THE HISTORY OF THE HARBOR
THE WILD WEST DAYS August Hansen Costa Mesa Ship Builder The year was 1979. I was 19 years old and would drive to the ARCO station on the corner 18th Street and Placentia Avenue to avoid the long lines elsewhere because of the 1970s gas shortage. By smelling the fiberglass resins in the air, I knew that this area of Costa Mesa was the boat-building capital of the United States. What I did not know was that people in the boating industry referred to Costa Mesa as "Costa Mecca." Its boat-building companies produced about 90% of the 40,000 sailboats built each year in the U.S. Roger MacGregor can remember the days when the roads would be jammed with trucks hauling out sailboats to all parts of the world. "You couldn't drive down the Placentia without getting stuck behind a truck with a 'wide load' sign on the back," MacGregor recalled. Turns out 1979 was the industry's last good year. Things started to go downhill afterward. So let's talk about th...