THE GOOD OLD DAYS:Jamboree before the road

In 1953, Jamboree Road was hardly the six-lane, tree-lined thoroughfare it is today.

It was practically nonexistent until contractors created a dirt path along its route to bring thousands of young men to Irvine Ranch for the 1953 Boy Scout Jamboree, held in a 3,000-acre area that now encompasses Fashion Island.

“The roads were oiled at first,” said Ralph Whitford, 77, who participated in the $4-million construction project shortly after returning from the Korean War. “It turned into a quagmire of dust about a foot-and-a-half deep.”

The event drew 50,000 some Scouts from every state — there were 48 of them — and at least 12 countries, including Cuba, Japan and Turkey.

The Irvine Company donated the land that housed 35,000 brown-and-green pup tents for a week in July 1953, and volunteers from nearly every facet of public life lent a hand at the jamboree.

The Fire Department provided firefighters to operate on-site fire stations, local doctors volunteered to provide physicals to each boy entering the encampment, and Marines from Camp Pendleton served as lifeguards while Scouts went swimming at the Huntington Beach State Beach.

Newport Beach City Councilman Don Webb remembers dipping his toe in the Pacific Ocean when he came to the jamboree on a bus from Tucson, relishing the rare opportunity to meet people from other parts of the country and the world.

In addition to local patches, each troop brought souvenirs from its respective region to be exchanged with other Scouts. Webb remembered catching horny toads in preparation for the event, which he traded for Pennsylvania coal and Colorado fool’s gold.

“It was my first opportunity to be with a large group of people who were like me,” said Webb, who was 14 years old during the event. “It was just a bunch of guys wandering around meeting new people and seeing new things.”

The jamboree was the biggest city in the area at the time, complete with post offices, telephone switchboards and banks, though the amenities were basic.

One of Whitford’s many duties was digging thousands of 18-inch by 3-foot holes to be used as outhouses. As a universal operator for the Austin Sturtevant Construction Co., the Costa Mesa resident was excited to operate all kinds of equipment — such as trains, tractors and drills.

“I was like a kid in toy land,” said Whitford, who worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week on the project. “There was all kinds of stuff to play with.”

But the real fun was had by the Scouts. In addition to the activities at Jamboree City — which included rodeos, archery competitions and a candlelight convocation with then-Vice President Richard Nixon — Scouts made day trips to Knott’s Berry Farm, San Diego and Tijuana.

The event that drew the most publicity was Hollywood Night, when dozens of stars such as Jimmy Stewart, Debbie Reynolds and Bob Hope came to entertain the young men. Roy Rogers even brought his horse, Trigger, for the occasion.

After a week of festivities, the Boy Scout city vanished as quickly as it was formed, marking a turning point in Orange Country history, said Whitford, who joined the Sea Scouts at age 11 and serves on the committee of the Boy Scouts of America-operated Newport Sea Base.

“Before the jamboree, the land was virtually useless,” he said. “A lot’s changed since then.”

A weeklong event that took seven months to assemble was torn down in just two weeks. Not even the 12 miles of water mains or the four miles of sewer lines put in for the jamboree remained.

As Whitford looked out toward the horizon from a vantage point at Fashion Island on Friday, the only thing he recognized from 1953 was the view of the Pacific Ocean. Locals hoping to catch a glimpse of the 1953 Boy Scout Jamboree can head to the Newport Sea Base, where a 90-foot flag pole that formerly stood on the event’s Avenue of Flags stands today.