Harbor Island Dr, Lower Newport / Balboa Island

This is a tough neighborhood... to ever want to leave. Literally every house is waterfront. most have docks with extravagant yachts just begging for their occasional cruise around the harbor. While I merely rented a guest house here I did have the opportunity to immerse myself in the neighborhood life and lifestyle which includes boating, shopping, eating out at fantastic restaurants, traveling (cause when you live someplace this nice, you have to get away just to keep some perspective on your lavish life).
I would especially like to walk over to the Harbor Island yacht club and have breakfast in their quite modest little diner. Like stepping into a time capsule this place is right out of the fifties. If I happened to be getting a late start, I'd swing in for a sandwich. They have the tuna melt perfected.
Sometimes I would take my 9 iron and putter across PCH to the the Hyatt Regency and play a round of golf. Also a good place to have a $20. cocktail this place is a bit much.
Balboa Island is a short walk or boat ride and has all the amazing boutiques and quaint restaurants one could ever want.
Of course the famous Fashion Island is around the corner and shopping doesn't get better anywhere. Period. People come here to shop when they can't get what they want on Rodeo Drive. It's a great place to star gaze.
More my speed would be taking the ferry over to the Newport Peninsula and the Fun Zone and hitting the beach, grabbing a veggie sandwich (I'm not a vegetarian but they're really good) or some fish tacos along the boardwalk.
The beach and pier are great and Ruby's diner on the pier is a mandatory stop for a visitor. Head out to the point of the peninsula and check out the amazing waves and body boarders at the legendary "Wedge".
For those days where walking just seems too... pedestrian I would take my boat (you can rent a boat from a multitude of places around the harbor) to any one of many restaurants and shops that have dock tie-ups for boat parking. The Cannary is at one end of the spectrum with Hooters at the other. Each has it's place and crowd.
I do recommend hitting the Blue Beet Bar and Grill if you are in the mood for good drinks and the best steaks on the west coast. The owner used to own a legendary Steakhouse up the street that was shut down by the city due to a "tax" discrepancy (at least that is one of the stories I heard). Anyway, none of it had anything to do with the amazing food and the owner just transferred the best of the menu to his bar. The Baseball steak is unparalleled anywhere within a twenty hour drive.
I must be hungry. Anyway, this neighborhood is such that I would run into Shaq or Celine Dion or Arnold and Maria and it wouldn't be unusual.
It just really is as good as it gets.