Newport Center

Newport Center is a business, shopping, and entertainment district located on a high bluff overlooking Newport Harbor in Newport Beach, California, centered around the "Fashion Island" regional shopping mall. It was created in the early 1960s as part of William Pereira's master plan for the Irvine Ranch. Newport Center was created as the unofficial "downtown" of the Irvine Ranch, which at the time extended all the way down to Pacific Coast Highway.

It was the site used for the 1953 National Scout Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America. The event was held where Newport Center and Fashion Island now sit. It was the third international jamboree; the first jamboree held west of the Mississippi River and had with 50,000 scouts from all 48 states, Alaska, Hawaii, and 16 foreign countries. It was one of the first sites considered for Disneyland. During excavation of the site for the first buildings, a considerable amount of petrified wood was discovered, indicating that a small forest once existed in the area.

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