to be a place for older people to go and interact. It ultimately became their mission.

Now, Howald said, among the classes, exercise programs and resource inquiries, 20,000 to 30,000 people a month go to Oasis.

“I’ve seen people bring their own newspaper here to read so they can have human contact,” he said.

SUSAN HOFFMAN is a contributor to Times Community News.